White Paper: Justifying Migration from Word to FrameMaker in Multilingual Projects

Maxwell Hoffmann, ENLASO’s Manager of Consulting and Training Services, researched and authored this short White Paper in response to increased demand for justification for migration from Word to FrameMaker in multilingual projects.

ENLASO has discovered that post-translation document reformatting requires about 35% less work in FrameMaker than in Word. FrameMaker files are prepped for translation software differently, and most format codes are “protected” from inadvertent change. Word documents go into translation with formatting “exposed” and subject to unwanted changes by the linguist. Word takes longer than FrameMaker to correct complex page formatting after translation. The extra project time and cost are then magnified when documents are translated into several target languages. ENLASO has found that on large multilingual projects (e.g. 300+ pages) FrameMaker typically saves about $1,000 per language compared to Word.

This paper summarizes some of FrameMaker’s advantages when localizing and translating documents into multiple target languages and topics discussed include:

• The Linguists’ View
• Section Breaks vs. Master Pages
• Tables and Graphics
• Multiple Document Handling

About the author:
Hoffmann has trained over 1,500 customers and sales professionals in publishing solutions and localization for over 20 years. He has nine years of Localization and 19 years of FrameMaker experience, and manages consulting and training at ENLASO. Hoffmann is also a former product manager for FrameMaker at Frame Technology and also helped developed a round trip from FrameMaker to XML at ENLASO two years before the release of XML-enabled FrameMaker 7.0. "We have helped several customers migrate from Word and other formats to FrameMaker," states Hoffmann, "because even without XML, localization project costs will be substantially reduced due to FrameMaker's superior document integrity."