RE: Help in Evaluating HATs

["Steve Cavanaugh" <scavanaugh -at- nat-seattle -dot- com>]

FYI I just got this on the Frameusers list:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Adobe Systems Incorporated
> Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 9:04 PM
> Subject: Adobe Releases Major Upgrade to RoboHelp
> 
> ( BW)(CA-ADOBE-SYSTEMS)(ADBE) Adobe Releases Major Upgrade to RoboHelp
> 
>     Adobe RoboHelp 6 Eases Creation, Management and Publishing of 
> Intuitive Software Help Systems and Knowledge Bases
> 
>     Business Editors/High-Tech Editors
> 
>     SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2007--Adobe Systems 
> Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe(R) RoboHelp(R) 6, a 
> complete, flexible and user-friendly system to create, manage and 
> publish software help systems, knowledge bases and documentation for 
> desktop and Web-based applications. As a key element of Adobe's 
> technical communications product line-up, which includes Adobe 
> FrameMaker(R), Adobe Captivate(TM) and Adobe Acrobat(R), RoboHelp 6 
> provides all the desktop functionality that authors need to create 
> advanced Help content, including table of contents, index, glossary, 
> graphics, special effects and context-sensitive Help. Adobe RoboHelp 
> Server 6, also introduced today, provides powerful server features 
> that ensure the delivery of up-to-date online content, with real-time 
> tracking of how end-users engage with the help system that provides 
> valuable feedback to Help publishers.
> 
>     "Adobe RoboHelp 6 is a major release and a key milestone in the 
> product's 15-year history," said Don Walker, senior director of 
> product marketing and business development at Adobe. "RoboHelp 6 
> strongly reinforces Adobe's commitment to the technical communications

> market, giving authors what they need to easily develop, manage and 
> maintain intuitive software help systems and knowledge bases."
> 
>     "RoboHelp has consistently led the market for the past decade, 
> providing superior usability and productivity," said Ron Linyard, 
> President and CEO of Unwired Software and former VP of Engineering for

> eHelp. "The software is compatible with a host of formats and 
> leverages the benefits of other Adobe products to give users a richer 
> experience than other tools provide."
> 
>     With this release, Adobe has consolidated the Adobe RoboHelp 
> product family into two simple and powerful choices -- Adobe RoboHelp
> 6 for authoring and Adobe RoboHelp 6 Server for the delivery of online

> content. Users of RoboHelp 6 also benefit from the integration of 
> Adobe Captivate 2 for improved workflow and more engaging content with

> simulations and demonstrations. In addition, users can automate the 
> building of their help at a predetermined time using command line 
> compilation. Conditional Table of Contents (TOC) allows for greater 
> control and customization of table of contents. With User Defined 
> Variables, changes can be made just once, but seen everywhere in Help.
> Updated Adobe RoboSource Control provides an unique source document 
> and version control system for Windows and Web development for both 
> individual users and collaborative teams. Adobe PDF creation generates

> support for hyperlinks & bookmarks and enables accessible PDFs.
> Built-in RoboScreenCapture means users don't need to invest in a 
> separate application to create and edit screen shots.
> 
>     RoboHelp Server 6 extends and supports the capabilities of Adobe 
> RoboHelp 6 to provide a complete online Help and Knowledge Base 
> solution. Authors can easily deploy and manage up-to-date online 
> content, control and monitor the use of Web-based Help systems in real

> time through a new web-based remote interface, and develop Help 
> systems for use with the Microsoft .NET Framework. Also, RoboHelp 
> Server 6 includes FlashHelp Pro, a server-based version of FlashHelp 
> and provides connectivity with Oracle and SQL databases, formerly sold

> separately in the RoboEngine Connectivity Pack.
> 
>     Adobe RoboHelp 6 gives users more choices to create and publish 
> content. Users can import a variety of content created in Microsoft 
> Word, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe PDF, XML and other help projects and 
> then publish the content in popular help formats including FlashHelp, 
> WebHelp, HTML help, WinHelp, HTML, JavaHelp, OracleHelp for Java and 
> even printed documentation output in Adobe PDF and Microsoft Word. The

