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Technical

Writing

Tools

www.marcomteam.org

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Introduction to Technical Writing Tools

Contents

RoboHelp ............................................................................................................................................ 2

AdobeFrameMaker ............................................................................................................................. 5

MadCap Flare ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Author - IT ......................................................................................................................................... 12

Epic Editor ......................................................................................................................................... 14

Using Doc To Help ............................................................................................................................. 16

ForeHelp ............................................................................................................................................ 20

Adobe Captivate ................................................................................................................................ 25

RoboHelp

Introduction

RoboHelp X5 is an authoring tool sold Adobe Company. RoboHelp was previously product f rom eHelp Corporation (formerly Blue Sky Software).

In an easy "WYSIWYG" format, it allows you to organize information and create pathways and inter- active links so a user can find desired or

necessary information (and the user can do so in a non- linear intuitive way that is helpful to learning).

You can add images (photos, drawings, images, video) and audio to your topics to support your content and enhance your online information. You

can even use these images as links(hotspots) to other topics. In a topic, images are part of the text that makeup atopic and they flow with the

text as you add and delete information. You insert images into your topics in the RoboHELP WYSIWYG Editor.

RoboHelp also lets you create pop-up text hotspots and a Table of

Contents, Glossary, and Index as you develop text. When development is finished, depending on the version of RoboHelp you have, you can provide

different output formats (print, Microsoft HTML, JavaHelp, etc). RoboHELPOfficeX5 Structure displays:

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Basic Steps followed for creating a help file:

• Select an authoring environment. • Create aHelp project.

• Create topics.

• Link the topics. • Create a table of contents.

• Create an index. • Compile the Help system.

• Test the Help system.

• Deliver the Help system.

RoboWinHelp

RoboHELP WinHelp is a robust Help authoring tool that allows us to create a sophisticated Help systems. We focus on design and content while

RoboHELP handles the complexities of creating Help systems for us behind the scenes.

RoboHELPWinHelp includes the following Features:

• Working Area: Microsoft Word

• Project FileExtension: (.hpj) • Output FileExtension: (.hlp)

• Each topic is differentiated by a pagebreak in a single document. • Document FileExtension: (.doc) is for default working area and (.rtf) is

were a backup copy is been created.

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RoboHELP Explorer

RoboHELP Explorer displays an integrated graphical view of the Help project and all its elements, so that it is easy to see and organize the

whole Help project at once – not just one element at a time. RoboHELP Explorer contains the Project Manager (Project tab), the TOC Composer

(TOC tab), the Index Designer (Index tab), the Tools tab, imageWorkshop, Link View, and Topic List. It has the Right and Left Panel

were the Left Panel displays the Project Tab, TOC Composer, Index Designer, and Tools Tab and the Right panel displays the Image

Workshop, Link View, and Topics.

Project Manager

The Project Manager provides an entry point for viewing and working with

all the elements of the Help project. It displays an expandable/collapsible hierarchy of folders that organize topics, broken links, Map IDs, windows,

images, and other project files into manageable groups.

RoboHELP HTML

RoboHELP HTML is the only specialized WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) authoring tool for creating Microsoft HTML Help for Windows.

Additionally, it is ideally suited for developing cross-platform, browser-

independent Help (WebHelp) and JavaHelp.

RoboHELP HTML includes the following Features: • Working Area: Microsoft Front page

• Project FileExtension: (.xpj) • Output FileExtension: (.chm)

• Each topic is aNew HTML File • Document FileExtension: (.html)

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RoboHELP HTML provides advanced Help authoring solutions, including the ability to create powerful Microsoft HTML Help and other major Help

formats in one easy-to-use environment. RoboHELP HTML offers superior Help navigation, search, and project management features.

Here are some of the intuitive features you can take advantage of in

RoboHELP HTML:

Manage your project easily • Quickly view a hierarchy of files and folders and organize topics,

images, stylesheets, and other project files into manageable groups. • Track topic development and quickly view a list of topics or their

properties and organize them by attributes. • View the structure of your project graphically using Link View. It works

like a navigation map, displaying all hyperlinks among topics and "red

flags" broken links so you can quickly isolate and fix them. • Use reports to track the progress of your project. You can customize

reports to suit your needs and view them online or from printed copies. Design custom tables of contents

• Construct a table of contents by dragging and dropping topics right into the TOC Composer, or let it generate a TOC automatically for you.

Rearrange topic order, create a multilevel hierarchy, and see results as you create them.

• Organize topics with an expandable/collapsible TOC. From a Contents tab, users open books to find pages and they click pages to view their

associated topics.

Create indexes quickly • Build a keyword list right in the Index Designer. Drag and drop topics

into it and create a multi-level, sorted index.

• Test and edit your index just by looking at your keywords and their associated topics.

• Take advantage of automated indexing with the Smart Index Wizard. It searches the content of your topics and suggests keywords and keyword

phrases. Use it to quickly create an index from concept to finish and to add suggested keywords to individual topics.

