This is an issue of DITA Newsletter.

DITA Newsletter 2.2
by bobdoyle
Posted on

Features in this issue (see the web version at www.ditanewsletter.com)

Adobe Technical Communications Suite 2

When I reviewed the first Adobe Technical Communications Suite in 2007, I wrote that I looked forward to RoboHelp (even Captivate) importing and exporting DITA topics some day.

With TCS2, Adobe has extended their integration of their "best of breed" structured content creation tools with one another, bundled Photoshop - and made their biggest step yet with full DITA 1.1 integration.

Technical Communications Suite 2 now integrates FrameMaker 9 (for technical authoring and DITA publishing), RoboHelp 8 (for help and knowledge base authoring), Captivate 4, my choice for eLearning authoring, and - perhaps the Adobe tool I use most to support those three - Photoshop CS4, now bundled in to provide tech writers terrific cost savings on all the tools they need.

What does "integration" really mean? You can include Help in FrameMaker projects, eLearning in RoboHelp and in Frame, animations in Help and Frame and in PDF documents, RoboHelp screen captures from Frame, etc, etc. All the tools include direct access to aspects of the others from within the tool. You do not have to leave one tool to "Edit with…" another tool. And no longer are conversions needed to reuse assets.

If you reuse some Frame content in a RoboHelp project, and then update the Frame document, it automatically updates in your RoboHelp. This is meaningful single-sourcing without XML includes or DITA conrefs.

It's like one big toolset for technical communicators and for instructional designers.

To add to the total integration, you can use Adobe Bridge to organize and locate assets. And if you are using a component content management system, FrameMaker 9 now offers connectors to let you search and access content in your enterprise CMS.

And what does DITA XML integration mean? It means file compatibility with standard DITA editors like the <oXygen/> XML Editor that many DITA Users members have chosen.

With new "point releases" of the three original components, Adobe has not only added features, they have reworked the user interfaces amazingly. FrameMaker 9 now obviously belongs to the same family of Adobe products as Photoshop. You will find palettes that look and feel like Photoshop, but with added control - in both tools.

With its new UI, FrameMaker 9 simplifies authoring, structuring, reviewing, and publishing complex long-form content. With support for industry standard DITA 1.1, that now means hierarchical books and topic-based content. Most important, FrameMaker 9 can combine your existing unstructured content and new structured and DITA content in a seamless workflow.

RoboHelp 8 supports Lists and Tables, a new and intuitive CSS editor, powerful Pages and Templates, and a new search functionality making it easier for endusers to find relevant content.

TCS2 offers publishing through multiple channels, including XML/HTML, print, PDF, WSF, WebHelp, FlashHelp, Microsoft HTML Help, OracleHelp, JavaHelp and Adobe AIR.

TCS2 also includes Acrobat 9 Pro Extended and Presenter 7. Presenter is a secret weapon for teams that have MS Powerpoint assets that could become training materials. You just open your Powerpoint in Presenter and add narration, animation, interactivity, and software simulations, without starting fresh with Captivate!

Adobe now supports comments in PDF documents, so you can distribute them and reviewers can embed their critical feedback, without owning the TCS tools themselves. Your PDF "proofs" become an inexpensive but powerful review workflow system. Once your PDFs are out for review and approval, you can initiate an Adobe Connect session from the documnents to move the approval process forward. ConnectNow offers free web collaboration sessions for three users. Click here to try a 3-person Connect session right now!.

The estimated street price for TCS2 is US $1899. FrameMaker 9 (US$999), RoboHelp 8 (US$999), and Captivate 4 (US$799) will be available as standalone products as well.

Adobe eLearning Suite

Just announcing a new Tech Comm Suite might have been enough for Adobe, but just as the DITA architects are integrating learning and training into DITA 1.2, Adobe is making a powerful move into eLearning with the announcement of a new tool suite aimed directly at learning and training.

