Transcript Sharon Burton Product Manager/Product Evangelist MadCap Software [email protected] I am… • Sharon Burton – Product Manager/Product Evangelist for MadCap Software • Been in Tech Communication for almost.

Sharon Burton
Product Manager/Product Evangelist
MadCap Software
[email protected]
I am…
• Sharon Burton
– Product Manager/Product Evangelist for MadCap
Software
• Been in Tech Communication for almost 20
years
• Previous job as documentation manager at a
large company in Southern California
– Managed 13 writers scattered all over the world
– Managed a library of hundreds of manuals
• FrameMaker and RoboHELP expert
• Teach Technical Communication to engineering
students at University of California, Riverside
Who is MadCap Software?
• Key members of the old RoboHelp
team formed MadCap Software
• Based in La Jolla, California
• We’re almost 4 years old
Our product line
Authoring &
Publishing
Multimedia
Content
Management
&
Collaboration
Reporting
Localizing
Software Solutions
A
U
T
H
O
R
&
P
U
B
L
I
S
H
Online and print content
development and publishing
Authoring
Print development for
long
Multimedia
print documents
For reviewers or the occasional
contributor
Advanced
Localization
Support
The XML-based “Glossy Print”
solution
Software Solutions
Multimedia
M
U
L
T
I
M
E
D
I
A
Authoring
Easily create software
simulations and tutorials
Advanced
Capture
anything that
appears
Localization
Support
on your screen
Add dynamic audio to your
online publishing
Software Solutions
LOCALIZING
Integrated translation and
publishing
Authoring
Reporting
Multimedia
Localizing
Software Solutions
Scan, analyze, report, and fix
errors or problems
Authoring
Multimedia
User feedback, reporting, and
Web 2.0 customer interaction
Reporting
Localizing
R
E
P
O
R
T
S
Software Solutions
Authoring &
Publishing
Multimedia
Team
Server
Reporting
Localizing
Automate and manage your
content across the enterprise
Team Server
Today, we’ll see
• Blaze
• Flare
• X-Edit Family
• Lingo
Creating a Single-Source
Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike Hamilton
V.P. Product Management
MadCap Software
[email protected]
What is Blaze?
Flare 4:
Complex printed and
online content
Blaze:
Complex
Complex
printed
printed
content
content
What is Blaze?
• Blaze is the perfect solution for complex
printed manuals
– If you only develop content for printed
output, you need Blaze
– For example, you write maintenance manuals
• Flare 4 includes all the features of Blaze
– If you develop content online help and
printed output, you need Flare 4
– For example, you write documentation for
software products
MadCap Blaze
• Printed documents
– Topic-based content development
• Faster content development
– Content reuse with conditional text,
variables, snippets, outlines
– And more
• Flexibility with XML and CSS
– Content is separate from formatting
– Printed Page Layouts
MadCap Blaze
• Easily create
– Reference books
– Hardware manuals
– Illustrated guides
– Maintenance manuals
– And more
Creating a Single-Source
Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike Hamilton
V.P. Product Management
MadCap Software
[email protected]
MadCap Flare
• Complete authoring and publishing
system
– Online formats
– Desktop formats
– Print formats
• Includes all the features of Blaze
MadCap Flare
• Topic-based content development
• Content reuse with
– Conditional text
– Variables
– Snippets
– Outlines and TOC
– and more
• Flexibility with XML and CSS
– Online Master Pages
– Printed Page Layouts
MadCap X-Edit Family
• Improves your information workflow
• Subject matter experts and
occasional contributors
– Seamlessly review and provide content
for your documentation
• No conversion headaches
X-Edit Contribute
• Author creates templates in Flare 4 or Blaze
• Save the templates
– Templates include text styles, and optionally,
images, table styles, variables, conditions, and so
on
• Email templates to your content contributors
• Using X-Edit Contribute, they create content in
the templates
– Send the content back to you
• Open and add to your Flare 4 or Blaze project
– No converting, fixing, and so on
X-Edit Review
• In Flare 4 or Blaze, write a topic
• Send it for review in Flare or Blaze
– Author decides if reviewers can edit or
annotate
• Using X-Edit Review, reviewers open the
topic
– Make review comments, as author allowed
• Reviewers email the topic back to author
• Author opens it in Flare 4 or Blaze
• Author decides to accept the entire topic
– Or just make the suggested changes
Creating a Single-Source
Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike Hamilton
V.P. Product Management
MadCap Software
[email protected]
MadCap Lingo
• Easily translate Flare or Blaze
components such as
– Table of contents
– Topics
– Index keywords
– Concepts
– Glossaries
– Variables
MadCap Lingo
• Reduce translation costs and timeto-market
• Easily translate MadCap Flare and
Blaze content
• Eliminate the need for out-of-project
file transfers
• Import and use TMX, Across, and a
few other TMs
Topic-based authoring
• MadCap products are different
than most other tools
• This difference is important
– You are more successful if you know
several concepts before you start
Some concepts
What is Topic-based Authoring?
