RoboHelp X5.RoboHelp X5, Macromedia (800-470-7211, www.macromedia.com), $899, upgrade $499. User guide. RoboHelp X5 is an extraordinarily easy way to create professional help systems and printed documentation for desktop and web-based applications See Web application. , including .Net and Rich Internet applications This is a list of rich Internet applications. They are organised by their use. Communication
RoboHelp authors can create multiple Help systems in any popular online format and in addition produce press-ready printed documentation in Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. or PDF (Portable Document Format) The de facto standard for document publishing from Adobe. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in the PDF format. format. Users can work in RoboHelp's built-in HTML editor A low-level Web site authoring tool that is essentially a text editor, specialized for writing HTML code. It assists the HTML author by cataloging all HTML tags and common structures in menus and by being able to catch certain syntax errors. or any popular HTML editor such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage, or Microsoft Word to produce help topics, table of contents, index, glossary A term used by Microsoft Word and adopted by other word processors for the list of shorthand, keyboard macros created by a particular user. See glossaries in this publication and The Computer Glossary. , multimedia, content-sensitive help, and much more. RoboHelp Office's content management features assist structured workflow by single authors or entire documentation teams. TWO TYPES OF CUSTOMERS While RoboHelp and the flexible browser-based Help formats, FlashHelp and WebHelp, can be used in many ways beyond conventional Help authoring, the core RoboHelp customer falls in one of two categories: Help authors/technical writers or software developers/programmers. RoboHelp has considerable appeal to Help authors/technical writers. RoboHelp is flexible enough to allow Help authors to have complete control over all aspects of the help systems they build, while automating the technical details. RoboHelp X5's new content management functionality and ability to compare versions and edits of existing content will allow this group to further refine content during development. RoboHelp X5 appeals to software developers/programmers through automated wizards for creating table of contents, indexes, and full text search capabilities. The new PDF and especially XML XML in full Extensible Markup Language. Markup language developed to be a simplified and more structural version of SGML. It incorporates features of HTML (e.g., hypertext linking), but is designed to overcome some of HTML's limitations. import and export capabilities appeal to software developers who want to incorporate RoboHelp into larger workflow processes. The new content management and source control functionality in X5 also appeals to software developers who already recognize the safety and protection that version control systems provide. WHICH OUTPUT? Along with the project management features and consistent ways to assemble, check, and repair help systems, RoboHelp comes with two authoring tools: RoboHelp for Word and RoboHelp HTML HTML in full HyperText Markup Language Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web. . With these two tools you can create an array of different outputs from a single project, including WinHelp, FlashHelp, HTML Help, and hardcopy. The output feature is impressive. Often, help authors must think carefully about the type of output they will create because of the many types of browsers and platforms in use in organizations. RoboHelp Office facilitates this process. In RoboHelp Office you can create output files that run on a variety of different viewers and platforms, support particular features, and display a range of interfaces. AUTHORING ENVIRONMENTS RoboHelp's authoring environments, RoboHelp HTML and RoboHelp Word, share similar functionality. Which tool you choose depends on the authoring environment you prefer and the features you want to deliver to your help system. Macromedia chose authoring tools wisely because HTML and Microsoft Word are two of the most popular software packages on the market. Their widespread use means that new users of RoboHelp can start authoring without being entirely familiar with the RoboHelp Office software. Both tools use a similar interface design; this makes it easy to move between the two tools without having to learn new features. An additional feature in this version of RoboHelp is the innovative FlashHelp, intended for supporting modern Rich Internet Applications. FlashHelp uses a group of technologies (Flash, XML, HTML and CSS (1) See Cascading Style Sheets. (2) (Content Scrambling System) The copy protection system applied to DVDs, which uses a 40-bit key to encrypt the movie. ) to offer the richest and most flexible help format possible for supporting the increasing complexity of Rich Internet Applications. REVIEWER'S RECOMMENDATION The RoboHelp Office software is great for technical writers, help authors, software developers, and programmers This is a list of programmers notable for their contributions to software, either as original author or architect, or for later additions. See also: Game programmer, List of computer scientists who produce professional online help projects that improve the usability of web-based and Windows applications A program that is written to run under Microsoft's Windows operating system. Such applications typically run under all 32-bit versions of Windows, but earlier applications might also run under the 16-bit versions (Windows 3.x) as well. See Windows. . The FlashHelp additions make the software even more flexible and compatible with popular browsers and platforms across the industry. The product is a great value for large organizations that specialize spe·cial·ize v. 1. To limit one's profession to a particular specialty or subject area for study, research, or treatment. 2. To adapt to a particular function or environment. in creating online documentation, but small organizations or individuals may find it difficult to justify the cost. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion