Technical Communication

Adobe RoboHelp,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR,HAT,Adobe AIR

I joined Adobe almost eight years ago. I still remember that they gave me a cool looking poster along with some other goodies along with the offer letter. The poster read – “Time flies like an Arrow”. I feel the same today.

As you are aware, RoboHelp had some turbulent time in the past. It was neglected for almost three years. But the time has changed, I love the quote that I received today – It stated – “Adobe RoboHelp is a modern innovative product showing the world what Help would be in Web 2.0 era.”

When I took up the RoboHelp Product Management responsibilities in year 2006, the most frequently asked question was – “What is the future of RoboHelp?” Even before I could start answering the question, the questioner would continue saying that they believe it was DEAD. I had a hard time explaining everyone that RoboHelp was NOT DEAD and that it has a very bright future. However the skepticism continued.

On January 16, 2007, we launched Adobe RoboHelp 6 – the very first release of RoboHelp from Adobe. It was a very short product cycle. The goal of the release was to put an end to the “RoboHelp is dead” fears.  And we were successful in accomplishing the goal. However, soon after the release, everyone started bombarding me with a list of features that they wanted in RoboHelp. We were successful in regaining the lost faith and with this we started chalking out the roadmap for a significant release - Adobe RoboHelp 7.

Adobe RoboHelp 7 was very special, primarily for two reasons – 1) We had the complete team and infrastructure in place for shipping RoboHelp and thus could concentrate on just building features and 2) We had a clear vision of Adobe Technical Communication Suite. Eventually the dream came true and we released Adobe RoboHelp 7 and a brand new Adobe Technical Communication Suite on September 25, 2007. This was a new beginning. There we praises all over the web which clearly stated Adobe RoboHelp 7 to be the biggest release in the product’s entire history. I was swamped with messages congratulating and thanking for a phenomenal release which made me believe that everyone liked the release. I thank everyone for showing such warmth.

This Monday, we release “RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR”.  This is a brand new utility that converts WebHelp generated from Adobe RoboHelp 6 and Adobe RoboHelp 7 into a single installable Help file. The Help is based on Adobe AIR, and has the best of both worlds - desktop and web, and provides customers the power and flexibility of sophisticated, modern, branded Help systems.  I don’t think I can explain you the power by writing more about the same, you will have to experience it yourself. So visit http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/, download the utility free of cost and experience what Help would look like in Web 2.0.

And today, I received a personal note from a customer, who quoted RoboHelp as a Modern Innovative Tool.  

It’s been a very nice journey - resurrecting a Dead product to a one that is perceived as a Modern Innovative Tool and I am happy to be an integral part of it.

I thank everyone who has supported us all along the way. It wouldn’t have been possible without your support – THANK YOU.

Posted by Akshay Madan at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

RoboHelp,Adobe AIR,Technical Communication,Adobe Technical Suite,Help Authoring,Online Help,HAT

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR (Beta) provides two skins (a) Multi-Tab Accordion and UniPane.  Each of these skins comes with several themes (color schemes) to choose from. In this post, I share a few screenshots of a Customer Care project (one of the sample projects which is part of Adobe RoboHelp 7) published using Multi-Tab Accordion skin. 

You can now open more than one tab in the help. At times you have more than two topics which are of interest and you want to open both of them (from search results or from the TOC menu).  However, CHM or WebHelp don't provide an ability to open multiple tabs in the same help window.  In the screenshot below, you may also notice the mini-TOC to the right side of the content window.  Also note that text of the content pane automatically reflows to adjust for the mini-TOC. Thus, mini-TOC is not hiding any of the content.

You can also add comments to the bottom of each page (see below). Comments are at present stored in the local repository on the client machine.

You can also add favorites - please see the Favorites tab at the bottom of the left pane (see below).

On the top right hand corner, you can list resources (for example, corporate web site, support forum link etc.).  If you will want to see how your project looks in Adobe AIR, please download the Beta from Adobe Labs.

Posted by Vivek Jain at 11:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

HAT,RoboHelp,Future of Online Help,Help Authoring,Technical Communication,Adobe,Technical Suite

If you want to know more about the future of Online Help in Web 2.0 world, you may want to check out the Public Beta of RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR. Adobe AIR is a new initiative from Adobe which provides a cross platform consistent look and feel, seamless offline – online experience and an ability to dynamically refresh content. Add Flash to HTML, ability to provide feedback on help content or knowledge bases, offline – online synchronization*, ability to view Captivate demos and 3D models in help, a single Adobe AIR file which works across platforms – you now have the most advanced output format available for Online Help and Knowledge Bases. Besides TOC, Index, Glossary, Search function, you also get breadcrumbs, mini TOC, browse sequences, an ability to add favorites and comments. You can also add links to resources like knowledge bases, support forums and corporate web site.