• Topic-based authoring focuses effort on the
topics your user needs to use the product
– Not the final deliverables
• You don’t develop an Admin book or a User’s
Guide or a help
– You develop a body of information that’s helpful to the
user
– Eventually, you decide how each piece of information is
best delivered to the user
• Independent from the information development process
• Maximize content reuse
What is Topic-based Authoring?
Project
About
Programming
Adding
Users
Objects and
Inheritance
Relating
Objects
Placing
Objects
Importing
Reports
Setting
Permissions
Editing
Reports
Containing
Objects
Printing
Reports
Deleting
Users
About
Schedules
Creating
Reports
Using
Container
Objects
Saving
reports
About
Reports
About
Objects
About
Users
Customizing
Objects
About
Containment
Exporting
Objects
Setting
Schedules
What is Topic-based Authoring?
Project
Admin Guide
Programmers
Guide
Getting Started
Help
•About Users
•Adding Users
•Deleting Users
•Setting
Permissions
•About Reports
•Creating
Reports
•Editing Reports
•Saving Reports
•Printing Reports
•Importing
Reports
•About
Programming
•About Objects
•Placing Objects
•About
Containment
•Objects and
Inheritance
•Using Container
Objects
•Customizing
Objects
•Relating
Objects
•About Users
•About Reports
•About
Programming
•About Objects
•About
Containment
•Exporting
Objects
•About Schedules
Why Topic-based Authoring?
• Allows you to
– Develop information based on the users’ information
needs
– Allow the users’ needs to determine how they get the
information
– Matches the Use Case or Scenario development
environment
• Get your reviews done
– Reviewing topics is easier than chapters
– Your reviewers may actually review the
topics
Advantages to you
• You will probably develop less information
– But the quality of the information will be
higher because it’s user centered
• Significant content reuse
– In the same project and between projects
– Allows you to easily repurpose your
information
• Cheaper to localize
– Can go into localization sooner
– Send topics when they are done
To find out more…
• Information Development:
Managing Your
Documentation Projects,
Portfolio, and People
by JoAnn T. Hackos
– ISBN-10: 0471777110
– ISBN-13: 978-0471777113
So why am I talking about this?
• This is the best way to develop
information in Flare or Blaze
– Other products, like FrameMaker, PageMaker,
or InDesign, for example, don’t lend
themselves to this model
• You develop a large pool of topics about
your product and your users’ information
needs
– Use Outlines to define the deliverables
• These topics are Admin Guide topics
• Those topics are User Guide topics
Live demonstrations
Creating a Single-Source
Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike Hamilton
V.P. Product Management
MadCap Software
[email protected]
Questions?
Thank you
[email protected]
Blog: madcapsoftware.wordpress.com
This slide show is available on my blog
Sharon Burton
Product Manager/Product Evangelist
MadCap Software
[email protected]