AdobeFrameMaker

Introduction

FrameMaker is a complete publishing system. It's a word processor, page

designer, graphics editor, and book builder rolled into one package. You

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can use this versatile application to write simple one-page memos or to

produce complex multi chapter documents with imported graphics.

FrameMaker is a document creation package, suitable for UNIX, Windows & Macintosh operating system. This versatile package acts as an engine to

unveil documents in HTML and PDF File formats.

What we can do with FrameMaker?

Text Flows • Creating aNew Document

• Creating Parallel Text Flows • Adding Text Frames

• Adding Disconnected Pages

• Connecting Text Frames • Tracking Text Flows

Conditional Text

• Creating Conditional Text Tags • Applying Conditional Text Tags

• Showing Conditional Text

Controlling Conditional Text at theBook Level • Turning Conditional IndicatorsOff at theFileLevel

• Turning Condition IndicatorsOff at theBook Level • Removing aCondition

• Selectively Removing aConditional Text Tag • Finding Conditional Text

• Importing Conditional Text Tags

• Deleting Conditional Text Tags

Variables • Creating User Variables

• Inserting User Variables • Modifying User Variables

• Adding Character Formats to User Variables • Converting User Variables to Text (Deleting User Variables)

• Inserting TableSystemVariables • Drawing aRunning Header or Footer Background Text Frame

• Adding aRunning Header/Footer Variableto theHeader Box • Adding aHeader Box to theRight Master Page

• Adding aTab to theRunning Header/Footer Variable • Adding theCurrent Pageand PageCount Variables

• Modifying theCurrent Page# Variable to IncludeaPrefix

• Changing thePageNumber Format at theFile Level • Importing Variables

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Cross-References • Inserting an Internal Cross-Reference

• Inserting an External Cross-Reference • Jumping to theSource of aCross-Reference

• Creating Cross-ReferenceFormats • Adding Character Formats to Cross-References

• Updating Cross-References fromtheBook Window • Updating Cross-References fromWithin aFile

• Resolving Cross-References fromtheBook Error Log • Resolving Cross-References fromtheUpdateUnresolved Cross-

ReferencesDialog • Importing Cross-ReferenceFormats toOther Files

• Deleting Cross-ReferenceFormats • Converting Cross-References to Text

• Using theFind/ChangeDialog to Find Cross-References

• Generating Lists of External and Unresolved Cross-References

Text Insets • Importing BoilerplateText

• Changing aText Inset'sProperties • Updating Text Insets fromtheUpdateReferencesDialog

• Updating Text Insets fromtheText Inset PropertiesDialog • Opening aText Inset FromWithin aFile

• Converting Text Insets to EditableText • Using theFind/ChangeDialog to Search for Text Insets

Hyper text

• Creating aNamed Destination • Creating an ActiveArea for aHypertext Link

• Creating aJump to theNamed Destination

• Testing aHypertext Link • Viewing an Existing Alert Message

• Creating and Viewing an Alert Message • Viewing Named DestinationMarkers

• Testing Hypertext Markers • Adding Navigational Buttons toMaster Pages

• Using theFind/ChangeDialog to Search for Hypertext Markers

Generating Books • Generating and Saving aBook

• Adding Files fromtheBook Window and AddMenu • Adding FilesUsing Drag and Drop

• Copying and Pasting Files fromOneBook to Another • Adding Non-FrameMaker Files to theBook

• Selecting Files in theBook Window

• Rearranging Files in theBook Window

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• Deleting FilesfromtheBook

• Numbering FilesConsecutively • Restarting theParagraph Numbering in Each File

• Setting Up FootnoteNumbering • Updating Books

• Troubleshooting Booksby Importing Formats

Tables of Contents • Creating aStandaloneTable of Contents

• Creating aTableof Contents from theBook Window • Viewing theBody Pages of aTable of Contents

• Jumping to theSource of aTableof ContentsEntry • Viewing andModifying theBuilding Blocks on theTOCReferencePage

• Adding Prefixes to PageNumbers in the Table of Contents • Adding a Right Tab and Leader Dots to the TOC ReferencePage

• Formatting theParagraph Formats in the Table of Contents

• Changing the Set Up of a Table of Contents • Basing a New Table of Contents on an Existing Template

• Updating the Formats of an Existing Table of Contents • Updating a Table of Contents

Indexes

• Indexing aWord to theRight of theIndex Marker • Creating Index Entries by Typing Index Text in the Marker Dialog

• Adding Character Formats to Index Entries • Suppressing thePageNumbers for Index Entries

• Creating PageRanges in Index Entries • Specifying the Sort Order for Index Entries

MadCap Flare

Unlike WebWorks Publisher, which is essentially a sophisticated filter for

single-sourced content, Flare is a true help authoring tool. You can create

help projects in Flare without any other tools or documents. You can

import RoboHelp projects (but not Webworks projects), or Word,

FrameMaker, or HTML files. You can also use Flare as a single sourcing

tool, writing in Word or FrameMaker and reimporting your content into

Flare when you make changes. Flare is more limited than WebWorks in its

output options, which are HTML Help, WebHelp (a browser-based format),

DotNetHelp (a MadCap-developed format designed to work with Visual

Studio 2005 applications), HTML and PDF.

