Editing Adobe FrameMaker (section)

== History ==
{{more citations needed section|date=April 2013}}

Frame Technology was founded in 1986 by David Murray, Charles Corfield, [[Steven Kirsch]], and Vickie Blackslee.
<ref name=ieeembio>{{cite web
| url = https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37086951157
| title = David J. Murray Biography
| website = IEEE Xplore
| publisher = IEEE
| access-date = September 20, 2024
}}</ref>

While working on his doctorate in [[astrophysics]] at [[Columbia University]], Corfield, a mathematician alumnus of the [[University of Cambridge]], decided to write a [[WYSIWYG]] [[document processor|document editor]] on a [[Sun-2]] [[workstation]]. 

The only substantial DTP product at the time of FrameMaker's conception was [[Interleaf]], which also ran on Sun workstations.<ref>{{cite magazine
|magazine=Release 1.0
|title=On Beyond Numbers: New Applications
|url=http://cdn.oreilly.com/radar/r1/02-88.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cdn.oreilly.com/radar/r1/02-88.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live
|date=1988-02-16
|page=10}}</ref>

After only a few months, Corfield had completed a functional prototype he called /etc/publisher. The prototype caught the eye of salesmen at the fledgling Sun Microsystems, which lacked commercial applications to showcase the graphics capabilities of their workstations. They got permission from Corfield to use the prototype of /etc/publisher as [[demoware]] for their computers.

Kirsch and Blakeslee were founding members of [[Mouse Systems]], where they brought on Murray as Director of Application Software Development. In early 1986, Kirsch and Murray were visiting Sun Microsystems where they were given a demonstration of /etc/publisher. They thought there was a great opportunity for this and contacted Corfield. After several days of meetings they decided to form a company together. Kirsch, Murray, and Blakeslee left Mouse Systems and Corfield moved from New York to join them.<ref name=ieeeframe>{{cite journal
| url = https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8758946
| title = Frame Technology and FrameMaker
| last = Murray
| first = David J.
| date = July–September 2019
| journal = IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
| volume = 41
| issue = 3
| pages = 62–74
| publisher = IEEE
| doi = 10.1109/MAHC.2019.2926662
| access-date = September 27, 2024
| url-access = subscription
}}</ref>

Originally written for [[SunOS]] (a variant of UNIX) on Sun machines, FrameMaker was a popular technical writing tool, and the company was profitable early on. Because of the flourishing desktop publishing market on the [[Apple Macintosh]], the software was ported to the Mac as its second platform.

In the early 1990s, a wave of UNIX workstation vendors—[[Apollo Computer|Apollo]], [[Data General]], [[MIPS Computer Systems Inc.|MIPS]], [[Motorola]] and [[Sony]]—provided funding to Frame Technology for an [[original equipment manufacturer|OEM]] version for their platforms.

At the height of its success, FrameMaker ran on more than thirteen UNIX platforms, including [[NeXT|NeXT Computer]]'s [[NeXTSTEP]], [[Dell]]'s System V Release 4 UNIX and [[IBM]]'s [[AIX operating system|AIX]] [[operating system]]s.

Sun Microsystems and [[AT&T Inc.|AT&T]] were promoting the [[OPEN LOOK]] [[GUI]] standard to win over Motif, so Sun contracted Frame Technology to implement a version of FrameMaker on their [[PostScript]]-based [[NeWS]] windowing system. The NeWS version of FrameMaker was successfully released to those customers adopting the OPEN LOOK standards.

At this point, FrameMaker was considered an extraordinary product for its day, not only enabling authors to produce highly structured documents with relative ease, but also giving users a great deal of typographical control in a reasonably intuitive and totally WYSIWYG way. The output documents could be of very high typographical quality.

Frame Technology later ported FrameMaker to [[Microsoft Windows]], but the company lost direction soon after its release. Up to this point, FrameMaker had been targeting a professional market for highly technical publications, such as the maintenance manuals for the [[Boeing 777]] project, and licensed each copy for $2,500. But the Windows version brought the product to the $500 price range, which cannibalized its own non-Windows customer base.

The company's attempt to sell sophisticated technical publishing software to the home [[Desktop publishing|DTP]] market was a disaster. A tool designed for a 1,000-page manual was too cumbersome and difficult for an average home user to type a one-page letter.

[[Adobe Inc.|Adobe Systems]] acquired the product and returned the focus to the professional market. Then, they released a new version under the name Adobe FrameMaker 5.1 in 1996. Today, Adobe FrameMaker is still a widely used publication tool for [[technical writer]]s, although no version has been released for the [[Mac OS X]] operating system, limiting use of the product. The decision to cancel FrameMaker for OS X caused considerable friction between Adobe and Mac users, including Apple itself, which relied on it for creating documentation. As late as 2008, Apple manuals for [[OS X Leopard]]<ref>{{cite web |author=John Gruber |url=http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/06/03/framemaker |title=Apple still using Framemaker in Classic |date=2008-06-03 |website=[[Daring Fireball]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126234654/http://daringfireball.net/linked/2008/06/03/framemaker |archive-date=2013-01-26 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[iPhone]]<ref>{{cite web
 | author = Michael Tsai
 | title = Old Meets New
 | date = 2007-05-01
 | url = http://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/07/01/old-meets-new/
 | access-date = 2013-01-21
 | archive-date = 2020-12-02
 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201202024806/https://mjtsai.com/blog/2007/07/01/old-meets-new/
 | url-status = live
 }}</ref> were still being developed on FrameMaker 7 in Classic mode; Apple has since switched to using [[InDesign]].

FrameMaker versions 5.x through 7.2 (from mid-1995 to 2005) did not contain updates to major parts of the program (including its general user interface, table editing, and illustration editing), concentrating instead on bug fixes and the integration of XML-oriented features (previously part of the FrameMaker+[[SGML]] premium product). FrameMaker did not feature multiple undo until version 7.2 (its 2005 release).

FrameMaker 8 (2007) introduced [[Unicode]], [[Adobe Flash|Flash]], [[3D computer graphics|3D]], and built-in [[Darwin Information Typing Architecture|DITA]] support. Platform support included Windows (2000, XP, and Vista) and Sun [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] (8, 9, and 10).

FrameMaker 9 (2009) introduced a redesigned user interface and several enhancements, including: full support for [[Darwin Information Typing Architecture|DITA]], support for more media types, better [[PDF]] output, and enhanced WebDAV-based [[Content management system|CMS]] integration. Platform support for Sun Solaris and [[Windows 2000]] was dropped, leaving [[Windows XP]] and [[Windows Vista]] as the sole remaining platforms.

FrameMaker 10 (2011) again refined the user interface and introduced several changes, including: integration with content management systems via EMC Documentum 6.5 with Service Pack 1 and [[SharePoint|Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007]] with Service Pack 2.