Adobe Technical Communication Suite,RoboHelp,FrameMaker,Lists,import,HAT,Help Authoring

Adobe RoboHelp 7 and Adobe Technical Communication Suite enable you to convert the FrameMaker paragraph styles with autonumber formats to HTML lists.  After import is complete, you can add or delete list items and the numbering of the list items will change accordingly.

a. Style Mapping - You can map the FrameMaker paragraph styles to new styles in RoboHelp and control the indentation and numbering format through the style definition.   Through style mapping, you can customize the display as bullet, (a), (i) or 1,2,3.

b. Complex and Nested lists - RoboHelp will convert complex list numbering to a single enumeration, for example, list item with number format 1.1.(a) will be enumerated as (a), preceding 1.1 will be lost.  Also, please note that RoboHelp considers the string of building blocks, for example, <n> <n> <a> etc to determine the levels in lists. 

• Named lists in FrameMaker - At present, RoboHelp does not change the level of lists based on names used in autonumber format in FrameMaker.  The solution is to use an empty building block in autonumber format to skip a level. For example, if you are using "A:<n+>." as the autonumber format for level 1 list and "a:<a+>" for level 2 list, change the autonumber format for the level2 list from"a:<a+>" to "a:< > <a+>".
• Using building blocks in Autonumber format -If you are using auto-number formats to display numbering like 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and have sub-lists 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, please make sure you are using autonumber format in level 1 paragraph style as "<n>.0" and not "<n><n=0>".  If you use the second definition in autonumber format, RoboHelp treats the paragraph style as part of level 2 list.

c. Ignore Autonumber Properties - You can also select to ignore auto-number properties for specific styles.  If you choose to ignore auto numbering, the paragraph style will not be mapped to a HTML list in RoboHelp.

If you choose not to "Convert AutoNumber to HTML list", all paragraph styles in FrameMaker will be converted to paragraphs and the numbering, bullets etc will become part of the paragraphs.  You can still map FrameMaker styles to RoboHelp styles as mentioned in (a) above.

Adobe RoboHelp,HAT,Technical Communication Suite,Performance,MDI,Fonts

As you are aware, we implemented Multiple Document Support (MDI) in Adobe RoboHelp HTML 7. However, this change resulted in a small performance bug on systems having large number of fonts installed on your system.

I request customers to remove the extra fonts that they were not using for enhancing problem and believe me I hated stating that. However, today I am happy, as we have fixed the problem and the fix is available through Tech Note - 40336 on Adobe.com. All you have to do is download a single dll and replace it in the Adobe RoboHelp HTML 7 installation.

- Akshay

Adobe FrameMaker,CMS Integration,WebDAV enhancements,Standard based integration,proprietary integration

WebDAV is a standard protocol and is supported by most Content Management Systems (CMS).  FrameMaker has built-in support for connecting to any WebDAV server and accessing files.  It enables browsing the repository, selecting files and checking them out from the Server. 

• When a file is managed by a WebDAV server, multiple users can download copies of the file, but only one user at a time can check out the file. The user who checks out the file can share his or her work with other users by updating the file on the server; however, other users can't make changes to the managed file until it is checked in. This check out/check in system allows multiple users to access the same file but prevents users from overwriting each other's work.
• Because WebDAV works over Web accessible networks, location doesn't matter. Team members can share files regardless of their proximity.

Your local machine has a directory structure that mirrors the WebDAV server structure, so when you check out files, the files are downloaded to your machine and placed in the mirrored folder.

FrameMaker 8 has extended the WebDAV support to allow authoring and editing of XML files located on the server.  In addition, FrameMaker 8 allows you to specify an HTTP path to import graphics into a document, either by copying or by reference. The HTTP path is preserved in the XML. 

WebDAV provides a standard way of integrating with diverse Content Management Systems today.  The other alternative is to build a custom integration with each of the CMS using the proprietary APIs by the CMS.  A custom integration is not only expensive to build and maintain, but it also locks down customers to a particular version of a particular CMS.  At the same time, WebDAV is a low level protocol (the least common denominator) and hence, to enable a seamless workflow, an authoring tool like FrameMaker needs to build logic to process the referenced files, related topics and so on.  Overall, in my opinion, the benefits of using a standard based approach outweigh the custom integration using proprietary APIs.

In future, I see two pronged approach towards enhancing CMS integration with FrameMaker.