Flare's interface is similar to RoboHelp's and to a lesser degree,

WebWorks ePublisher's. At the top of the window, there are the usual

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menus and toolbars. In a left pane, there are tree views of either your

content or your project's resources. In the right pane, you can display

your content or the resources you're working with. At first, I found the

interface a bit daunting and somewhat gaudy, being used to the rather

more spartan interface of WebWorks ePublisher, but it didn't take long to

learn it. Toolbars and menus are fully customizable as well. Given the

complexity of the Flare interface, and the number of topics and resources

you can have open at once, a second monitor would be a wise

investment.

Flare uses Cascading Style Sheets to control its formatting. If you're

familiar with CSS, you'll have no problems controlling or changing formats

in Flare. Using CSS classes makes it easy to control the format of text across an entire project. You can also apply formatting overrides or use

direct formatting and ignore the CSS styles completely. Flare also lets you group styles into style sheets, which you can apply to either topics or

tables to help maintain a consistent appearance.

Like FrameMaker, Flare allows you to create master pages, which you can apply to topics in both the online and printed output. If you're using them

in printed output, this is where you would add page numbers, headers,

and footers. Master pages can also contain breadcrumb links and mini-TOCs for groups of topics.

For more control over formatting, you can apply skins, which can

completely change the appearance of a project. Flare's skin editor allows you to control the size and location of the help window, which buttons

appear in the toolbar, the format of the tabs, style of the TOC and index, and many other items. I much preferred Flare's approach to skins to that

of WebWorks ePublisher, which offers more skins out of the box, but requires manual editing of files and graphics to change many of the skin

elements. You can preview your changes, and although the preview uses

a sample project instead of your own, it's still a real time saver.

Benefits:

With Flare, you have a complete authoring and publishing system with full

support for maximum content re-use (single-sourcing) and you can publish to online, desktop, and print formats (multi-channel publishing):

Topic-based content development

Content reuse with conditional text, variables, snippets, outlines, and more

Flexibility with XML and CSS

You can easily create:

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Policy and procedure manuals

Knowledge bases Software documentation including online help with context

sensitivity Reference books, manuals, or illustrated guides

Hardware or maintenance manuals And more

Flare integrates with all MadCap products so you can extend the power of

Flare as your needs grow.

MadCap Feedback server provides reports on customer usage of

your documents Mimic, Capture, and Echo provide multimedia publishing integration

MadCap Lingo enables localization Analyzer scans your project for suggestions to improve your project

efficiency and consistency, and adds speed to your authoring Contribute content using X-Edit Contribute and/or insert comments

using X-Edit Review

You just won't believe how easy your life can be. Imagine, the power and

flexibility of content management but at prices anyone can afford. You choose the specific modules that you need and will actually use. Why

didn't someone think of this sooner

Features:

Madcap Flare includes all the features you expect in a high-end XML-

based publishing system, including:

Single-sourcing to multiple outputs including straight to the printer,

Microsoft® XPS, PDF, Adobe® FrameMaker®, Microsoft® Word™, cross-browser and cross-platform formats for use over networks or

the Web, and formats for the Microsoft® Windows desktop (Microsoft® HTML Help and our popular DotNet Help)

Conditional text to create multiple versions of your content from one source

Variables and snippets specify pre-set terms (variables) and pre-set chunks of formatted content (snippets) from a library of reusable

elements Cross-references that become hyperlinks online and page number

references in print

Auto-numbering for volumes, sections, paragraphs, and pages Complex page layouts including graphics, headers, footers, and

multiple columns

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Unicode support to author in any left-to-right language, including

French, German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, and more Multiple document Outlines provide as many outputs as you need

Global Project Linking ? share and update common elements across multiple projects

Import Existing Content

Adobe® FrameMaker® (.fm, .mif, .book) Microsoft® Word™

HTML/XHTML RoboHelp® projects

HTML Help projects

Generate Multiple Outputs

Cross-browser, cross-platform Help (WebHelp or WebHelp Plus)

Microsoft® HTML Help (.chm) Help for .NET applications or Windows® Vista (DotNet Help)

Adobe® FrameMaker® (.fm, .mif, .book) Direct PDF

Microsoft® Word™ (.xml, .doc) Direct XPS and DOCX

WebHelp AIR (Direct Adobe® AIR integration)

Multi-Language Support

Fully Unicode enabled

Double-byte and Asian language support Language support for Eastern European languages

Seamless integration with MadCap Lingo for easy localization

Single-Sourcing Features

Generate multiple targets from one project

Variables (re-usable text and content) Conditional text (at all levels)

Style sheets for topics and tables Easily synchronize with Word™ or FrameMaker® documents

Ease of Use

Auto-numbering Visual document structure display

View and edit multiple docs simultaneously Command line compiling

Drag-and-drop table columns and rows View, filter, and access all files from a single list

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Source Control Integration

Direct integration with Microsoft® Visual Source Safe and

Microsoft® Team Foundation Server Integration with industry source control systems that use the MS

SCC API interface Faster server-side search

Searching of non-XHTML content (Word™ documents, PDF files, etc.)

