FrameMaker 5.5.6 for Dummies

Rating:
Summary: An example of how to explain things usefully
Review: I have used the few manuals that exist for FrameMaker, and this one is the only one I have found really usefull. My work advanced rapidelly with it.

Rating:
Summary: Framemaker for Dummies by Dummies
Review: I own over 500 computer books and this is the first I've felt compelled to review, and now only because this book is truly awful. Like many computer people, when I buy a book, I usually give it a quick reading and then look up troublesome items in the index as I work with the program. After a quick reading of FFD I knew little more than when I started, because it's very chaotic, but it wasn't until I started trying to use the index that I really grew to hate this book. FrameMaker is a program for making books, but there is no entry in this book for captions, no entry for crop marks, no entry for color profiles, ICM or Pantone. These are standard words in the publishing biz but they don't even rate an index entry, let alone decent treatment. There isn't even any information on how to make FM respect your font selection. You will, however, find an index entry for Easter Eggs, and index entries for half the people who have written dummies books... Is there anything useful in this book? Sure. You can't write 360 pages about anything without saying something useful, but good luck in finding it.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I've read some of the previous reviews and couldn't believe that they were not 5's across the board. Several years ago, I had to learn Framemaker very quickly. This book made that possible. Since that time, I've used Framemaker on a day-to-day basis and I still consider _FM_5.5.6_for_Dummies_ to be a very good book. (I use FM 6.)


Rating:
Summary: horrid
Review: I've tried, over and over, to make this book work. But I can't. I'm a beginner and this book makes absolutely no sense, for the most part. If you have no experience with FrameMaker, do not go near this book. O'Keefe seems to have written this thing without much worry about detail or really taking you throug the process of creating documents. This book is a mess and I've been left to look for online tutorials.

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: It's embarrassing to be overjoyed about the publication of a software book, especially one with the word "dummies" on the cover. But until now, FrameMaker users have had no good reference text at all. We've been struggling to decipher Adobe's online help files, and we've been solving each other's problems through online mailing lists and local FrameMaker Users Network meetings. It's ridiculous that a tool as widely used as Frame has had no comprehensive reference. Every Frame user should nab a copy of FrameMaker for Dummies before it sells out.

If you're a beginning Framer, be certain to start with pages 7 - 10, which explain why you want to fiddle with this complicated & powerful tool in the first place. Frame has a long learning curve, but I think mine would have been much shorter if I'd had this book. And if you feel like a real dummy because you don't understand everything that Frame can do, don't worry - no one needs or understands it all. Except, evidently, for O'Keefe, but not all of us aspire to that level of geek wisdom.

As an experienced Framer I've found the answers to four questions so far by using the index, and the book saved me at least 2 hours on one problem alone (which paid for the book right there, with cash left over for therapy). "Tip" icons and question sidebars hold the promise of knowledge I don't even know to look for. The appendices have great information, especially Appendix B: Online Resources.

Truthfully, I'd probably be thrilled to get any book on Frame. I'm especially glad this one is easily referenced, well written, and useful.

Rating:
Summary: FrameMaker 5.5.6 for Dummies
Review: Ordered the book the week it was available.

OK, so now I know how to add color, graphics, indexes, master pages...but HOW do I start a file? The book is well written and quite detailed, but misses some of the "basics" that I would expect from a xFD book. Examples are inadequate for a beginner book. And whatever happened to cross platform compatibility with FrameMaker...there are separate sections in instructions for Windows, UNIX, MAC (with more on UNIX and MAC). No examples on the CD, just more programs to sell (samples of other applications and FrameMaker). Could really have used a walk-thru, or even some interactive tutorials online on the CD. Many good caveats and several BTWs(makes me want to AVOID FrameMaker). May be good for intermediate user, but don't try using the FD book without some FM experience. Overall, I was disappointed, both with the book and with FrameMaker, maybe I'm too much of a DUMMY for this series. My last FD book.

Rating:
Summary: not so clear
Review: This book could use some clarity. There's a lot of instruction on how to do a lot of things, but there's never a reason for why some processes are needed. For a beginner, this book isn't as easy as it should be. RoboHELP for Dummies was a phenominal book. This book hardly compares. The author, a technical writer, doesn't break down the why's and I'm left frustrated and starting over. It's too bad there's no real competition for a book like this. I really wish there was a more user friendly FrameMaker tutorial.