> customization of content is made easier with conditional text and new 
> features like TOC and user defined variables.
> 
>     Pricing and Availability
> 
>     RoboHelp 6 and RoboHelp 6 Server are available for purchase today 
> for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Support for Windows Vista will be 
> added in 2007. The estimated street price for Adobe RoboHelp 6 is
> US$999 and US$1999 for Adobe RoboHelp 6 Server. Previous users of 
> RoboHelp and RoboInfo can upgrade to Adobe RoboHelp 6 and RoboHelp 
> Server 6 for an estimated street price of US$499 and US$999, 
> respectively. Volume discounts and government and education licensing 
> are also available to eligible customers. To learn more about Adobe 
> RoboHelp 6 and Adobe RoboHelp Server 6, please visit 
> www.adobe.com/go/robohelp. For more information, customers in North 
> America can call 1.800.326.2124.
> 
>     About Adobe Systems Incorporated
> 
>     Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and 
> information - anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more 
> information, visit www.adobe.com.
> 
>     (C) 2007 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, 
> the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Captivate, FrameMaker and RoboHelp are either

> registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in 
> the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the

> property of their respective owners.
> 
>     --30--
> 
>     CONTACT: Adobe Systems Incorporated
>              Stefan Offermann, 408-536-4023
>              sofferma -at- adobe -dot- com
>              or
>              A&R Edelman
>              Tricia Arana, 650-762-2804
>              tarana -at- ar-edelman -dot- com
_______________________________________________  


Steve Cavanaugh
Sr. Technical Writer
NAT Seattle Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+scavanaugh=nat-seattle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+scavanaugh=nat-seattle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
On Behalf Of Klaus Nji
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:54 AM
To: Cardimon,Craig
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Help in Evaluating HATs

Have you successfully imported large Word Docs into RoboHelp?  

Our other concern with RoboHelp, it its limitation on conditional text.
One can only include or exclude and not replace text.  Have you had to
use this feature?

Thanks again.
----- Original Message ----
From: "Cardimon,Craig" <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 9:23:22 AM
Subject: RE: Help in Evaluating HATs

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+pauln=helpauthors -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+pauln=helpauthors -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Klaus Nji
Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2007 12:24 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Help in Evaluating HATs

I've been reviewing several HATs for our company.  All of our documents
are currently in Word, which are then converted to PDF, a very painful
process.

Before setting out to look for a HAT, we specified our minimum
requirements as follows:

- Tool should take Word files as input with little modification required
on the final content.
- Output formats required:  CHM and PDF, at a minimum.
- There should be support for conditional output, at the text level. We
should be able to control output text based by manipulating certain
variables or attributes.
-  Automation of the ouput building process should be supported.  It
should be possible to write some kind of batch file, which will run
every night to produce the output.
- One shoule be able to customize the PDF output.  At a minimum, the PDF
should have compressed bookmarks.
- Support for Modular Help, where by smaller books can be amalgamated
into bigger books.
- Provision for automatic indexing.
- Seamless acceptance of very large Word documents.
- Good editor.
- Active online user forum.

So far, we have looked at:

- Help & Manual (H&M)
- RoboHelp Office (RH)
- DocToHelp (D2H)
- AuthorIT  (AIT)

Our opinion is as follows:

Help & Manual seems to satisfy almost all of the requirements.  However,
there are some unanswered questions:
- It seems to have limited support for automatic indexing and modular
help.

- Word documents must be in .rtf format.
- Output from imported Word documents lose all original links.  A pain
to correct.
We liked the intuitive and user friendly interface H&M offerered.  Most
impressive was its flexible support for conditional text.

RoboHelp Office is very good as well but also had some limitations:
- Conditional text is restricted to the inclusiion and exclusion of
text.
- Automating builds does not seem to be supported, or is not well
documented.
- Importing large Word documents and creating PDFs seems clumsy.  Heck,
I have not yet been able to successfully create a PDF document.
- Uncertainty about what Adobe will do with this product.
- Relatively quiet user forum.

DocToHelp has a very good interface but like the others has its
limitations:
- Editing source to making a change in a project variable requires one
to open and close Word.  This is not very good.
- Modular Help is not supported for printed documents.  
- PDF output generation is new and offers very little flexibility.
- Relatively quiet user forum.

So, we are leaning towards D2H or H&M.

What has your experiences been with each product?

Thanks in advance.

>>>>>

I've been teaching myself RoboHelp HTML, in preparation for importing my
company's outdated PDF help files into RoboHelp, updating them, and then
exporting them either as PDF or HTML. RoboHelp HTML has been doing fine
by me. There's a lot to learn and it is keeping me on my toes. 

For the past couple days I've been helping out with a customized job for
a special customer. I've been importing rough drafts of help in Word
format into RoboHelp HTML and editing them. We don't have the image
captures yet! That's in someone else's lap thus far. When I'm done, I'll
be exporting the finished help as HTML files and emailing them to
another department for the final polish.

I have no real complaints with RoboHelp HTML.

-- Craig

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
or printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team
authoring, Web-based technology, and PDF output.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats
or printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team
authoring, Web-based technology, and PDF output.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

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