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FrameMaker and lost opportunity
I tend to agree if cross-media publishing is your goal in purchasing the products mentioned. That's to say if you advocate adhering to a process that's based on print first, go to bits later. I also feel as though Adobe has dropped the ball with it's acquisition of FrameMaker. They have been sitting on a page layout/SGML/XML tool but have failed to think about FrameMaker beyond it's current install base and let it stagnate while focusing on InDesign and QuarkKillers. I also think that the larger market is not yet ready for some of this stuff.
The war of the open standards
The author of this article has good intentions and his perception is accurate, but maybe a bit naive? We have to take into account that there are many big corporations out there (maybe all of them?), trying to kill or incorporate the open standards discussed in the article. We all know wich companies I'm referring to, and we all know the reasons. To reach the "openness" visioned in this article, webdevelopers and designers have to start promoting the Open Source community and other independent standards-developers. It's actually quite obvious, if you think about it. You can't support the openness without supporting (and actively promoting) the standards.
I'm not saying we should force everyone to use Netscape6, just because they are the good guys, because they are not. There are no "good" or "bad" guys in this situation. There are just companies, each trying to get a large peice of the cake. What I'm saying is that you should support ALL browsers (including Opera and Lynx) and conform to the current webb standards, because they belong to the same family of standards as XML and SVG.
It is possible to do that without letting your design suffer, and it's not that hard either. All it takes is a little discipline.
Sorry I misunderstood your article David
While reading this article I thought David was unaware that there have been applications that can do all that and more. Upon sharing E-mails with David he assured me that he knew that Corel Ventura (xerox ventura gold) answered the questions he raised; but that he failed to mention it because the industry doesn't use it.
Well for those of us who would like to be able to do what David preaches...The application that no one uses is Corel Ventura Publisher.
Openess is the thing...
The most important part of the future outlined by the article is that the
standards would be open. It would obviate the advantage of a proprietary
standard held by an Adobe or a Corel. It would mean that one could chose
the tool best suited for a job by its strengths and one personal likes. It
would also mean that information, our memes, would be more accessable.
Istarted in this business with T-squares, drafting tables and rubber
cement. If someone didn't see something the first time it appeared, they
missed it. If you needed the content in another form you had to do it again.
Then came the electronic environment which was dominated by
proprietary hardware and software. Better but still limited in output
sharing. Now repurposing information is much easier and I applaude any
further progress in that direction. .wIx.
It's still "a-wait-and-see" situation will XML.
XML still has a ways to go before it will be a viable solution. The meta tags assoiciated with it still need to have a common understanding among many users to aviod confusion. Further, page layout applications will always be in demand...printed magazines, books, etc. will always be a thriving business. The writer is trying to compare apples and oranges in many cases; for example, XML and pdf are two totally different technologies. The two will coexist and offer different solutions for different problems.
didnt mention applications that can
I am dissapointed that David failed to mention that there are readily available applications out there that can accomplish what he mentions.
Namely Corel Ventura Publisher (Xerox Ventura) He says that he failed to mention it because "the industry isn't using it" obviously I'm not in the industry. What I think he meant to say was that Mac users don't know about it.
applications that can are here
I am disappointed to see that many who read this article would be led to believe that there are no applications currently out there that can address these problems. I took the liberty to contact David and he was most kind in responding that he knew that Corel Ventura (xerox ventura gold) can do all the above, however he wenton to say that the industry doesn't use it (Corel Ventura) so he failed to mention it.
I am sure that an additional sentence pointing out that there are applications available for those that are truly interested are available; would have been a great service, for those of us who are in the industry and are unaware that there is currently available technology to accomplish what he says you cant currently do.
Thank You
XML Will Be Fantastic for the Design Industry
I have been in the Computer Design industry for quite some time now and have watched it through it's stages and am always amazed at what companies are doing to make our lives easier! I worked in the Printing Industry for over four years and did nothing but fight with uneducated and educated designers poorly put together files. Something like XML could seriously help out those poor service providers out and limit the headaches. On the other hand it could turn into the same problem with the average idiot that thinks cause they have a computer and a couple adobe programs, that they can do marvelous work. Only time will tell...but the future is deffinately lookin brighter!
CDE