Automatic runtime merging of projects without any in-project work

Author - IT

Author-it (formerly AuthorIT) is a Content Management System which is

intended to be used by anyone responsible for creating, maintaining, and

distributing content. The foundation of Author-it resides in its ability

to single-source content, thereby eliminating redundancy and

streamlining content. While Author-it is often referred to as a help

authoring tool, its underlying approach to single sourcing can be applied

to any industry.

Author-it is a program that you use to author, manage, and publish documents in a variety of output formats, all from a single-source

database.This means you can change the document in one place, and

your changes will be contained in each output format when you next publish them.

Author-it uses Publishing Profiles to determine several things, including:

which outputs a book can be published to

which users can publish using that profile

the release states content must be in for it to be included

These profiles are fully customizable, and you can create as many additional profiles as you need to suit your requirements and your

deliverables. More details on Publishing Profiles can be found in the Using Author-it Guide.

The available output formats Author-it can publish to are:

Printed Word document PDF document

Windows Help system Pure cross-platform HTML pages with integrated navigation tree

XHTML transitional pages with integrated navigation tree

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HTML Help system

Java Help system Oracle Help for Java system

DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) Author-it XML

Author-it Website Manager

Each output format has different constraints and considerations.

Author-it stores all information as objects in a central database, giving

authors the ability to combine and reuse objects in various ways. Object

types include:

books

topics

file objects

hyperlinks

styles

glossaries

tables of contents

indexes

publishing profiles

Because content consists of independent objects, multiple authors can

work in the central database (called a library) at the same time.

In Version 5.2, Author-it introduced a structured authoring solution. The

company says that by separating data persistence, where the data is

stored or saved, from the business logic, where individual business rules

are defined, organizations can now implement structured authoring in a

controlled manner.

The Author-it Base User module includes importing, authoring, and

publishing capability. Further modules that can be licensed include:

Offline Authoring

Project Manager

Localisation Manager

MIF Import Filter

Web based Editor

Integration Server

Xtend Authoring Memory

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Epic Editor

Epic Editor is a robust, reliable native XML authoring tool. Provides the

same kind of WYSIWYG editing functionality, but works with XML

documents directly. With no import/export process to foul up the works,

and an environment designed from the ground up to allow writers to

generate valid XML documents, Epic Editor really sets a standard to which

Framemaker can only aspire.

Epic Editor's interface looks a lot like your average word processor, the

most obvious exception being the Document Map on the left-hand side of

the window. The Document Map displays a structural view of the tags,

attributes, and content of your document. By default, it scrolls in sync

with the main editor view, so you can always see at a glance the structure

of the particular document area you're working on. You can even edit

your document right in the Document Map. And for the less technical

user, the Document Map can be hidden entirely.

Epic Editor has integrations with Documentum, Oracle, FileNET and

Interwoven.

Features:

Change tracking. Provides groups of authors the ability to track

text and markup changes made to a document. Epic Editor's change

tracking capability fully supports the process of information creation, review and approval so that groups of authors and editors

can work collaboratively to provide customers with fresh, consistent and complete information on all types of media.

Publishing standards support. With Epic 4.2, Arbortext now provides the industry's most powerful support for the Extensible

Stylesheet Language (XSL), through its embedded XSLT processing engine and XSL-FO processing engine. Because XSLT enables online

publishing and XSL-FO enables print publishing, organizations that implement Epic 4.2 can build an automated multichannel publishing

system. Inline editing of compound documents. Enables authors to edit

document components directly within the same window instead of launching separate windows. When an author tries to change a

component, Epic automatically checks it out or protects it from

changes, based on an inquiry to the repository.

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Format conversion. Epic's enhanced mapping function reduces

development time by 75% for setting up conversions from other publishing sources to XML (and from XML to those sources).

Content management. Version 4.2 continues Epic's tight integration with many content management systems with upgrades

to support the latest releases of Documentum (version 4.2) and Oracle iFS (version 1.1.9).

Programming standards support. Through Epic's new support for JavaScript, existing bindings to Java, C/C++ and COM, and

enhanced support for the W3C's Document Object Model (DOM) API, developers can create customizations using their preferred

programming languages. Epic supports DOM Ranges and Level 2 events.

