HyperTexas - College Credit for Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Captivate and Adobe FrameMaker

Adobe RoboHelp News
With thousands of authors around the world using RoboHelp in different environments, Adobe constantly gathers feedback in order to improve the way it works. Here are some items that will help you make sure your version of RoboHelp is working smoothly with the latest improvements.

Two free updates available now: Adobe RoboHelp 8.0.1 and 8.0.2
Ankur Jain, the new Abobe RoboHelp Product Manager has posted the availability of the RoboHelp 8.0.1and 8.0.2 update via the Adobe Update Manager. They are also available at the Robohelp update download page.
An explanation of the changes are listed on the Adobe Technical Communication Blog. The post also shows a list of items that have been addressed in this update.
Have a new feature to request or a bug to report?
RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form

RoboHelp tips and techniques are often contributed by my instructor/author colleagues. Here is a list of those resources:

Peter Grainge's site, a comprehensive and well organized source for all things RoboHelp.
Rick Stone's RoboWizard site and his popular "Skinny on Skins" tips.
Colum McAndrew's blog - frequently updated with ancedotes and suggestions.
Adobe RoboHelp Forums - peer-to-peer resources operating 24/7 with answers from Adobe Community Expert volunteers. (John Daigle, Peter Grainge and Rick Stone)
Adobe Technical Communications blog - for current news from product managers and engineering staff on RoboHelp, FrameMaker and the Adobe Technical Communiation Suite.
RJ Jacquez elearning and Technical Communication Blog - Adobe's evangelist for RoboHelp, FrameMaker, Captivate and the entire eLearning Suite posts frequent tutorials. You can also Twitter him @RJacquez.

Adobe RoboHelp 8 and the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 are released!

John's highlights: I'll be posting screenshots and details in the coming days but here are some highlights. I counted over a 100 significant new features in this release of Adobe RoboHelp 8. Major additions like Scripting, a world-class Search engine, strong support for XML standards and DITA import are just some of the new items. This new release not only offers ease of use for authors, but also has a lot of new benefits for end- users. An example is the new Adobe AIR help application which has end user commenting for team reviews, favorites and an automatic content updating feature. It also and looks sharp, too.

Adobe RoboHelp 8 combined with other members of the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 make this a no-brainer upgrade. This is especially true for anyone who has a single-sourcing requirement for both print and online audiences. Adobe FrameMaker 9 is well-integrated along with Adobe Captivate 4 and even Adobe Photoshop CS4. That's quite a bundle.

Trials are ready for download from the product pages shown below. Read complete details in this announcement

Should you upgrade? Here's help on making that decision:

A new Adobe RoboHelp 8 Reviewer's Guide has just been posted to help managers evaluate the new release.

There are 61 pages of details feature-by-feature along with Try-It-Exercises that can be downloaded and used in conjunction with the Reviewer's Guide to explore and test-drive the new features.

As you follow that link, be sure to download the Reviewer's Guide PDF so that you can more comfortably play all 7 of the Adobe Captivate feature/how-to demos which are embedded toward the end of the Guide.

Also the Adobe Tech Comm blog has a summary of the RoboHelp 8 features and more links. This is definitely a major, major release. The thing I like about it is that it not only makes the author's job easier, but also has a lot of features for the end-user - particularly with navigation and Search (always a popular request)

Many of you longtime RoboHelp authors know, RJ Jacquez who is the Adobe's Tech Comm evangelist. Here is his blog post about the new release.

Here are product page links and "What's New" videos on the following new releases:

Bob Doyle who publishes the DITA Newsletter, explains the DITA features of Adobe TCS and how Adobe FrameMaker 9 and Adobe RoboHelp 8 are integrated to work with DITA.

Featuring Adobe RoboHelp Sample Project

Clownfish School is a sample project that ships with Adobe RoboHelp 7. It is a demonstration of how RoboHelp can be used as an eLearning platform. Click here to view Clownfish School.

Announcing a free Flare to RoboHelp converter

A migration path for Flare authors who want to return to RoboHelp
Last year at WritersUA and STC in Minneapolis, several folks asked me if there is such a thing as a converter for taking a MadCap Flare™ project and converting it to an Adobe® RoboHelp® 7 project. Now there is a Flare replacement for those who want to return their familiar favorite, RoboHelp.. Read more and download the Flare to RoboHelp Converter for free

"With a tight deadline looming, and with other people on the doc team using RoboHelp, I was faced with having to convert my Flare project to RoboHelp as quickly as possible. John Daigle's "Flare to RoboHelp Converter" was a blessing in disguise. I was able to convert the HTML files, TOC, and Index entries into RoboHelp in a matter of minutes. Even the conditional build tags converted (although I did have to apply them to a very complex TOC afterward). John's excellent customer service also made the conversion a pleasure! Highly recommended on all counts."

Denise Tyler
Author and Technical Writer for these publications:
Macmillan Publishing, Pearson Education, Sybex,
Charles River Media, Thomson Learning, eFrontier,
DAZ Productions

Adobe Certified Training in:

Adobe RoboHelp
Adobe Captivate
Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional (formerly Breeze)

for technical writers and instructional designers email John Daigle for special training class dates or arrange for your own onsite custom training.

John's Articles posted on the Adobe Developer Center website

Read my Context-Sensitive Help and RoboSource Control articles in Macromedia's new Developer Center Providing Context-Sensitive Help for Web Applications

This article applies to non-programming RoboHelp authors and explains how to provide context-sensitive help to web application users. It also shows web developers how to use the WebHelp API to display context-sensitive topics in special windows, defined by the help author.

You can download the sample web application as well as a RoboHelp project to practice creating context-sensitive help. I've provided Captivate™ demos to help you understand the process—these "show me" demos make the process clearer.

And, in case you missed it, check out a previously published article on the Adobe site.
Sharing One RoboHelp Project Among Multiple Authors - Covering RoboSource Control

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