Technical Communication

FrameMaker,Chautauqua,Technical Communication,XML authoring,XML document,PDF,Review,Commenting

Hi

I got so occupied with various activities here that I just realized it’s been over 2 months since I made my last post. Now I’ll try to be regular.

So folks, I hope you have finalized your plans for the ‘FrameMaker Chautauqua’ conference. I too have planned to attend.

I am looking forward to use this opportunity by meeting you at the conference.

Thanks and regards

Mahesh K Gupta

Product Manager – Adobe FrameMaker

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 1:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FrameMaker,track text edits,Technical Communication,XML authoring,XML document,PDF,Review,Commenting

With FrameMaker 8, we introduced an ability to track edits in text. The biggest benefit is in the review workflow.  As we started planning the documentation for the next version of FrameMaker, it became obvious that track text edits in FrameMaker 8 will be a great time saver for both the teams – the product development team (which reviews the content) and the documentation team (which develops the content).  Review is fundamental to ensuring content completeness and accuracy and with incremental development models gaining popularity, content development is also incremental.  This increases the importance of managing content changes through milestones.

I am sure a number of FrameMaker customers are already using from this new feature. Do share your feedback.

Note - For details on what is tracked and what is not, please refer to FrameMaker User Guide.

Posted by at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical Communication,Revenue,Policies and proceures,HAT,knowledge base,XML documents

Technical communication goes beyond in-product documentation.  Online help, knowledge bases, policies and procedures, regulatory submissions, tutorials, training materials and data sheets are also technical communication. While in-product documentation is mandated by law in many countries, there is a business reason for technical communication which goes beyond meeting the legal requirement. 

In general, technical communication serves both internal and external customers.  For example, HR and finance departments aim to improve the adoption of its offerings.  Employee Share Purchase Program run by an employer can be considered as an offering from HR and finance departments. Employees of the organization are internal customers and documentation of policies and procedures is important for the success of the program. 

Most products or services follow a typical adoption cycle – awareness (get customer’s attention), create interest which may lead to a favorable evaluation and hence, a desire to purchase the product.  Marketing communication can help in generating awareness and interest, while technical communication plays a strong role in converting this interest into a desire to purchase or use the offering.  This is especially important in complex applications or business processes. 

If technical communication is effective, more customers understand the offering in shortest possible time and hence, lead to higher sales or adoption.  For example,

• If you use a Captivate demo to illustrate a workflow, more customers will know how to use the product.  In the example of Employee Share Purchase Program, a demonstration of how to log-in to a system, complete the forms, and use the share trading site can increase the subscription to the program.
• If a 3D model of an automobile assembly is used (vis-à-vis a screenshot), it is much easier for customers and vendors to comprehend how their product will fit in the assembly.

Products and services which have strong partner networks (trainers, developers, consultants, vendors, channel or technology partners), it is important to have a common shared understanding about the offering and hence, a need for more effective technical communication. 

In my opinion, technical communication can drive revenue.  What do you think? Please share your opinion.

Posted by at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HAT,RoboHelp,FrameMaker,Captivate,Acrobat 3D,Technical Communication Suite,Online Help,Knowledge Base,Print,XML,DITA

I am seeing a number of debates happening across support forums and mailing lists about which authoring tool (FrameMaker or RoboHelp) is better suited for a specific purpose.  Both RoboHelp and FrameMaker are really powerful authoring tools for technical communication.  FrameMaker provides a print WYSIWYG authoring environment and is the best Print and PDF publishing tool.  RoboHelp provides an HTML WYSIWYG authoring environment and is the best publishing tool for knowledge bases and online help with support for largest number of output formats. RoboHelp supports Dynamic HTML effects while auto-numbering and cross-references are major strengths of FrameMaker. 

Both FrameMaker and RoboHelp provide

• strong support for single sourcing including variables, conditional tags and snippets (text insets in FrameMaker),
• support for multiple TOCs, indexes, glossaries,
• support for tables, images, Captivate demos, Flash, 3D PDFs,
• template based authoring,
• support for long documents (FrameMaker books often exceed 1,000 pages) and large projects (RoboHelp projects often exceed 1500 topics) and so on.  

With Adobe Technical Communication Suite, you don't need to choose between RoboHelp and FrameMaker.  You get both of them (with Captivate and Acrobat 3D) at an attractive price. Adobe Technical Communication Suite provides a complete solution for technical communication.  Adobe Technical Communication Suite is probably the right product for you, if any of the following holds true -

• PDF/print is an important output format for you (need FrameMaker and Acrobat), or
• You send documentation for review to subject matter experts, customers and vendors (need Acrobat 3D for PDF based review and commenting workflow along with FrameMaker or RoboHelp), or
• You are publishing or planning to publish for multiple channels – PDF or print and online help (need FrameMaker, Acrobat and RoboHelp). 
• You are using Structured FrameMaker for authoring XML documents and want a more flexible solution than XSL transforms and reduce the cost to customize and manage XSL transforms for every minor change needed in the Online Help output (need FrameMaker and RoboHelp), or
• You are authoring in DITA and need a better publishing tool than DITA open toolkit (need FrameMaker, Acrobat and RoboHelp), or
• You want to improve the effectiveness of your technical communication by using Flash movies or Adobe Captivate demos to illustrate the workflows (need Captivate along with RoboHelp or FrameMaker), or
• You are part of an industry where 3D visualization can substantially improve  effectiveness of technical communication, for example, manufacturing - engineering, automobiles, construction, aerospace, real estate and so on (need Acrobat 3D with RoboHelp or FrameMaker), or
• You are currently using or will use two or more products from the Suite (FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate and Acrobat 3D). 

I certainly believe that above scenarios hold true for most of the technical communicators. In a later post, I will discuss further on this topic.

Posted by at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)