CJK support. Epic 4.2 provides editing support for Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Korean and Japanese content.

LinkSetting. Simple and efficient setting of links and hotspots by

the LinkCompositor. Template management. Support of any template which can be

implemented in the document at any time. Illustrations. When an illustration is inserted from the CMS,

automatically the necessary entities for this are exported from the CMS and declared in the document.

Editing The Document Map is a tree-style graphical view of your SGML/XML

document that clearly depicts the structure of your document. The editor will only allow you to create well-formed XML, inserting necessary

elements as you go.

The most powerful features are available when you have a DTD defined

for the document as the entire document is parsed and validated in real time. When you reach the end of an element and hit ENTER, the Quick

Tag feature displays a popup menu containing only valid elements according to the DTD. This also applies to cut-and-paste or drag-and-drop

operations. After selecting an element, you can drag it to another location in the document. Epic Editor visually indicates if it's possible to insert the

element at the given location according to the rules defined in the DTD. Sometimes an insertion is possible only with the inclusion of another tag,

which Epic Editor indicates and then does the work for you. This makes it a breeze to create documents that are compliant with either an industry

standard or custom DTD.

While editing your structured content via the Document Map is easy to do, it's even easier to edit in the rendered view. The rendered view window

displays your content after applying a stylesheet, giving you a real-time

preview of your final output. Making changes in this view is as simple as

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using a word processor and all changes are immediately visible within the

Document Map.

Collaborating

While Epic Editor works well as a stand-alone editing tool, it excels at facilitating collaboration. Content can be searched, checked in, and

checked out from a repository without ever leaving Epic Editor. Additionally, for some repositories Epic Editor can automatically break

apart structured documents into their elements for storage. Abortext has chosen to support a best-of-breed repository approach.

Currently, the product includes an adapter for connecting to Documentum 4i. An adapter for integration with Oracle iFS is also available as an add-

on.

Epic Editor 4.2 now includes a Change Tracking feature, which allows an

author to view all the individual modifications and revisions that have been made to a document. This new feature facilitates information

management processes such as content creation, review, and approval.

Extending The Epic Editor exposes a robust API consisting of over 500 functions and

75 events for developers to extend and customize the product to their needs. Supported programming languages include C, C++, Java,

JavaScript, Visual Basic, TCL, Perl, and Python as well as a COM interface. Additionally, Abortext has included its custom scripting language,

Abortext Command Language (ACL). With ACL you're also able to execute individual commands from within Epic Editor using a simple but effective

command-line window.

Using Doc To Help

Creating Content

Since Doc-To-Help uses Microsoft Word as its topic editor, creating content is basically a matter of typing text, creating tables, and inserting

pictures in the same way as you would for a regular Word document. You have the benefit of using a familiar authoring environment, and you can

take advantage of some of Word's advanced productivity features, such as macros.

The disadvantage is that the Word editing environment was not designed

specifically for Help authoring. As a result, a number of features built into Word are totally redundant within the Doc-To-Help environment. Also,

you do not have built-in authoring support for some of the more advanced

features of a Help system, such as DHTML expanding text and drop-downs. You can achieve these effects, but only by typing the required

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HTML code into your document, and then using the Doc-To-Help toolbar

to mark it up as "HTML passthrough code". This is something that many Help authors would not feel comfortable doing.

Applying Formatting and Styles

Each of your Help targets (that is, the output formats that you generate from your project) has a corresponding Word document template. This

document template must contain a set of paragraph and character styles whose names match the styles that you are working with in your source

Word document. These style definitions within each Word document template determine the text formatting within the corresponding Help

target. So for example, what Doc-To-Help actually does when you generate an HTML-based target is to create a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS

file) based on the styles within the appropriate Word document template.

The advantage of this approach is that you don't need to know anything about CSS, and can instead use Word's familiar style-editing features for

creating the desired formats with the document template. The downside

for more savvy authors is that Doc-To-Help does not write HTML and CSS in the way that you would necessarily choose to do if you had full control.

For example, it marks up all paragraphs (including headings) using the <P> tag, and differentiates between the original Word paragraph styles

using Classes. This conflicts with accessibility guidelines from the Word Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and means that the resulting HTML lacks

the heading tags (H1, H2, etc.) that some specialist browsers rely on to recognize page structure.

Creating Links

Many different ways are available to create hyperlinks between topics, using either Microsoft Word or the Project Editor. Adding a topic link

within Word is not as easy as it might be, because there is no way to insert the link text automatically. This is not a problem if you are adding

an inline link within a paragraph that you have already typed, but it is a little annoying if you are creating the link from scratch.

Doc-To-Help will convert cross references (inserted using Word's cross-reference field) into hyperlinks. However, you can also insert hyperlinks

using special character styles. It will even automatically insert hyperlinks based on the relationship between topics. For example, it will insert links

from a topic to all its subtopics (the topics that are immediately below it in the table of contents hierarchy).

