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Posts from the ‘Captivate’ Category

4
Jan
captivate_start

Adding a Captivate video into a RoboHelp topic

The Adobe Technical Communication Suite is more than just a collection of powerful applications aimed at technical communicators. It includes integration between the applications not available to users buying the individual applications. One area of integration is the ability to create an Adobe Captivate movie inside an Adobe RoboHelp topic.

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23
Nov

Technical Communication Suite Keyboard Shortcuts

I know that they are not everyone’s cup of tea but give me a keyboard shortcut any day over a mouse click. Maybe it’s an author thing but if I am typing anyway, why move your hands away from the keyboard to do something. Provided it doesn’t require a form of digit dexterity only found in aspiring Houdini impersonators, sock it to me.

When it comes to the various packages in Abobe’s Technical Communication Suite the keyboard shortcuts are well documented just not all in the help. I’ve seen various posts in the past detailing the shortcuts for one or other of the suite’s packages but not for all. That is until now. Kevin Speigal’s, co-founder of Icon Logic, has written helpful features on his blog listing all the keyboard shortcuts for each of the main four applications that make up the Technical Communication Suite. Check them out.

14
Sep

The virtual Technical Communication Suite

Back to work today after a two week vacation to find my PC reimaged following some problems encountered before I left. I normally hate having my PC reimaged as the image applied never seems to contain all you want. All those print drivers, the desktop / theme customisation, toolbar settings and software installation are just never the way you want them. Part of my task for today was reinstalling the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2.

As I was doing this it struck me just how easy it was to install considering the plethora of bundled applications in it, 16 in all, including major new versions to RoboHelp, FrameMaker and Captivate. The applications include some that also form part of the Creative Suite and therefore maybe new to some Technical Authors. However I am convinced that as time goes by I’ll find more and more uses for them. Of particular interest is Adobe Bridge and Adobe Presenter. Anyway more of this in a later post.

It also reminisced about getting hold of the trial version at the start of this year. Back then, the options were severely limited. You either had to order a DVD containing the trial version. Since then you have the added option of downloading the trial but this waiting whilst several gigabytes of data is transferred. Not really an option unless you have a fast internet connection.

Now there is a third option. Adobe have teamed up with a company called Runaware. They host full versions of software in a virtual environment, delivered via the browser. This means that you can get hold of a trial version of the Technical Communication Suite 2 in a fraction of the time it would take to use one of the other trial options. In addition the product team have included a step by step tutorials of the key product functionality and the various integration possibilities as well as a demo of how to use the virtual environment.

This strikes me as an excellent move to make the Technical Communication Suite to a wider audience. The ease with which you can see the suite in action makes this an exciting development for future Adobe product releases. You can find out more by following R Jacquez’s on Twitter or from the RoboHelp, FrameMaker or Technical Communication Suite product pages.

13
Aug

Useful links for RoboHelp 8 and the Technical Communication Suite 2

I came across a post today from someone looking into the features that RoboHelp had over other HATs. Apart from pointing them to the HAT Matrix, I also offered my personal perspective on what RoboHelp and the Technical Communication Suite could do based on their requirements. John Daigle also posted a response listing the resources below. I am reproducing them for anyone else needing guidance in the future.

  • Adobe RoboHelp 8 Reviewer’s Guide:  A major document highlighting all the new features of RoboHelp 8 and RoboHelp Server 8 and how they can be used to increase your productivity. Included inside are various “Try It” exercises for some of the features.
  • “Try it” exercises: These are a set of exercises that you can use to see for yourself the benefits of RoboHelp as described in the reviewer’s guide. An excellent way to familiarise yourself with the new features.
  • RJ Jacquez’s blog: RJ is the Adobe Technical Communication Suite Evangelist and has lots of using information to hand. Also follow him on Twitter (rjacquez).
  • RJ’s Webinars: RJ frequently performs online training sessions that are recorded for later use. These are a great way to see the features of the Technical Communication Suite at your leisure.

In addition to the above links, there are a number of blogs written by RoboHelp, Captivate, FrameMaker and Acrobat users. These are numerous, but for starters check out the “Forums and Blogs” section of the relevant Abobe Help & Support link on the right hand panel of this blog. For my personal experiences of migrating to RoboHelp 8 from RoboHelp X5, click here.

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30
Jun

The new Adobe Support Forums

The new Adobe Support Forums have been up and running for a couple of months now so I thought I’d provide my top three positives and negatives.

The Positives

  1. The ability to add images to posts even if the two methods of doing so confuse some. “A picture paints a thousand words” and in forums being able to physically see the problem from the user’s perspective helps us all get to the nub of the problem. It is just a shame that there is some confusion about the bes method of providing an image. See the RoboWizard’s slant on this here.
  2. The “More like this” list attached to each discussion. This enables users who may not have found an answer inside a discussion to move directly to a discussion on a similar topic.
  3. The breadcrumbs to be found along the top of each forum discussion allowing you to quickly and easily navigate around the discussions.

 The Negatives

  1. Performance. The old RoboHelp forums were a breeze compared to the mind numbingly sluggish speed at which pages load.
  2. The inability to have a signature stored that can be used on the end of posts. Whilst this may be a feature not used by many, those of us with accolades, blogs or websites should be able to publicise them.
  3. Searching. In particular the fact that the new search tool searches by default searches across all the Adobe product forums. Whilst this can be useful, especially if a problem is in an area that covers two products (e.g. integration of FrameMaker files into RoboHelp) it can lead users to the incorrect forum audience.

    Tip: Click the “More Options” link to select a specific forum before performing a search. Better still press Adobe to provide an option in your user profile to avoid you having to do this each time!
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