Übercool Authoring Tools

Adobe RoboHelp 8.0.2 - 'Must Install' Patch Available Now

2009-11-24T03:04:40Z

RoboHelp Service Release 8.0.2 is available now. This is a 'must apply' service release. Make sure that you install the RoboHelp 8.0.1 update before installing the 8.0.2 update.

The 8.0.2 update addresses the following issues:
1. The CPD file grows in size and may result in slow performance.
2. The mouse cursor flickers in certain scenarios.
3. Deleting the CPD may result in scenarios where Project Manager reports broken links.

Both 8.0.1 and 8.0.2 updates are available for download here.

RoboHelp Support Center Page Updated with Links to Earlier Versions of RoboHelp Help

2009-11-23T05:32:18Z

Many RoboHelp users who are yet to migrate to RoboHelp 8--the latest RoboHelp version--have had some difficulty in finding Help on RoboHelp 7. The good news is that they can now access the documentation for all key RoboHelp software components from the familiar RoboHelp Support Center page. The Reviewer's Guide is also linked from this page.

Tweet to Help

2009-11-16T05:05:47Z

Some days back, I spotted a tweet by Tom Johnson announcing his new post - Podcast on the Seven Deadly Sins of Blogging. I know that I have been a sinner, not having updated my blog for over a month.
Nowadays, I spend a good part of my day keeping an eye on my Twitter home. My primary intent is to play the information facilitator for RoboHelp, the Adobe product I document. Twitter gives me the means to shout out updates, new tools, hidden features, and events.
I follow the power users of RoboHelp on Twitter and easily get information when they post new content on the web. My job then is to map that content to core Help topics and add the links so that other users can benefit from this supplementary content.

Step 1: Spot the announcement of a useful post.

Step 2: Identify the relevant topic in Help and add a link to the post.

Step 3: Tweet about the Help update.

Twitter gets me thinking - in different directions. Every now and then, I get derailed and something non-RoboHelp catches my attention. I spot 'cloud computing' and become curious to find out about what the world is thinking about documentation for SaaS applications.
Johnson's posts reassured me that these occasional detours are a necessary part of the social networking experience that we are seeking as corporate tweeters and bloggers. They broaden our interests, update us on the trends, and prepare us to create relevant and interesting posts (being irrelevant and being boring are two of the seven sins Johnson talks about).
You can check out Johnson's blog for the other five sins. Meanwhile, what are the seven deadly sins of tweeting?

MAX Awards Finalists

2009-10-06T12:22:45Z

If you're a multimedia enthusiast, don't miss the entries chosen as MAX Awards finalists. Watch the videos selected in each of the eight categories and vote your favorite.
Voting ends on October 6th, at 12:00 noon PDT.

New Adobe TV

2009-09-11T03:56:51Z

The well-stocked Adobe TV has always been a great source for learning Adobe products. The new version that went live a couple of days back is packed with cool new features that you'll love. Here are some top ones:

• Customizable homepage
• Improved navigation and search
• Save your favorite episodes to "My Library"
• Share videos on social networking sites
• Subscribe to the RSS feeds of your favorite shows
• Pop-out video player to view videos at any size
• Commenting and rating
• Tags

Check out the latest on Adobe TV.

Adobe Help Events at MAX

2009-09-04T05:54:51Z

At MAX next month, Adobe is putting together some sessions with snacks and drinks to get feedback on the new version of Community Help. Get a sneak preview. The new Community Help has an all new AIR interface and some exciting new features.

The sessions will be held at these times:
• Monday 10/5/09 11:30 am - 1 pm
• Tuesday 10/6/09 4:30 pm - 6 pm

Please contact tknoop@adobe.com if you think you can make either of these sessions at MAX and she'll send you more details.

Creating a Multi-Module Adobe Captivate 4 Movie with a TOC

2009-08-28T06:50:47Z

Typically, when you create a multi-module course, you add a menu to support a user-driven learning path. When users can study the modules in any order or when a course has many modules, adding a visual clue to indicate user progress helps.

In Captivate 4, you can create a multi-module course that supports a user-driven learning path and also gives a visual clue (a checkmark) when a user completes a module by simply adding a TOC to the movie.

The steps to create a TOC are here.

If you are using a menu to create a multi-module course, check this article by Isaac Tabe. Isaac gives step-by-step instructions to show checkmarks on the menu slide of a multi-module Captivate movie based on user progress. The solution uses variables and advanced actions, a powerful way to add complex interactivity in your Captivate movie.

For more information on variables and advanced actions, see Captivate Help.

Mini TOC Placeholder in RoboHelp

2009-08-14T10:35:24Z

With RoboHelp, you can automatically generate mini TOCs in long articles with many subsections.

Here's Benny Joseph, my colleague at Adobe and a RoboHelp pro, on when to use the mini TOC placeholder and how:

Consider the following when you create and apply master pages with mini TOC in your RoboHelp project:
Need for mini TOC: Many topics could contain only one coherent topic, which does not require structuring through sub headings or bookmarks within the topic. For such topics, a mini TOC might not be required. You can create a separate master page without the mini TOC placeholder and apply it to such topics to avoid the mini TOC from appearing.