• Enabling HTTP path for all referenced files – By enabling an http path for all referenced files in a FrameMaker document, book or DITAMap, FrameMaker will provide a better experience for authors working directly from the CMS.  For example, if you have a DITAMap open in FrameMaker and you double-click on the DITA Topic (which has an http path), FrameMaker will open the topic for you. 
• Enabling WebDAV based access to browse the repository and explicitly check-out and check-in files from the Server. When a file is checked-out, FrameMaker will also bring the referenced files in read-only mode to provide a better authoring experience. 

Adobe AIR,RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Cross platform,Online Help,Knowledge bases

RoboHelp Packager is a solution for anyone (not just developers) who wants to build any type of online information systems in Adobe AIR format and not just online help systems.  For example in eLearning, the packager can used to create Performance Support Systems, Searchable Knowledge bases, electronic libraries, electronic Catalogs or just a way to package Captivate movies into a single file deliverable (.air); in Technical Communication, the most obvious ones are creating Online Help systems, searchable knowledge bases or just a way to package mechanical 3D models and deliver them as a .air file.

The Training video includes exercise files in case you want to go through it yourself : http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p23511269/  

Please feel free to share your feedback.

Adobe RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Upgrade,HAT,Features

As the title suggests, this article is primarily for people upgrading from RoboHelp X5 or earlier releases. For those of you who are upgrading directly from RoboHelp X5 to Adobe RoboHelp 7, you should not only look at the new features that we implemented in Adobe RoboHelp 7, but should also look at the features that we implemented in Adobe RoboHelp 6.

There is a lot of information on the Adobe.com on the new features implemented in Adobe RoboHelp 7; however, I believe the Reviewer’s Guide is amongst the best document that describes the functionality in a structured manner. You can access and download the Reviewer’s Guide for Adobe RoboHelp 7 from the following web address:
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/pdfs/robohelp_7_reviewers_guide.pdf

However, there is little information on Adobe.com on the features that were implemented in the previous release (Adobe RoboHelp 6). Since this product had a very small shelf life, approximately nine months, there is little information about the same on the web too. Hence, I thought it might be useful to share the Reviewer’s Guide for Adobe RoboHelp 6 (Click to DOWNLOAD). When you download, you shall get a zip file that has Demo Assets, Getting Started Guides for Adobe RoboHelp 6 and Adobe RoboHelp Server 6 and the Reviewer’s Guide as Adobe PDF. You shall find Demo Assets useful if you want to follow “Try it” sections in the Reviewer’s Guide.

I hope this blog entry helps you find more reasons to upgrade :)

- Akshay

Adobe RoboHelp,Technical Communication Suite,Exclude from Search,HAT

I have met a number of technical communicators who are interested in excluding some topics from being searched in a RoboHelp published project. Adobe RoboHelp doesn't’t support this natively however, since I see a lot of interest in doing the same, today, I shall describe a procedure that will help you exclude specific topics and even content in a topic from being searched.

Here is what you have to do:

• Create a Conditional Build Tag, say “Exclude_from_Search”. I have created a sample Adobe RoboHelp 7 project. You can download (DOWNLOAD NOW) the same and work on it.
• Apply this CBT to all the topics in the Project Manager that you want to be excluded from the Search. Here in the sample project, I have applied the CBT to Third_Topic.htm in the project manager.
• Apply this CBT to content within a topic that you would want to exclude from Search. In the sample project, I have applied CBT to some text in the Second_Topic.htm
  
  
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• In the SSL, create a special SSL that excludes all the content that is tagged with "Exclude_from_Search” CBT. All you have to do is create a new WebHelp SSL, name it "Exclude from Search" and then click on its Properties and Define Condition Build Expression as “NOT Exclude_from_Search” and then Save the same.
  
  
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• Now generate output for both the WebHelp SSL‘s - "WebHelp" and "Exclude from Search". You can even use the Batch Generate option to do that in a single shot.
  
