Adobe FrameMaker
Ranked 6 of 6 desktop publishing software by recommenders
People recommend FrameMaker as publishing software that was far ahead of its era and still the standard generalized markup editor.
People recommend FrameMaker as publishing software that was far ahead of its era and still the standard generalized markup editor.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Ahead of its time
“I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do. Today's Microsoft Word can't hold a candle to Framemaker”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” “Used FrameMaker to write my PhD dissertation. It was waaay ahead of its time.”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” “I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do.”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” Does more than modern word processors
“I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do. Today's Microsoft Word can't hold a candle to Framemaker”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge” “the word processing and publishing software hasn't moved forward since those days, in fact it has moved backward”
Comment from 7 Feb 2026 in “Wirth's Revenge”
Other desktop publishing software people recommend
The four most recommended other desktop publishing software, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign | 16 | 20 | 44% | 8 | — | — |
| Microsoft Publisher | 14 | 14 | 50% | 5 | — | — |
| Scribus | 8 | 5 | 62% | 6 | — | — |
| Affinity Publisher | 7 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
| Adobe FrameMakerThis page | 5 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
6 of the 7 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“never had to do that with FrameMaker on SunOS”
“FrameMaker is the standard generalized markup editor.”
“the word processing and publishing software hasn't moved forward since those days, in fact it has moved backward”
“Used FrameMaker to write my PhD dissertation. It was waaay ahead of its time.”
“I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do. Today's Microsoft Word can't hold a candle to Framemaker”
“I was blown away by what Framemaker of the late 1980s could do.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.