Adobe Captivate already had a great presence on the desktops of eLearning developers. Captivate has great testing capabilities, with randomized questions and answers, as well as question reuse from a question pool. The range of question types is as broad as any tool: true/false, multiple choice, multiple response, matching, sequence, drag/drop, hotspot, fill in a blank, short answer, and likert (ratings). It has separate feedback and actions for multiple incorrect answers. When you record in Captivate, it simultaneously creates a demonstration, a software simulation, and an assessment file. Each of these can then be edited and published separately, a terrific time saver. It exports files as industry-standard XLIFF, for easy localization.

Now Adobe has wrapped Captivate in an Adobe eLearning Suite. Once again, integration means easy switching from one tool to another as your work requires.

For authoring, eLS includes Captivate 4, Presenter 7 (to quickly enhance Powerpoint presentations), Dreamweaver CS4, and Photoshop CS4). For post-production,

So integration means things like Photoshop layers that are preserved in Captivate, allowing you to animate the layers separately.

And the new point release of Captivate means powerful new features like single SWF file publishing, text-to-speech conversion, a drawing toolbar for simple graphics, enhanced project templates, and round-trip PowerPoint workflows, which let users import and edit PowerPoint slides with audio and interactivity.

The new point release of Dreamweaver includes the Dreamweaver CS4 CourseBuilder extension. Course designers can use Dreamweaver CS4 to directly create HTML-based eLearning modules, complete with assessments, by utilizing standard question types. Using a new Shared Courseware Object Reference (SCORM) packager, designers can also combine Captivate 4, Flash CS4, Dreamweaver CS4 and Presenter content into a single course.

Once the initial content is authored, Adobe has added tools to combine and polish the material, like Adobe Bridge CS4 to collect the assets together, Adobe Photoshop CS4, for images, Adobe Flash CS4 for animation editing, and Adobe Soundbooth to enhance the final audio.

And when you are ready to publish,the eLS includes Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro and Adobe Device Central to design, preview, and test your eLearning content for viewing on more than 600 mobile device screens.

Adobe Captivate Reviewer is a special Adobe AIR application that lets learning professionals capture reviewers’ feedback regardless of their operating system and insert comments directly into an Adobe Captivate SWF file.

If you aren't equipped with a Learning Management System to accept the SCORM-compliant output from eLS, you still have many low-cost distribution options including SWF, HTML, PDF, and AVI. You can also consider Adobe Connect Pro (sold separately).

The estimated street price for the eLS is US $1799. Adobe Captivate 4 as a standalone product will cost US$799.

Eight Slides Explain DITA Topics, Maps, Specialization

Download a zipped folder with eight explanatory slides that you can use to educate your tech pubs group about DITA.

Feel free to use these in your own presentations on DITA. They combine ideas from some of the best slides in use over the past few years by DITA evangelists.

Or listen to the 5-minute Flash tutorial that uses animated versions of these slides to describe the core functionality of DITA.

 

Your D.Q. Helps Make the Business Case for DITA

The DITA Quotient estimates the value of DITA for your organization.

Simply answer ten yes/no questions about content management, structure, reuse, single-sourcing, localization, markup, conditional processing, modularity, task-orientation, minimalism, and standards.

You get a printable profile of your D.Q., which you can use as a checklist of questions about your structured content strategy and to compare yourself to industry averages.

DITA Consultants are using the D.Q., along with an estimate of the DITA Maturity Model level, to analyze a client's business case for DITA.

Get your DITA Quotient now (fill out an anonymous online form - no registration required).

DITA Tools from A to Z

DITA News has now posted the full copy of the STC Intercom special DITA issue cover story, with its extensive feature tables.

Here is the introduction to the story:

DITA's promise of topic-based structured authoring is not merely better documentation. lt is the creation of mission-critical information for your organization, written with a deep understanding of your most important audiences, that can be repurposed to multiple delivery channels and localized for multilingual global markets.

Download your copy here.