  Quick test in the WebHelp output:
  1) Search for lazy – you shall get hits for Second and Third Topic
  
      
       (See larger image)
  
  2) Search for Topic – you shall get hits for all the three topic
  
      
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• Now we need to replace the index generated in the "WebHelp" output with the one that is generated in the "Exclude from Search" output. Follow the steps listed below to do the same:
• Now browse to the output folder of the "WebHelp" output. The default location would be “<Project Path>\<Project Name>\!SSL!\WebHelp”
• Browse to folder “whxdata” under the WebHelp folder.
• Search and delete whf*.* files in this folder.
• Copy whf*.* files from the corresponding folder in the Exclude from Search output (“<Project Path>\<Project Name>\!SSL!\Exclude from Search\whxdata”) and place them in this folder (“<Project Path>\<Project Name>\!SSL!\WebHelp\whxdata”).
  
  Please note that you have to delete all files and copy files and not do a replace operation as the number of files might be different.

Quick test in the WebHelp output after patching the index:
1) Search for lazy – No hits

     
      (See larger image)

2) Search for Topic – you shall get hits for Second and Third Topic

    
     (See larger image)

I just hope that you will now be able to exclude content from being searched in RoboHelp published projects using this procedure till we build native support in the product.

- Akshay

Adobe RoboHelp,Adobe AIR,RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR,Cross_Platform Output (Help,Knowledge base,Policies and Procedures)

You might be aware that, Adobe released an Alpha build of Adobe AIR for Linux a couple of days ago. You can read more about the same and download a build from the Adobe Labs website. We had released RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR when this was not available and we claimed that the output (an .air) created using RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR will work on Linux when we release Adobe AIR for Linux. I got a number of queries around that claim, but couldn’t substantiate it then. However, I am happy to announce that you can now download and install Adobe AIR for Linux on a Linux machine and then install any output created using RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR. The best part is you will be amazed to see that the complete experience including installation is exactly similar on all platforms.

Since Adobe RoboHelp is a Windows only product and many of us might not have access to an Apple Mac machine or a Linux machine, I thought I must share my experience of installing an .air file created using RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR on all the three platforms - Win, Mac and Linux.

So what I did was, I picked up the “Customer Care” sample project that we ship with Adobe RoboHelp and packaged its WebHelp output to a .air file and then installed the same on a Microsoft Windows XP machine, an Apple Mac machine and a Linux machine. As you all know an .air file has to be installed. The installation experience was same and the output (Help) looked exactly same on all three platforms. Here are the images – see it for yourself.

Figure 1: Customer Care on Microsoft Windows (Larger Image)

Figure 2: Customer Care on Apple Mac (Larger Image)

Figure 3: Customer Care on Linux (Larger Image)

This is now shaping up as a true cross platform solution and I am happy that Adobe RoboHelp is enabling this.

- Akshay

Adobe Technical Communication Suite,Technical Communication,RoboHelp,FrameMaker,HAT,Online Help,XML,Training,Videos

Adobe Senior Product Evangelist, RJ Jácquez, has created three On Demand training videos to help customers get started with Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  A large number of customers have been asking us for training material on the Suite. I hope you will find this useful.  Please see the details below-

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 1 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p29205929/)

In Part 1, you will learn about leveraging live and interactive 3D models from virtual any CAD/CAM/CAE software in your technical and instructional documents using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  This training video includes all exercise files needed for you to follow along with the presenter, and experience first-hand how to convert a 3D CAD file into a highly compressed 3D PDF document and how the included 3D Toolkit software allows you to reuse this model in FrameMaker and then generate an interactive and rich PDF document, that you can distribute to anyone using the free Adobe Reader. The video also guides you through the steps on how to further polish your 3D models using 3D materials and by adding animation that shows your end-users how to disassemble the model.

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 2 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p25426010/)

In Part 2, you will learn how to supplement your technical and instructional design documents with engaging Adobe Captivate demonstrations, simulations and quizzes in the Flash format using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite.  This training video includes all exercise files needed for you to follow along with the presenter and experience first-hand how to create engaging Captivate demonstrations, simulations and quizzes that can be imported into FrameMaker documents and saved as PDF files, that end-users can playback using the free Adobe Reader.  The video also guides you through the steps needed to add a printing poster in FrameMaker and how to generate a single .SWF file from Captivate, which includes the playback bar in the PDF file, as well as other best practices.

NEW Training Video! Getting Started with the Technical Communication Suite: Part 3 (http://my.adobe.acrobat.com/p13101233/)

In Part 3, you will learn about adding FrameMaker books and documents in RoboHelp as live links and reusing FrameMaker content for creating Online Help systems, Searchable Knowledge bases, Performance Support systems and even Policies and Procedures.  Just like the first two, the exercise files are also included in case you want to go over the integration features yourself.