Finally, Doc-To-Help enables you to highlight a piece of existing text and

use the "Add Topic Link" button on the Doc-To-Help toolbar enabling you then to choose from a list of topics within the project (which you can filter

and sort to your own requirements):

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Creating a Table of Contents

By default, Doc-To-Help creates a table of contents for a Help project automatically, based on the sequence and heading hierarchy of topics

within the source Word documents. However, you can override this

default structure by editing the table of contents within the Doc-To-Help project window. This enables you, for example, to permanently remove

specific topics so that they are still a part of the project, but not listed in the table of contents. You have to keep in mind that, having edited the

table of contents by hand, new topics are not subsequently added to the table of contents automatically.

Creating an Index

Doc-To-Help uses the index entries inserted through Word's own indexing function. However, you can supplement these by entering new keywords

within the Project Editor—Doc-To-Help stores these keywords within a database (not within the Word document).

One of the most powerful features of Doc-To-Help is the ability to analyze

the content of each topic and automatically generate suitable keywords through scripts. Note that this feature is not a simple point-and-click

interface, and does require VBScript expertise. As an example of how you

might use it, you could develop a script that would process a set of topics titles of the form "Adjective Noun" and automatically assign the following

keywords to each topic:

adjective noun

nouns

nouns, adjective

You can also use scripts in a more restricted way to modify the automatic

keywords assigned by Doc-To-Help, for example, to change them to lower

case.

Using Conditional Content

Conditional content is one of the hallmarks of a true single-sourcing tool. Doc-To-Help enables you to build different outputs, customized for specific formats or purposes, from the same source project.

Doc-To-Help supports conditional text, but, rather surprisingly, does not enable you to flag entire topics within its database as being conditional.

To mark text as being conditional, you highlight the text within Word and click the "Apply Conditional Text" button on the Doc-To-Help toolbar. The

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following dialog then appears, and you have to choose between making

the text conditional to a specific platform, Help target, or attribute.

Generating Help Targets (producing online or paper-based output)

A "Help target" is the term that Doc-To-Help uses for a specific output format. The following Help targets are available:

HTML Help 1.3

WinHelp 4 Plain HTML

JavaHelp

Word (printed documentation)

You can create your own custom Help targets (which might include certain configurations of conditional topics) but these would be based on one of

the standard formats listed above. According to the documentation, you are able to create a Help target for Microsoft Help 2. However, you need

to have Microsoft's Help 2 compiler installed in order to do that, and Microsoft has postponed its general release of the Help 2 compiler until at

least 2003.

Help target (output format) generation occurs in two distinct stages. First,

you have to "Compile" each of your source Word documents. This stage involves Doc-to-Help analyzing the styles within the document and

creating a RTF version of each document using its own special markup. During the compile stage, it also creates the appropriate output format for

each of the topics—so for HTML-based formats, it creates a set of .HTM files.

Following that, you "Make the Target"—this is the process of creating any additional files required for the output (style sheet, table of contents file,

index file, project file, etc.), and then (in the case of HTML Help and WinHelp) using the appropriate compiler to produce the final compiled

file.

You initiate the entire process with a single button-click, but it can take quite a long time to complete (several minutes for a large project).

However, it's much quicker than it was in previous versions of Doc-To-Help, because the processing is done using compiled code outside of

Microsoft Word, whereas the compilation and build process in previous

versions of Doc-To-Help was executed within the Word environment using Visual Basic. Another reason for the increased speed is an "incremental

build" facility, which means that only the source documents that have changed since the last build are compiled—previous versions of Doc-To-

Help always processed every file in a project.

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Key Strengths

The ability to create a variety of online Help formats from a standard Word document with minimal post-processing

Access to the powerful word-processing features built into Microsoft

Word Conditional text that enables customized versions of the Help

Powerful and flexible indexing capabilities Useful automated linking based on the topic hierarchy

ForeHelp

ForeHelp Feature List

VISUAL AUTHORING ENVIRONMENT

WYSIWYG environment displays topics as they appear in WinHelp

without RTF codes Standalone authoring environment does not require Microsoft Word

Full-featured word processor provides paragraph and character styles, including bullets and numbering

Specialty Table Editor Spell checker and Thesaurus

Instantly create and edit links, macros, and other WinHelp features with no delays for parsing RTF codes

Customizable toolbar—choose from over 60 commands

Instant Testing

Instant, complete simulation allows fast and frequent testing

All help features are functional in Test Mode (macros, multimedia, links, CNT file, secondary windows, etc.)

