Sharon BurtonProduct Manager/Product EvangelistMadCap Softwaresburton@madcapsoftware.com

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 Softwaremhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

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 Softwaremhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

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 Softwaremhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

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 Softwaremhamilton@madcapsoftware.com

Live demonstrations

Questions?

Thank you

Sharon BurtonProduct Manager/Product EvangelistMadCap Softwaresburton@madcapsoftware.com

sburton@madcapsoftware.comBlog: madcapsoftware.wordpress.com

This slide show is available on my blog