New User Interface of FrameMaker 9
Hello Framers
You kept asking but till 8, we said wait! Now 2009 ends this wait with 9.
Yes, I am referring to the enriched User Interface of FrameMaker 9. I am sure you are enjoying the power of this power pack which boosts your productivity and efficiency with your existing workflows and also brings new functionality which you can leverage to create new workflows which you could just conceive earlier but couldn’t implement.
But I do understand that after working with the same interface for a really long period, the new interface might mean some change for you. A few of you wrote to me that you need more education on the new interface. A couple of you found the interface a bit confusing.
This makes me think of an interesting change I made some time back. That was about my new mobile phone. My old phone had a crude interface, no profile setting and limited functionality. I wanted to use new features offered by the latest technology in the market. I evaluated and upgraded to a new phone. This new phone came with smart looks, new features and tools but getting used to it took me some time. Believe me, for initial two days, I used to keep the phone back in my drawer thinking that it’s difficult to learn, this is not for me. But gradually I started playing with the phone, explored the features, got help from product help and started enjoying the enhanced and new productivity benefits brought by this phone.
A month back, somebody asked me if I had a phone for donation. I searched and found the old phone. Out of curiosity, I inserted my SIM Card, charged the phone and started typing an SMS. Oh my God!! How difficult and cumbersome… I just couldn’t come to the agreement with truth that this was the phone I didn’t want to change. I smiled and said to myself… Mahesh! You made the right move of initiating, accepting and adjusting to the change which now I am enjoying thoroughly!
With newer technological developments, I might want to change to a newer phone in the future but I don’t have the fear of change as I know this only ‘constant’ will be for good only…
I am sure you would like to know more about the FrameMaker 9 User Interface. A small demo on working with conditional text through new UI is shown below.
RJ Jacquez, Senior Evangelist, will be explaining the new UI in detail to you. I recommend that you please attend his elearning session on Feb 26th.
Details are available at http://blogs.adobe.com/rjacquez/2009/02/elearning_session_on_the_new_u.html
This time FrameMaker Chautauqua conference didn’t materialize but I plan to be present at WritersUA in Seattle. We can discuss more on FrameMaker and Technical Communication Suite in person if you are attending the conference. We can plan a meeting in advance. You are always welcome to write to me at mahesh@adobe.com
-Mahesh