No need to compile the help file prior to or during testing

Topic Navigator

View topic list and navigate to topics from the Topic Navigator panel

in the edit window Docks left or right, sizes, and floats

Display topic list in any order: by table of contents, keyword, printed manual, topic status, topic type, alphabetical, browse

sequence, build, or author-defined order

Create custom groupings of topics using hierarchical folders. Group topics by help author, by function, by help file, and more

Tab control allows easy switching between different views of the topic list

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Topic Navigator is available for selecting topics in all applicable

dialog boxes

Navigation Techniques

From within Edit Mode and in addition to the Topic Navigator, navigate using all menu options and shortcuts your end users can

and more:

Back Next and Previous in Browse Sequences

Contents History

Keyword Index Next and Previous in Topic Navigator order

Control+Click on jumps, popups, macro hotspots, segmented hypergraphics, buttons

Topic And Link Creation

Create new topics with the New Topic menu, in the Contents Editor, or by designating a new topic as a hotspot destination

Specify topic status: In Construction, Complete, Needs Review, Out of Date or create your own status categories

Specify topic type: Overview, Popup, Procedure, Reference, or create your own custom types

Set properties on multiple topics or delete multiple topics in one step

Create hyperlinks by highlighting topic text, choosing jump, popup or macro, and selecting the destination topic

Create multiple links and topics simultaneously by selecting over a

list of topic names Select topic display mode: current window, secondary window, or

popup Create external jumps to internet sites and to topics in other help

files Copy topic

Generate table of contents by clicking topics and adding their names to a list of jumps or popups

Contents Editor

Create new topics as you add entries to quickly prototype entire help projects

Create a contents file with Contents, Index and Find tabs Use drag-and-drop editing to add topics from topic list and visually

arrange entries into a hierarchical structure of book and topics Flags broken links to topics that have been deleted and deletes the

link on command

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Include topic and index entries from external help files

Displays which topics have been assigned and which are not assigned

Print the Contents Expand and collapse the Contents for efficient editing of large help

projects

Keywords/Index

Use drag-and-drop editing to assign main keywords and

subkeywords Select from a menu of existing project keywords or add new

keywords to any topic Edit keywords or assign secondary keywords across multiple topics

in one step Create text (mid-topic) keywords

Create reports on topics per keyword, keywords per topic, and the master keyword list

Graphics And Multimedia

Insert BMP, WMF, GIF, JPG, PNG, SHG and MRB files Supports 256-color and 24-bit graphics

Displays all graphics in Edit and Test modes with no performance penalty

Includes an integrated SHG (Segmented Hypergraphic) editor for easy placement of hotspots on graphics

Select transparent colors in graphics Add video, sound, and animation files to topics

Graphics Manager

Lists all project graphics along with scaling, cropping, transparency, and where-used attributes for each graphic

Scale, crop, select transparent colors, and replace all instances of a graphic in the project

Preview any graphic in the project

Navigate to a graphic’s location(s) Rename graphics

Paste Palette

Place frequently used text, graphics, buttons, and hyperlinks into

Paste Palette for convenient reuse

Add items from Paste Palette to topics by dragging and dropping from floating paste palette or paste from a right-click accessible

context menu

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Template Gallery

Create custom topic templates for different topic types such as

Reference, What’s This Help, and Procedures Templates can include text, graphics and buttons as wells as styles

and topic properties Import templates from other projects

Related Topics Wizard

Creates a network of Related Topics with easy-to-use wizard Automatically creates keywords, macros, and buttons by clicking

options—no preassigning keywords or creating macros is required Select specific topics from the Topic Navigator or select keywords

preassigned to related topics Automatically displays all topics using selected keywords

Customize button or hotspot look and placement Place See Also buttons on multiple topics in one step

Change related topic groups at any time—all affected topics are

automatically updated

Search/Replace And Hyperfind

Search for text, special characters, formatting, styles, and conditional content

Hyperfind allows searching topic text, keywords, or macro

parameters; actions include replace text, make jump, make popup, make macro, and make topic keyword

Navigator

Displays a graphical view of links into and out of highlighted topics

Displays the type of link: jump, popup, browse sequence, related

topic, interfile, remote web, contents, macro links Flags and navigates to broken links

Prints any display with customizable font

Reporter

Generates over 20 predefined reports on all or selected topics

Reports on 25 different topic properties including context strings, context numbers, browse sequences, jump and popup destinations,

related topics, status and To-Do lists Lists all project keywords and the topics associated with each

keyword Lists all RTF files in the project and the topics included in each RTF

file

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Project reports include topic count, file size, browse sequences, and

completed tasks Sort on any field (including reverse order and multi-field sorts)

Format, search, print, and export reports

To-Do Lists And Project Status

Create To-Do Lists for each topic and for the entire project

Designate To-Do Item, Priority, Completion Date, and Description Report on completed items, not completed items or all items

Generate reports on all or selected topics sorted by status, priority, or completion date

Conditional Content

Select text, graphics or topics and indicate the conditions in which the selection is to be displayed or included in the final help files—

