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Book Publishing Software
- Thread starter Yr Blues
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indesign is exactly what you should use. you can do one large file or separate it into chapters and combine them as a book file.
Oh, I was thinking of some program that had visual algorithms for text-flow over hundreds of pages instead of manually going through every page to make certain wraps and such were in order. Are they actually doing that manually? I mean I've been designing corporate brochures and such for years but never something like Frank Herbert's Dune.
well, i have designed a number of books (i think my biggest was about 450 pages) and unless i am missing something (which is certainly possible) i have always done it in indesign.
i setup my H+J's in ID but at the end of the day i am manually looking at every spread and every page and making sure to check for widows, rags, spacing, etc. i would never, ever trust a computer to do that beyond initial flowing of text into columns.
i know there is Framemaker which i have never used, tho my understanding is that is more for working with XML and data-merging stuff rather than just straight layout.
i setup my H+J's in ID but at the end of the day i am manually looking at every spread and every page and making sure to check for widows, rags, spacing, etc. i would never, ever trust a computer to do that beyond initial flowing of text into columns.
i know there is Framemaker which i have never used, tho my understanding is that is more for working with XML and data-merging stuff rather than just straight layout.
FrameMaker was historically the visual layout application for long documents such as books. SGML and data-merging were late additions to its many virtues. Several years ago, Adobe made the unfortunate announcement that it would drop FrameMaker. It never released a MacOS X version. In a partial reversal, Adobe recently released FrameMaker 8 for MS Windows and SUN Solaris and targeted at the technical publishing market.
I didn't think that Adobe ever announced that it was dropping FrameMaker altogether, only the Mac version.
I published using FrameMaker for a decade at Macromedia and FrameMaker is exactly what you need for publishing a long, multichapter book. For long documents like that, it's superior to InDesign. You'll have to use Windoze, though, but for long publishing like you're talking, it's worth running Windows for.
I published using FrameMaker for a decade at Macromedia and FrameMaker is exactly what you need for publishing a long, multichapter book. For long documents like that, it's superior to InDesign. You'll have to use Windoze, though, but for long publishing like you're talking, it's worth running Windows for.
ahhh i knew i was onto something with the mention of framemaker 
out of curiosity, what does framemaker do better than ID / do that ID does not for long docs?
out of curiosity, what does framemaker do better than ID / do that ID does not for long docs?
I knew it. I definitely remember reading about that program many years ago. Has there been any response from the design community about it? I would hate HATE to use Windows for anything.
Shecky, I found this comparison chart.
Anyone use Adobe InCopy?
Shecky, I found this comparison chart.
Anyone use Adobe InCopy?
Here's an interesting website that I just found, Petition for Adobe to Develop FrameMaker for Mac OS X.