Besides Adobe Technical Communication Suite, there are training videos for Adobe FrameMaker 8 and Adobe RoboHelp 7 available on Help Resource Center.  Adobe Certified Trainers (for example, John Daigle is a certified trainer for RoboHelp and Captivate) can help you with formal training, if required.  If you are looking for formal training, you can locate Adobe Authorized Trainers in your area from Adobe site.

FrameMaker,RoboHelp,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,Adobe AIR,Linux,DITA,Online Help

With Adobe Technical Communication Suite and RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR (free download), you can now generate Adobe AIR output when you are authoring documents in FrameMaker.  As part of Adobe Techncial Communication Suite, you can add FrameMaker documents and books as live links in RoboHelp and generate WebHelp output from RoboHelp.  RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR enables you to generate Adobe AIR output from the WebHelp output.  Adobe AIR output comes with several advantages - please check out Adobe Labs page for more details.

Generating Online Help for DITA content

If you are authoring in DITA, it is easy to convert the DITAMap file into a FrameMaker book or a FrameMaker document (see DITA menu in FrameMaker 8 below) and generate the HTML help using RoboHelp.  If you update your DITA topics later, you can re-generate the FrameMaker document and RoboHelp will allow you to generate Online Help in two clicks (Update and Publish). 

Another alternative for publishing DITA content to RoboHelp is to (a) create HTML files through DITA Open toolkit, (b) bring these HTML files in RoboHelp and (c) run publish/generate commands.  RoboHelp also supports command line compile and publish.  For generating overnight builds, you can run a batch command to download the source files from source control system, compile and publish the output.

Do you have a custom help viewer for cross-platform applications?

Online Help using Adobe AIR is an attractive alternative for cross-platform applications.  Over the last month, I met several customers who write custom help viewers to support online help for cross-platform applications.  This requires additional cost of creating and maintaining the helpviewer application.  Helpviewer is not a simple application, it requires functionality for creating mini-TOC, breadcrumbs, browse sequences, support for skins or templates, support for PDF, SWF and other dynamic content and search functionality for multiple languages.  If you are planning to add Web 2.0 features, there is additional effort required to create a commenting infrastructure. With Adobe AIR and RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR, you now have an easy out of the box cross-platform option available to you.

FYI- Adobe AIR for Linux (alpha) is now available on Adobe Labs.

FrameMaker,RoboHelp,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,FileName Markers,Custom filenames

You can create custom filenames for topics in RoboHelp, when you add FrameMaker documents to RoboHelp as live link.  You don't need to use filename markers in FrameMaker.  Since RoboHelp supports conditional tags and imports the text in FrameMaker which has conditional text setting applied, the same workflow can be created using conditional text.  This solution relies on the fact that RoboHelp creates topic names based on the text of the style you paginate on.  

1. Please add the specific file names (say, FileName1, FileName2, FileName3, FileName4) just before the topic headings in FrameMaker which correspond to these dialog names.

2. Assign a unique style to these names (say, "FrameMakerFileNameStyle").

3. Apply a conditional text to these names in FrameMaker (say, "FileNameTag").

4. Add another style in RoboHelp (say"RoboHelpFileNameStyle").

5. Map the FrameMaker style "FrameMakerFileNameStyle" to RoboHelp style "RoboHelpFileNameStyle".  You can map the remaining styles as you had done earlier. No change is required.

6. Select "RoboHelpFileNameStyle" as the style to paginate on (instead of Heading 1 or Heading 2).

7. Also, select to create a TOC based on FrameMaker TOC which uses Heading1 or Heading2 styles in FrameMaker. Note that filenames are not same as the TOC entries, RoboHelp project explorer will list topics by filename. However, if you have a hierarchical TOC in FrameMaker (using styles Heading1, Heading2, Heading3) etc, RoboHelp will convert the TOC and maintain hierarchy. 

8. Select "paratext_no_num" as the option for topic name pattern.  This option asks RoboHelp to generate filenames based on the text of the style you paginate on and remove the autonumbering from the text.  

Please click on Continue to view the Captivate demo below.

On Import of content in RoboHelp,

1. RoboHelp creates a TOC which mirrors FrameMaker TOC (the additional text is not reflected here)

2. RoboHelp creates filenames based on the text added (for example, FileName1, FileName2, FileName3, FileName4 etc.)

3. RoboHelp shows the custom filenames  (FileName1, FileName2, FileName3, FileName4 etc.) as part of each topic with conditional text (FileNameTag) applied.