 

 

DITA Tools Survey

The first Annual Survey of DITA Tools was recently distributed to six DITA communities.

The survey asks for a profile of the user, and then collects usage statistics and critical comments on more than three dozen DITA-related tools.

Complete the DITA Tools Survey here.

DITA Users now offers three membership packages

Since April 2007, the DITA Users international membership organization has provided basic online DITA editing and a personal workspace folder to hundreds of tech writers around the world getting started with DITA.

DITA Users is NOT a social network (although you can locate other members easily with our private members directory)), it is a productivity tool. It is also not a production environment, it is a learning tool.

DITA Users has now reached 750 members in 36 countries and we are changing our membership options (How To Join.

We have eliminated the free membership program, because it is costly to maintain permanent workspace directories for so many people. We will still offer free access to the DITA Storm Editor in our demo sandbox folder. So new DITA Users can still try out our training tools. Our 5-minute Flash tutorial will remain free, as will access to our DITA Tools from A to Z Survey.

We hope that many of our current free members will join to keep their workspace folders and help support our many resource websites for DITA.

A $150 membership includes the leading book on DITA and a desktop DITA Editor to complement the web-based DITA Storm editor.

A full $100 membership includes the choice of the leading book on DITA or a desktop DITA Editor to complement the web-based DITA Storm editor.

The book (a $50 value) is JoAnn Hackos' Introduction to DITA - either the original edition by Kylene Bruski and Jennifer Linton or the new Arbortext Edition.

The desktop editor is the $48 Academic Edition of the <oXygen/> XML Editor, now at version 9 with full DITA support.

Desktop editors communicate with web servers via FTP or WebDAV (distributed authoring and versioning). DITA Users can now WebDAV-enable individual members' workspace folders.

Most DITA authoring tools offer WebDAV, some as a premium only available in their Enterprise Editions (for example, Syntext Serna and XMLmind).

DITA Users still offers a basic $50 membership without the book or desktop editor. Benefits include a WebDAV-enabled folder and discounts on major DITA conferences.

Paid memberships are renewable for $50/year. Free memberships include just one IBM DITA docset.

Anyone with a WebDAV-enabled DITA authoring tool can use it on their DITA Users document sets. These include two docsets from IBM and the docset from Comtech Services in the Introduction to DITA book. They can also create their own projects.

Practically speaking, anyone already invested in an advanced DITA authoring tool may be beyond the need for the "DITA from A to B" learning offered by DITA Users. But the new access method may make online training valuable for small tech pub groups who can now use their familiar tools (like Arbortext Editor or XMetaL Author) on the DITA Users website, as well as use innovative tools like the web-based DITA Storm, while their teams get started with DITA.

In any case, DITA Users member fees underwrite our network of DITA support websites, including this newsletter. So please consider joining today.

About DITA Newsletter

DITA Newsletter is published by DITA News, one of a network of websites in support of DITA. It is available online at www.ditanewsletter.com.

Each of our websites is optimized for some community-oriented function.

DITA Users - helping members get started with topic-based authoring using a web-based editor (DITA Storm), the Open Toolkit on the server, a personal workspace folder on the web with three starter DITA docsets, and a private member directory to locate other DITA Users.
ditausers.org

DITA Infocenter - the DITA architectural and language specifications, and the Open Toolkit User Guide, online in an Eclipse Help format.
ditainfocenter.com

DITA News - a blog aggregator, a mailing list, and this newsletter on DITA.
ditanews.com

DITA Blog - a group blog for DITA information developers (based on WordPress).
ditablog.com

DITA Wiki - over 600 pages of resources in a format that encourages comments and discussions (based on MediaWiki).
ditawiki.org

Please consider joining DITA Users today. Three membership packages are available, $150, $100, and $50

Your membership fee supports our network of websites, including this newsletter. Discounts on DITA conferences and workshops more than offset your annual membership fee

http://www.ditausers.org/membership/how_to_join/

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