Topic Length: If your article is a large topic with many subsections, the mini TOC could appear long and nested. In such cases, try to restructure and divide the content and in multiple topics. For example, if you use lower heading levels such as Heading 5 and Heading 6 to highlight definition lists, try to bunch them under a higher level heading, and apply paragraph styles other than heading styles.

Number of levels: RoboHelp includes heading levels 2 through 6 in the mini TOC by default. However, if the topics have a large number of lower-level heading styles, the mini TOCs generated on these pages can become long and deeply nested. To avoid this, limit the number of levels in the mini TOC to have a shorter mini TOC that gives a quick overview of your topic contents.

Placement: Even though you can place a mini TOC placeholder in a topic or a master page, use the master page option if your project is large or you are updating an existing project. Inserting a mini TOC placeholder in each topic can be time-consuming, whereas you can apply a master page with a mini TOC placeholder to large projects at one go.

Adobe Community Publishing 1.1 beta

2009-07-27T03:56:10Z

If you refer to Adobe documentation on the web, you know you can sign in with your Adobe ID and add your comments to any Help topic. Experts designated as moderators answer your queries.
With the release of Adobe Community Publishing 1.1 beta, Adobe has taken another huge step in encouraging community participation.
Community members can contribute tips, movies, code snippets and more with easy-to-use templates. Contributions are moderated by community experts. Plus, everyone in the community can rate and comment on contributions.
To add a contribution, follow these steps:

Download the Community Publishing app: http://www.adobe.com/community/publishing/download.html

Author your tip using a simple template

Publish it to adobe.com

Content goes live within minutes and is automatically added to community help search.

Check out this useful tip added recently by RoboHelp moderator Peter Grainge.

For all tips, see http://www.adobe.com/community/publishing.

Tips to reduce editing time for Captivate movies

2009-07-02T04:39:34Z

Anyone who creates computer-based tutorials for a client knows the kind of effort that goes into applying a consistent style, in on-screen text as well as visuals. If you are using Captivate to create these tutorials, there are many ways you can reduce post-production editing time.

One of the least-known ways is perhaps the way to change the default captions added by Captivate for various actions you record.

]]> Let’s say the default caption for clicking a menu is “Select the menu” and the style mandated by your client is “Click ”. Instead of editing the captions after you complete recording, you can minimize your editing time by editing the template file from which Captivate sources the default captions.
This file is CaptureTextTemplates_English.rdl, and can be found in your Captivate installation. Open the file in any text editor (wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could edit this file from within Captivate?) and modify the captions as you wish. Save and start recording.
The Captivate team shares many smart tips and tricks on their blog. Here are some of my favorites:
How to create training and assessment modules from one Captivate project
http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/06/reduce_your_editing_hours_crea.html

How to set default timing and transition properties and use them across slides, projects and sessions
http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/03/rapid_elearning_authoring_is_t.html

RoboHelp - the Preferred HAT for Many

2009-05-14T07:44:05Z

A poll to decide the most preferred Help Authoring Tool (HAT) is on for weeks now on the Technical Writers of India (TWIN) home page. TWIN is the meeting ground of new and experienced technical writers scattered over many metros of India and attracts thousands of visitors daily. But let’s get back to where I began: the poll to decide the most preferred HAT.

RoboHelp doggedly retains the top position with a whopping 85% percent of votes!

This is great news and reason enough for reaching out with Help to the wide network of RoboHelp users. Adobe’s commitment to integrate the community has seen many new initiatives in 2009. A Help and Support page for different products is one. On these pages, you will find a variety of Help resources—user guides, tutorials, videos, articles, and blogs—gathered from Adobe and community content. Check out the Help and Support pages for RoboHelp:
http://www.adobe.com/support/robohelp/

Text to Speech Feature of Adobe Captivate

2009-05-01T09:50:46Z

Text to Speech is certainly one of the coolest features of Captivate 4. e-Learning course developers no longer need to budget for the time and cost of audio creation. This adds a new dimension to rapid authoring. And where individual users like trainers, managers, and software developers are concerned, they can now independently create a movie complete with audio.
All you need to do to generate the audio for a slide is add slide notes and select a voice. Captivate converts the slide notes into audio in seconds. If you want to generate audio for multiple slides in one go, you can use the Speech Management option.

]]> The step-by-step procedures for converting text to speech are documented here.
The converted speech sounds pretty good. Common abbreviations like TOC and SAP are converted intelligently. If required, you can even customize the text to speech dictionary and alter a pronunciation. Or you can add VoiceText Markup Language (VHTML) tags in the slide notes to add a pause or tweak the speed of the generated audio.
Mukul Vinay Lele gives step-by-step instructions for customizing pronunciations here.
For more information about VTML tags, read this post by Sony Kadavan.

Frame, Rob, and Capture

2009-05-01T09:43:33Z

Or, simply Help? Writing at Adobe, I can be envied for my easy access to some of the best authoring tools. On this page, I’ll be compiling nuggets of information that will supplement installed Help and help us become power users of FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and Captivate. Of course, every now and then, I will digress from the tool talk and talk authoring (authors will be another time and blog :)). Stay with me.