4. In the SSL, exclude the conditional text "FileNameTag" and generate output. You get your TOC, topics are also displayed fine without the additional text.

Please click on Continue to view the Captivate demo below.

Adobe RoboHelp,HAT,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,Multi-authoring,Source Control,RoboSource Control,Merged Help

Adobe RoboHelp 7 has a great multi-authoring support. You can use a Source Control system to achieve the same. In my opinion it is the best way to achieve true multi-authoring. Alternatively, if you want to avoid the complexity of setting up a Source Control system, you may use the Merged Help feature of RoboHelp to achieve multi-authoring. However, I repeat – I strongly recommend using a Source Control as it provides added benefits:

• It gives you the flexibility of working on all the files in the project – true multi-authoring. Even two or more authors can work on the same file simultaneously. You may wish to restrict access by setting adequate permissions and/or setting an option for not letting two authors work on the same file.
• It also provides Version Management. You can retrieve older version of not just files and folders but even complete projects.

Multi-authoring using Source Control

Adobe RoboHelp 7 has an in-built support to connect to any Source Control that supports Microsoft Source Code Control Interface (MSSCCI) API. This includes most of the Source Control including RoboSource Control (which ships for free along with Adobe RoboHelp 7), Perforce, Visual Source Safe version 6 and 7 etc.

The most important characteristic of this integration is that RoboHelp shields the author from the complexity of the Source Control. An author will never require opening the Source Control program. He can manage most of the tasks like – Adding a project to the Source Control, Retrieving they latest version of the project or any of its older versions, checking the history of a file etc without leaving RoboHelp HTML application. RoboHelp HTML has a very friendly toolbar that can do all of this without the author leaving the authoring application. Apart from this, the application also keeps a track of files that get modified when you work on a project. If you are modifying existing files in a project, they will be automatically checked out, including project files like the ones used for storing Conditional Build tags, User Defined variables, Snippets etc. It also keeps a track of the new files that get created while you work on your project. And as soon as you close your project or application, it will ask you to check all the modified and newly added files into the Source Control program. Simple isn’t it.

Most of the Source Controls programs, including RoboSource Control provide the option of locking and / or notifying the author if a file is already in use or is being updated by another author. Some advanced Source Control systems, including RoboSource Control also allow the same file to be edited by multiple authors at the same time. However, in such a case, the one checking-in the file will have to make sure that he merges all the changes checked-in by another author. At times this could become tricky and thus I would recommend you to do so only if you are a power user. By default, this feature is turned off in RoboSource Control and it will lock a file if the same is being updated by an author.

If you have not looked at RoboSource Control, I would suggest that you give it a try right away. There is a very nice article on the RoboHelp Developer Center by Matthew Ellison that talks about how to set up and use RoboSource Control - http://www.adobe.com/devnet/robohelp/articles/robosource.html

Multi-authoring using Merged Help feature

Adobe RoboHelp has a very powerful feature, using which an author can set up merging of multiple smaller projects into one single project when the smaller projects are published in a specific folder structure. For the purpose of multi-authoring, you could do the reverse. Meaning thereby, that a single mammoth project can be split into smaller projects in such a way that an author gets to work on an independent help project. The beauty of this feature is that, after you set up the system, you do not have to collaborate with any of the other authors. You can publish your part of the project independent of the other authors. When you publish, the system is smart enough to make changes to just your part of the project without affecting the other part of project. Pretty neat isn’t it.

Multi-authoring is a very powerful feature and providing multi-authoring support is just a small part of it. I will cover it in more detail some other day.

RoboHelp,Adobe AIR,Future of Online Help,HAT,Innovation,Technical Communication Suite,Adobe

Five weeks ago, I posted on RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR and I started with " 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."  It was a brave statement and I was preparing for a long and extended period of evangelism around Adobe AIR and why it is the most preferred format for your Online Help.  However, events have overtaken us. 

