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Sharon BurtonProduct Manager/Product EvangelistMadCap [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
• Key members of the old RoboHelp team formed MadCap Software
• Based in La Jolla, California• We’re almost 4 years old
Who is MadCap Software?
Our product line
Content Management
& Collaboration
Software Solutions
Online and print content development and publishing
Print development for long print documents
The XML-based “Glossy Print” solution
For reviewers or the occasional contributor
Software Solutions
Capture anything that appears on your screen
Add dynamic audio to your online publishing
Easily create software simulations and tutorials
Software Solutions
LOCALIZING
Integrated translation and publishing
Software Solutions
User feedback, reporting, and Web 2.0 customer interaction
Scan, analyze, report, and fix errors or problems
Team Server
Software Solutions
Team Server
Automate and manage your content across the enterprise
Today, we’ll see
• Blaze• Flare• X-Edit Family• Lingo
Creating a Single-Source Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike HamiltonV.P. Product ManagementMadCap [email protected]
What is Blaze?
Flare 4: Complex printed and
online content
Blaze:Complex printed content
Complex printed 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 HamiltonV.P. Product ManagementMadCap [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 HamiltonV.P. Product ManagementMadCap [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 time-to-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
Some concepts
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
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
Project
What is Topic-based Authoring?
Project
What is Topic-based Authoring?
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
Creating a Single-Source Authoring Environment
With RoboHelp
Mike HamiltonV.P. Product ManagementMadCap [email protected]
Live demonstrations
Questions?
Thank you
Sharon BurtonProduct Manager/Product EvangelistMadCap [email protected]
[email protected]: madcapsoftware.wordpress.com
This slide show is available on my blog