Rating:
Summary: A very valuable and worthwhile book
Review: Well done! FrameMaker 5.5.6 is a solid, must-have book for beginner and intermediate FrameMaker users. I continue to be surprised at the lack of third-party books for this popular tool for writers, and this book is long overdue. Kudos to IDG and Ms. O'Keefe for putting this book together.

Even after reading the book, cover-to-cover, FrameMaker for Dummies still strikes me as an oxymoron? Why? Because, if you compare FrameMaker to word processors, as people are apt to do, FrameMaker has a high learning curve (not so compared to real competing products, such as Interleaf and Ventura), such that folks using FrameMaker are definitely not Dummies.

What doesn't this book do well? Let me offer my negative opinions, to get them out of the way. This book is not a substitute for Adobe's valuable FrameMaker Classroom in a Book. Dummies is definitely a reference tome, if you really want to get up and running, I recommend the tutorial-based Classroom in a Book *as well as* Dummies. Dummies might not be for you if you are an advanced or very experienced FrameMaker user (although, the appendices are worth a look-see and I recommend that it is still a handy reference), but neither is the book targeted at you (nor is there *any* book targeted at the advanced FrameMaker user, aside from Adobe's collage of printed and online information). Despite the fact that this *is* a reference book, I was still looking for, and missing, an overall flow from page setup through styles and chapter and book creation and maybe was looking for a little smoother organization and transition, from subject to subject and chapter to chapter. I'm probably being way too picky here, because this is a reference book.

In addition, the chapter on importing graphics misses a few things, such as resizing imported graphics in FrameMaker and FrameMaker's treatment of import resolution. A chapter on color, while a welcome and necessary subject, doesn't discuss how the Windows GDI affects color output from the Windows version of FrameMaker and, I think I missed a discussion of using TIFFs and EPS to sneak 4-color past Mr. Gates. I also missed a discussion of FrameMaker's hypertext feature, and was looking for a really clear discussion of getting and installing the PPD and PS printer driver for use with PDFs, *although*, this book does include all the relevant information in one place, unlike any of Adobe's documentation. I suppose I was looking for a clearer explanation of PPD/PS drivers, particularly for the benefit of folks using TrueType, not PostScript, fonts. A brief discussion of subsetting fonts in PDF and binary versus ASCII might have been included, but perhaps that's a topic for PDF for Dummies? I would also have enjoyed more discussion on MIF, an overview of the Frame Development Kit and what it offers, and I am surprised Esc Flk was not highlighted and double-underlined (I know I saw it in there but cannot, now, find it).

Please consider my critique in context: FrameMaker is a complex product with a host of bleeding-edge features. A Dummies book cannot possibly cover, in-depth, everything and still keep its target audience interested . . . it's just not possible.

What does this book do well? Pretty much *everything*. FrameMaker for Dummies certainly hits on all of the important concepts, tools, and elements that you'd use in FrameMaker to get the job done. In particular, the excellent section on numbering will answer all of your questions, master/reference /body pages, page layouts, character and paragraph styles, cross-references, and index are all well done--index particularly so (TOC is covered pretty well, though I'm not sure the book will really get you going on this if you have no prior experience with it). Text flow is well covered, and the coverage of HTML export and import filters is great (and answers a lot of commonly asked questions). The discussion of conditional text, a feature I like to use, is complete and useful. Ms. O'Keefe also does a very good job in leading the discussion of FrameMaker templates (a bunch of customized templates for the CD would have been sweet), and includes some very useful discussion on workflow that is obviously based on having been there and done that!

Especially valuable in this book is the discussion of building blocks, tables are very thoroughly discussed, the tips and tricks are on-the-money, Appendix B's list of resources is excellent, and the tools included on the CD are top notch (hey, the CD even includes a demo version of FrameMaker--on the internet I see requests for that all the time). More than that, the comments by the author, the asides that touch on workflow issues and FrameMaker peculiarities, along with the writing style, really help you get information out of this book.

All in all, if you use FrameMaker, you should get this book. If your are an advanced user, this is a handy reference to have. If you are a beginner or intermediate, FrameMaker for Dummies is an invaluable tool, store this book close by your keyboard for ease-of-use. Now, if only Ms. O'Keefe can show IDG the error of their ways and persuade them to convert to FrameMaker as their primary production tool . . ..