If you are using Adobe RoboHelp 6, Adobe RoboHelp 7 or Adobe Technical Communication Suite , you can use the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR to generate an Adobe AIR application from your WebHelp output. The Public Beta comes with two new skins, (a) Multi-Tab Accordion and (b) UniPane and you can choose from several themes for each of these skins.

To read more about the benefits of packaging your help as .air file, please visit the following link: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/aboutoutput.html

Download it now for free and please share your feedback.

* Planned for future releases

Posted by Vivek Jain at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Adobe RoboHelp 7,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,Patch,Update Details,Issues Resolved,Security Update

I was short on time when I wrote my previous post and hence did not mention the exact list of issues that have been resolved in the recent update to Adobe RoboHelp 7. I thought that getting out the message was much more important than describing the issues. Today, I will improve upon that by listing down all the issues fixed in Adobe RoboHelp 7.0.1 (when you apply the Update the version number changes from 7 to 7.0.1)

Rather than writing out the issues myself, I thought it might be more accurate to just Cut and Paste contents from the "Read Me" itself. So here is the list of issues:

********(from Adobe RoboHelp 7.0.1 "Read Me")********

List of major issues resolved in the Update:

• Search does not work properly in CHM output generated in complex asian languages.
• When an X5 Project is upgraded to RoboHelp 7.0 some topics may remain empty in certain scenarios.
• Browse sequence doesn’t get auto generated via TOC on importing complex Frame maker file.
• If style sheet is accessed by clicking Format | Styles, then after style sheet creation changes to the styles could not be made successfully in the first attempt. The dialog has to be reopened to make changes.
• Any formatting changes to a paragraph could not be saved as a paragraph style on the fly using Formatting toolbar.
• Search does not work properly in CHM output generated in few languages.
• When an X5 project is upgraded to RoboHelp 7.0 topic files-names might get converted to Title Case.
• Images with Text wrapping applied do not appear in Printed Documentation output.
• DHTML effects applied on styles do not get automatically updated without opening the topic.
• Security vulnerability related to cross-site scripting attacks in WebHelp and FlashHelp Single Source Layouts has been fixed.
• Frame Maker style with DHTML effects when mapped to a RoboHelp style do not retain DHTML effects on mapping.
• While renaming a Snippet or a UDV, the Topics opened in the editor may get saved without a prompt.
• While viewing content in Mozilla Firefox, some of the TOC Books may not open until any topic is opened manually. Additionally the default topic is not shown if it is under some book.
• In certain scenarios hotspots created on Shed files are missing in the FlashHelp output for RoboHelp for Word.
• Conditional Build Tags when applied differently in multiple cells of a table do not appear properly in output.
• Previewing of an unsaved topic results in saving the topic without giving any prompt.
• HTML topics may not get generated if a structured Frame Maker file is imported or added to a RoboHelp project.
• In case of multiple cross reference markers applied to paragraphs each linked to different sources in a FrameMaker file, the hyperlinks are not formed on importing or linking the file to RoboHelp project.
• Inserting image with path more than 120 characters do not work properly.

****************************************

As mentioned in the list we have also fixed the vulnerability related to cross-site scripting attacks in WebHelp and FlashHelp. You can read more about this on the following Security Bulletin published by Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/support/security/bulletins/apsb08-05.html

In case you have any queries around the Adobe RoboHelp 7 Update, please leave a comment and I shall try to answer the same.

Thanks,
Akshay

Posted by Akshay Madan at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Patch,Update,Adobe RoboHelp. Adobe Technical Communication Suite,RoboHTML

We just released an update for Adobe RoboHelp 7. This update addresses some of the important issues that were reported on the Adobe RoboHelp forums. Apart from bug fixes, the new update will patch your installation so that you can produce more secure Help Systems.

The update is being distributed using the Adobe Update Manager utility, which is shared by all Adobe products. So Adobe RoboHelp 7 users can utilize product's automatic update facility by selecting Help > Updates. Once you update your installation, the version number will bump up from Adobe RoboHelp 7 to Adobe RoboHelp 7.0.1.

