# Adobe FrameMaker

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Adobe FrameMaker and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend FrameMaker as publishing software that was far ahead of its era and still the standard generalized markup editor.

## Why people recommend it

- Ahead of its time (3 comments): "I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do. Today's Microsoft Word can't hold a candle to Framemaker" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46899733)) "Used FrameMaker to write my PhD dissertation. It was waaay ahead of its time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46925597)) "I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46899414))
- Does more than modern word processors (2 comments): "I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do. Today's Microsoft Word can't hold a candle to Framemaker" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46899733)) "the word processing and publishing software hasn't moved forward since those days, in fact it has moved backward" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46925824))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Adobe InDesign](https://hackerapproved.com/p/adobe-indesign.md): 16 recommend
- [Microsoft Publisher](https://hackerapproved.com/p/microsoft-publisher.md): 14 recommend
- [Scribus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/scribus.md): 8 recommend
- [Affinity Publisher](https://hackerapproved.com/p/affinity-publisher.md): 7 recommend
- [Vellum](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vellum.md): 6 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker.html)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Adobe FrameMaker", https://hackerapproved.com/p/framemaker/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).