berger@datacube.UUCP (08/19/86)
Has anyone used Frame from Frame Technology?
It looks like a cross between Interleaf and PageMaker and it currently
runs on Suns. Here are some bullet items from their lit:
USER INTERFACE
- WYSIWYG document Prep system
- Macintosh-style user interface:
Mouse-based
Pull-down-style-menus
Icons
Dialog boxes
- Runs under Sun Windows and Sun View
- Exchange data between windows and with other SunWindows applications
- Optional display of rulers in various scales
- More than 20 windows can be open at one time
- Forward and Reverse document scrolling
- Go to first, last, next, previous, or numbered page
- Context sensitive help
TEXT FORMATTING
- Text may be formatted in one or multiple columns
- Linked TexRects allow text to flow automatically between nonadjacent
locations in the document
- Automatic vertical justification
- Optional automatic hyphenation
- Paragraph margins, spacing, widow/orphan control, tags and numbering are
user definable
- Automatic paragraph numbering
- Text can be aligned left, right, left and right, or centered
- Tabs can be aligned left, right, centered, or decimal, with any leader
- Uses Adobe screen fonts and matching PostScript printer fonts
- Supports all LaserWriter typefaces
- Font size and style may vary from character to character within a paragraph
- All combinations of bold, italic, underline, superscript, and subscript are
supported
- Two dimensional kerning
+ Text formated within TextRects can be resized and moved like any other
objects
+ Linked TextRects can be used to fill polygons, circles, and other regions
with text
TEXT EDITING
- Built in full-featured word processor
- Editing can be done with mouse or with Emacs-compatible keyboard commands
- Individual characters, words, or entire blocks of text can be edited,
repositioned, and resized
- Text may be copied into any location including another document
- Formatting changes may be applied to:
All paragraphs in document
Current paragraph
All paragraphs with the same tag
Selected paragraphs
- Paragraph formats can be stored in a catalog for later use
- Automatic search and replace
GRAPHICS
- View all graphics created in Advanced Frame Maker
- Mathematics
+ Create free-form line drawings using rectangles, squares, circles, ellipses,
arcs, polylines, polygons, arrows, straight lines, pie sections, free-hand
lines, smoothed lines
+ Import Sun raster files
+ Edit multiple objects and groups of objects simultaneously
+ Graphics may be fixed or anchored
+ 16 user definable fill and border patterns
+ Variable line widths
+ Move and resize objects in all directions using mouse
+ Reshape arcs and pie-sections
+ Size objects numerically using dialog box
+ Optional grid and snap to grid
+ Duplicate objects within and across documents without intermediate clipboard
+ Reshape polygons and polylines
+ Smooth and unsmooth polylines, polygons, and free-hand
+ Fill any closed region
+ Group objects
+ Change draw order (front/back)
+ Clip objects
+ Scale raster images
+ Align and distribute objects
PAGINATION
- Standard and custom page sizes
- Portrait and landscape page orientation
- Pagination is continually updated as text is input and edited
- Page breaks can be set automatically or manually
- Full widow and orphan control on each paragraph
- Automatic headers and footers adjustable for left and right pages
- Automatic page numbering
- Starting page number for the document can be specified
- Page numbers in arabic, and both upper and lower roman and alphabetic formats
- Insert, append and delete pages
+ Headers and footers using master page may contain multiple lines and graphics
COMMUNICATIONS
- Import and export standard ASCII files
+ Import standard Sun raster files
ARCHITECTURE
- Supports industry standards
- Redefinable fonts, fill patterns, tab leaders
- Small executable code size (approximately 0.5 MB)
- Less than 1.5 MB disk storage required for executable and fonts
- Runs form any Directory
The items with a "-" are standard in the $1500 price, the items with "+" come
when you pay another $1000. Total cost for everything is $2500 (I think there
may be a $200 printed documentation charge, the documentation does come in
machine readable form in the $1500 or $2500 price).
This looks very competative to the $20k price for interleaf WPS or even
the $3500 TPS interleaf package.
They plan to bring out compatible versions for computers other than the Sun
in the future, the MacIntosh being rumoured to come out first.
Currently they are shipping a pre-release version. An official release would
be available in the October time frame, anyone purchasing the pre-release
version gets a free update to the release version.
For further info contact:
Frame Technology Corp
2240 Lundy Ave.
San Jose, Ca. 95131
408-433-3311
Usual disclaimer: I'm just interested
Bob Berger
Datacube Inc. 4 Dearborn Rd. Peabody, Ma 01960 617-535-6644
ihnp4!datacube!berger
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