How to Compare Multiple Outputs of RoboHelp and FrameMaker

I’ve made a test to compare Multiple Outputs of RoboHelp and FrameMaker.

I generated different output versions of the same simple file both by using Adobe FrameMaker and then Adobe RoboHelp.

Since these two great products are sold as part of Adobe’s Technical Communication Suite, I wanted to see what would one lose without RoboHelp and by using only FrameMaker as a publishing platform.

My Conclusion

For traditional publishing needs, you could probably do without RoboHelp 11 and rely solely on FrameMaker 12.
I have published the results of the FrameMaker 12 test in two article: Article 1 and Article 2.

Here I will present the results of RoboHelp11 publishing.

I have imported the same FM file into RoboHelp 11 and then tried to generate as many output versions as I could from the wealth of options offered by RH:

The original FM file looked great after I imported it into RoboHelp just fine:

(Click to enlarge the images)

I first to batch-generate every RH output available by selecting all of them in the Batch Generator screen and then clicking the Generate button:

RH failed to generate anything. (Later, I discovered RH was giving one “Macros are disabled” error message after another. After enabling macros in MS Word, I could at least generate “Printed Documentation”.)
So I had to try publishing one format at a time.

Here are the results:

MS HTML Output

Verdict: Excellent!

Web Help

Verdict: Excellent!

Printed Documentation (PDF)

Verdict: Excellent!

Responsive HTML Output 1 – For Desktop

Verdict: Excellent!

Responsive HTML Output 2 – For iPad

Verdict: Excellent!

Responsive HTML Output 3 – For Android and iPhone

Verdict: Excellent!

eBook

Verdict: Excellent!

Flash and Flash PRO Help

Verdict: Excellent!

XML Output

Verdict: Excellent!

Multi Screen Output

Verdict: It’s not bad but needs a little editing of the style sheet.

Overall Comparison

	FrameMaker 12	RoboHelp 11	Verdict
Printed Doc / PDF	Yes	Yes	Both excellent
Responsive HTML 5	Yes	Yes	Both excellent
Multiscreen HTML 5	No	Yes	Needs cleanup
Web Help	Yes	Yes	Both excellent
Web Help Pro	No	Yes	Excellent
MS HTML	Yes	Yes	Both excellent
eBook	No	Yes	Excellent
ePub	Yes	No	?
Kindle	Yes	No	?
Adobe Air	No	Yes	?
Flash Help No	No	Yes	Excellent
Flash Help Pro	No	Yes	Excellent
XML Output	Yes	Yes	Excellent

Last Thoughts

For my purposes, I think FrameMaker 12 alone would be just fine. Generating my help file straight from FM, without the intermediary step of importing the files into RoboHelp, should be cleaner and quicker. Yes, RH does provide some options that FM does not. But some of them, like Flash help, are increasingly deprecated as HTML 5 takes over as the dominant web markup regime. If you, for example, need to generate Adobe Air help, then you’d better keep your RoboHelp nearby. But for most traditional publishing projects I think FrameMaker will hold its own against RH.

Load Test?

I have tested FM’s HTML engine with a 5-chapter book file. It did just fine. But I have not yet tested what would happen if I have let’s say 100 or 500 files in the book project. That will be the subject of another blog post in the future.