At the Writers UA Conference two weeks ago, Adobe AIR was a great hit.  Within 3 weeks of the public Beta announcement, almost everyone at the conference was talking about the possibilities Adobe AIR provides as a vehicle for delivering Online Help.  Throughout the conference, a number of experts, consultants and trainers whom we closely work with - John Daigle, Matt Sullivan, Alan Houser, Kevin Siegel, Rick Stone, Peter Grainge, Rob Houser, Tony Self and hundreds of conference participants endorsed the vision of Adobe AIR.  We held additional sessions to provide details on RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR and two of the four pundits on the panel mentioned Adobe AIR as the future of user assistance.  I had no doubt in my mind that Adobe AIR is the future of Online Help, what's amazed me is the speed at which everyone in user assistance community has embraced Adobe AIR.

If you are one of the few, who have not yet downloaded the free public beta from Adobe Labs, please do so and let us know your feedback.

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

I am just back from the WritersUA conference. As usual the conference was nice - we had some great sessions, good food and a lot of fun.  As I had mentioned in the previous post, we had John Daigle, Peter Grainge and Rick Stone as RoboHelp experts and Matt Sullivan as FrameMaker expert. 

I was surprised when two out of the three pundits in the closing session concluded that Adobe AIR is the future. However, that gave me satisfaction as we were able to show the power of Adobe AIR through Beta of RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR.

I thank everyone for showing interest in RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR. We had a number of requests both at the booth and in the conference sessions. We did a couple of sessions about Adobe AIR and RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR and got some great feedback. For those of you, who have not got a chance to attend WritersUA, should go ahead and do a free download of the same from //labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp and participate in developing this product by providing feedback on the forum on the same web page.

The best part of using the packager is that it accepts WebHelp output produced by either Adobe RoboHelp 6 or Adobe RoboHelp 7 to generate an .air file. You do not have to do anything technical or write code. All you need to do is to go through a conversion wizard which has three screens in total. You can rip apart the WebHelp UI and package the actual content with a new modern looking UI. Packager provides you with an option of picking up from a set of absolutely different looking UI.

Thanks everyone for making this conference a memorable one.

- Akshay

RoboHelp,Adobe AIR,Technical Communication,Technical Communication Suite,Online Help,HAT,CHM,Packager,Adobe

If you are publishing online help for Windows Vista (or one of the platforms you publish to is Windows Vista), you may want to consider using the Unipane skin from RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR.  Here is a Captivate Demo of what the output from this skin looks.  The help project used is the help file for RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR (you can download it from http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/.

If you will want to see how your project looks in Adobe AIR, please download the Beta from Adobe Labs.

Adobe RoboHelp,Adobe Technical Communication Suite,HAT,Conference,WritersUA

It’s been some time that we have been communicating through this blog. We have an opportunity - if you happen to be attending WritersUA Conference, do make sure that you drop by Adobe booth, and meet me in person.  I am happy to announce that we shall have Peter Grainge, John Daigle, Rick Stone, Matt Sullivan apart from the Adobe Team. You shall find these names familiar as they are active on Adobe Forums, and probably this is one such opportunity where you can put a face to these names, again at the Adobe booth.

There would be two Conference Sessions by Adobe:

• Introducing Technical Communication Suite on Monday 17th March at 1:15 PM, and
• Vendor Technical Presentation on March 18th.

Apart from the in conference sessions, we shall have demonstrations every day in the Adobe Meeting Room:

• RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR - Presentation by Akshay Madan (2pm to 2.30pm)
• Flare to RoboHelp Converter - Presentation by John Daigle (2.30pm to 3pm)
• Adobe Community Experts - Project Consultation (3pm to 4pm)

In case you would like to gather information about Adobe Technical Communications Suite, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe RoboHelp Server, RoboSource Control, RoboScreenCapture, Captivate, FrameMaker, Acrobat or any other Adobe Product, please drop by our booth.

This time we have a new concept introduced by Peter called “Stick It”. They describe it as:

“If you have a RoboHelp problem that's hard to diagnose it helps if we can actually load the project and take a look. Peter says, if you're stuck, "Stick It!". Ah that charming British humor. What he is suggesting is that you bring your RoboHelp Project on a Memory Stick and we'll be glad to take a look and maybe solve any thorny problems you might be having.” – Source HATT list.

Also, if you have any problems, suggestions, enhancement requests regarding Adobe RoboHelp / Adobe RoboHelp Server or other Technical Communications Suite products, you are more than welcome to set up a meeting with me, so that we can talk about them in detail.

Last, but not the least, do not miss the Adobe sponsored Networking Mixer on Monday.

See you in Portland.