HTML, WinHelp 95, or WinHelp 3.1. Create your own conditions for review comments, different versions

of the help file, and more

Macro Editor

Lists WinHelp macros and prompts for associated parameters

Ensures valid parameters and syntax Creates named macros and macro sets for easy reuse throughout

the help file

Browse Sequence Editor

Easily select and arrange topics into one or multiple browse

sequences Automatically adds browse buttons to button bar

Navigate through browse sequences in test and edit modes

Window Editor

Create help windows with custom sizes, colors, buttons, and macros

Define size and position with drag-and-drop editing Preview window as it will appear to end-users

Reviewer’s Comments

Create a "Review Comments" condition to mark text which will not be built into the compiled help file

Search project for review comments

Printed Document Creation

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Create an RTF file without WinHelp codes for importing into any

word processor or document layout program Select the topics and their order in the file

Collate popups as footnotes or as a glossary Flag topics or topic content to be output to the printed document

only Generate a table of contents, index, and page numbering

Document Import

Import formatted document files from any standard word processor including Microsoft Word™, Word Perfect™ and FrameMaker™

Create topics on page breaks or on selected styles Import styles from the document or map document styles to project

styles Convert index entries to keywords

Help Project Import

Seamlessly import and export help projects to and from any help authoring tool

Preserves formatting, styles, and topic ordering Option to map imported styles to ForeHelp styles

Context Linking

Generate context numbers automatically for each topic and export a context map file

Import context map files from C, C++, Visual Basic, and Pascal applications

Adobe Captivate

Adobe Captivate (formerly RoboDemo) is an electronic learning tool

for Microsoft Windows which can be used to author software

demonstrations, software simulations, branched scenarios, and

randomized quizzes in .swf format. It can also convert Adobe Captivate

generated .swf to .avi which can be uploaded to video hosting websites.

For software simulations, Captivate can use left mouse clicks, key presses

and rollover images. Adobe Captivate 3 cannot simulate right mouse

clicks without editing the files that are generated, but with Adobe

Captivate 4, this is now possible.

Features

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Captivate builds and edits interactive software demonstrations,

simulations, podcasts, screencasts, games, program demos and lessons. For software demos, it can either record in real time or use an event-

based screen capture that snaps a sequence of still images and then builds mouse movement simulations to create the appearance of a

running program. By using Adobe Flash Tweening technology, Captivate is able to create screencasts in a much smaller file size than needed for a

real full-motion screen capture movie.

Captivate users can edit Captivate presentations to add captions, clickable hotspots, text entry boxes, rollovers, videos, etc. Authors can edit the

content (including mouse pointer path, position, image) and change the timing for each item to appear and disappear. The hotspots can branch to

other slides in the presentation, or to outside webpages. E-learning authors can also provide multiple levels of feedback using

multiple interactions per slide.

Captivate supports the import of still images, PowerPoint, video, .flv, and

audio tracks onto any Captivate slide.

Captivate also supports 508 compliant (Accessibility) output, SCORM, AICC (CBT), and PENS (software) to track score data

in Learning Management Systems (LMS). Multimode recording Save time and generate robust software

simulations with multiple learning modes in a single recording session, including a demonstration of the procedure, a simulation

for practicing the steps, and an assessment. Randomized quizzing and question pools Improve learner

assessments by randomly drawing questions from a set of question pools. Shuffle the answer options for multiple-choice questions, so

that the answers are displayed in a different order each time. Share

question pools among multiple Adobe Captivate projects. Rollover slidelets Provide additional just-in-time information on

Adobe Captivate 3 slides by displaying mediarich content including images, text, audio, and video in a slidelet (a mini-slide within a

slide) when the learner moves the mouse over a specified area on the slide.

XML export and import Simplify the localization process of projects; export captions to a text or XML Localization Interchange

File Format (XLIFF) file. Import the translated text file into a copy of the original project file.

Automated rerecording Quickly update content and automatically rerecord entire procedures in most web applications after the user

interface is modified or localized (Internet Explorer® 6). Animation effects Create learning content with support for

animated slide transitions and PowerPoint® animations. Import

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PowerPoint (PPT) files and retain many animation effects by

converting PowerPoint slides to SWF files. Audio recording with preview Synchronize audio easily with

slides and timed objects. Record narration while previewing slides in real time by going through them one by one or as a complete

project. New question types Increase learning effectiveness with

specialized question types, such as sequencing and hotspots, and matching dropdown lists.

Rich media support Record audio from system or through line-in, in addition to microphone.

Full motion recording Record full motion movies in SWF format that show detailed motion such as drawing/painting features and

drag/drop operations. Streamlined workflow and usability enhancements: Work

faster with a wide variety of streamlined workflows and usability

enhancements: o Find and replace

o Enhanced screen recording for capturing screen activity o Real-time recording mode

o Improved learning management system (LMS) integration o Reusing quiz slides

o Reducing SWF file size o Branching view enhancements, such as slide grouping and

zooming o New choices for adding captions and buttons

For more technical writing tools, detail information and training get in

touch with us at techwriting@marcomteam.org