Posted by Akshay Madan at 08:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Tutorials,Adobe RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Adobe FrameMaker,Adobe Captivate,Help Center

I am not too sure if you are aware that the Help for Adobe RoboHelp 7 and Adobe RoboHelp Server 7 is posted on Adobe Help Resource Center (http://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/). You can visit this page and access it even if you do not have Adobe RoboHelp license. Please visit this page for browsing latest Help, Getting Started Guides, Installation guides and other resources. We recently posted some Video tutorial showcasing the new Adobe RoboHelp 7 features on the Help Resource Center. Here is a list of tutorials posted on the website:

Explore the RoboHelp 7 interface
Get a feel for the new look of Adobe RoboHelp 7. Learn about the Multiple Document Interface, which lets you work simultaneously on multiple topics.
Video (3:21 minutes)

Personalize the RoboHelp 7 user interface
Get a feel for the new look of Adobe RoboHelp 7. Learn how to group pods, customize the user interface and save your custom environment.
Video (4:32 minutes)

Import Adobe FrameMaker files into RoboHelp 7
Learn how to map styles when importing FrameMaker files into Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (5:55 minutes)

Unicode Support
Learn about Unicode support and localization feature in Adobe RoboHelp 7, which helps create content in 35 languages.
Video (4:16 minutes)

Snippets
Learn how to create, insert, delete, and manage Snippets in RoboHelp projects.
Video (2:06 minutes)

Enhanced end-user experience
Learn about new features in Adobe RoboHelp 7 like Synonyms, Search Highlighting, and Breadcrumb Navigation, which enhance user experience.
Video (3:02 minutes)

New HTML editor
Learn how to improve productivity using features like color coding, enhanced Find / Replace, and Intellisense in the new HTML editor in Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (3:12 minutes)

Multiple tables of contents, indexes, and glossaries
Learn how to effectively single source content by defining and managing multiple Table of Contents, Indexes, and Glossaries in a single RoboHelp 7 project.
Video (4:08 minutes)

Integration with RoboScreen Capture
Learn how to use RoboScreen Capture for capturing and inserting screenshots into Adobe RoboHelp 7 HTML. RoboScreen Capture ships for free with Adobe RoboHelp 7.
Video (2:31 minutes)

Integration with Adobe Captivate
Learn how to create powerful and engaging simulations in Adobe Captivate, and import them into Adobe RoboHelp 7 HTML.
Video (3:22 minutes)

I hope you will find these tutorials informative and useful.

Regards,
Akshay

Posted by Akshay Madan at 06:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Technical Communication,Adobe,DITA,Authoring,FrameMaker,Captivate,Acrobat 3D,Suite,Pdf,Unicode

Hi

In my previous post I mentioned that we were busy with some activities here. Yes, you guessed it right!

FrameMaker 8.0.2 patch is live now and it is available through Adobe Update Manager (AUM). This patch (8.0p273) must be applied on top of 8.0.1 (8.0p266) only. You can check for updates through Help->Updates Menu in FrameMaker.

We have been listening to you and we have tried fixing most of your problems through this patch.

With the help of these fixes, following workflows are now enabled/supported:

• Generated INDEX does not drop entries when markers for multi-level entries have same text.
• HYPHENATION remains correct when accented characters are present in the word and the hyphenation operation is performed more than once.
• FrameMaker does not hang on VISTA when some text is selected and mouse pointer is moved.
• Control characters like emSpace, enSpace are displayed correctly when a FrameMaker file is round tripped to XML.
• Characters from Private Use Area (PUA) are now supported and displayed correctly.
• Shortcuts (operations in document using Function keys) do not time out at random intervals. The tag list stays in the status field after pressing the function key.
• Status-bar shortcuts (Ctrl+F8, Ctrl+F9) for paragraphs and character designer can be applied with their respective designers being open.
• Unicode characters of Symbol/Dingbats/WebDings fonts are correctly converted when an XML is opened in FrameMaker.
• Links in PDF created using distiller 8 works with Acrobat 7.
• Hyperlink from one pdf to another works fine on web if they were created using FrameMaker 8 and Distiller 8.
• Clicking on the message client hypertext marker works fine even if the folder contains non ASCII characters.
• German and French ending double quotes (with SMART QUOTES = ON) are applied correctly.
• Transpose characters operations using Ctrl+F9 key works properly with Unicode characters.
• For various dialogs, special spaces (control characters) don’t get lost on editing. This is important in case of editing variables.
• Higher ANSI characters are accepted as line break characters.

Please install this patch on top of 8.0.1, retest your workflows and share your feedback with me.

Thanks

-Mahesh

Posted by Mahesh Kumar Gupta at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)