FrameMaker
Adobe FrameMaker is preferred by many technical communicators as a document publishing program. It is efficient, robust, and stable. It excels in producing long documents that need to follow a consistent format. It is also flexible and powerful enough for more demanding projects.
FrameMaker, in the hands of an experienced user, is an effective and reliable program for writing complex documents. It is what we recommend for most forms of technical communciation.
FrameMaker plugins
FrameMaker is a general-purpose program. Like any general-purpose program, there are certain areas where its capabilities may not fulfill particular needs. In these cases, you may have to resort to elaborate work-arounds, or you can extend the capabilities of FrameMaker through custom programming.
Sundorne Communications is developing a series of plugins for FrameMaker. Like all other Sundorne services, these plugins are focused on doing a particular job and doing it well.
IndexRef, our first plugin, eliminates a common problem with indexes in PDFs created from FrameMaker files.
Other plugins will be available soon. If you would like to be notified when they are available, or if you have suggestions for plugins you would like to see, please contact us.
Plug-in or plugin?
Netscape Communications is generally credited with inventing the term "plug-in", and they spell it with a hyphen. Adobe Systems, makers of FrameMaker, writes "plugin" without the hyphen.
Over time, languages tend to evolve towards less complication. In the case of "plug-in" that means the hyphen will eventually disappear. The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, says "There seems to be a tendency to spell compounds solid as soon as acceptance warrants their being considered permanent compounds, and otherwise to spell them open."
In this case, Sundorne Communications follows the lead of Adobe Systems and the Chicago Manual of Style. We spell it "plugin".
