Adobe RoboHelp 8 is released! TCS2, too

[johndaigle]

I've been using RoboHelp since 1992 and this is huge. Not only is Adobe RoboHelp 8 released, but the entire Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 (now with Adobe Photoshop!)

The Trial for individual releases as well as the entire TCS 2 suite is ready for download and I certainly recommend you do so.

I've had the priviledge of beta testing the entire suite and so many items on our "wish list" made it into this release. My congratulations goes out to Vivek Jain, Akshay Madan, Vivek Kumar, RJ Jacquez and so many folks who have put their heart and minds into so many new features. I'm sure our pal across the pond, Peter Grainge and Robowizard Rick Stone will be chiming in soon with their take. Hopefully we'll hear from some of the other beta testers, too.

There will be much more information released by many folks I'm sure, but I've collected a roundup of links on my site that you may find helpful. They are all collected there for quick reference. I will be putting up some of my own original content as well.

www.hypertexas.com

There will also be 8 Adobe Captivate demos and the much requested 60-page Reviewer's Guide similar to last year with tutorials and such posted soon. I'd suggest giving it a test drive.

Funny. After 3 releases within 2 years and a major Adobe suite, I don't hear much from those loud naysayers about whether Adobe is supporting RoboHelp and FrameMaker anymore. I can't imagine a software company putting more faith and engineering into this fine group of products for technical authors and elearning instructional designers.
Thanx
john

[Mal Reynolds]

quote:

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Originally posted by: johndaigle
I've been using RoboHelp since 1992 and this is huge. Not only is Adobe RoboHelp 8 released, but the entire Adobe Technical Communication Suite 2 (now with Adobe Photoshop!)

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Wow. Maybe now I can get a version of Captivate that will actually work with Vista instead of complaining that it, and it alone amongst the TCS applications, doesn't have a valid serial number.

I'm wondering if the many and varied bugs in Captivate have been fixed as well.

RH7, on the other hand, I'm more than happy with so while it's nice to see upgrades coming through the channel, I'm not sure I'd rate it as "huge" news. I'd be happy to continue on with RH7 for the foreseeable future, though I'll be interested to see what RH8 has in store.

[johndaigle]

Hi, Mal.
Adobe Captivate 4 certainly worked well with 2 XP Pro machines and Vista Laptop without a hitch.
Hope you give it a try.
You really need to see what they've been up to on RoboHelp 8. The scripting features offer a way to extend and customize RoboHelp and the new Search engine is really going to be a favorite of the end user. There is a much more robust handling of Lists and Autonumbering and ways to share "assets" among members of your team. These assets can live on a Network share and be used by multiple authors. There is a really nice Master Page concept that has placeholders for breadcrumbs and a mini-TOC as well.

Not to mention a more elegant way to make Adobe AIR help applications which are updatable and can have commenting and favorites and multiple topics open a the same time and RSS Feeds and ...well you get the idea.
Thanx
john

[RoboColum_n_]

For us the ability to farm out FM and RH documents for comments and dynamically import them back into our source is a REAL winner. Not to mention the ability to dynamically link to Word documents. You've no idea how useful this will prove for us.

[Jared Hess]

I realize this is probably very new, but just wondering if someone has put together a list or a video showing off what the new features offer? Our company, like a lot of you out there I'm sure, is trying to cut costs so they probably won't want me to get the upgrade unless there are some serious benefits to our documentation process.

[RoboColum_n_]

Hi Jared.
New it may be but the Product Evangelist RJ Jacquez has produced this tutorial. It would also be worthwhile subscribing to his blog as he will be posting further detail as time goes by.

[hughbetcha]

quote:

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has produced this tutorial.

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Hi Colum. Link is not working. Just have to take out the "https://" so it is: http://admin.adobe.acrobat.com/_a295153/newintcs2/

Thanks.

[johndaigle · Accepted solution]

Hey, Jared!
Good news for how to respond to those upgrade questions as managers evaluate the new release.

The Adobe RoboHelp 8 Reviewer's Guide has just been posted. It has 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)

Thanks,
John

[Guest]

Hi All,

I can't play the tutorials in the new Reviewer's Guide

Anyone else having this problem? Are they available at another location?

Thanks,
Jeanne

[johndaigle]

Hey, Jeanne.

I think I know what's happening. To see the movies, you must download the PDF to your hard drive first. There is a Download button in the upper right area of the page. When you open it from there, you can scroll down to page 58 or 59 and find the 7 tutorials as thumbnail images. For the best viewing, close the "TOC" pane if it is open to get more real estate. Then, click on a thumbnail or right click to open it in a larger floating window. When the movie has finished, just right click and choose "Close floating window" and proceed to other movies if you like.

I am not aware of the tutorials being "free standing" although I will suggest that to the Adobe folks.

Finally, don't forget to download the Try-it-Exercises to be able to do the tutorials and walkthrough as explained in the Reviewer's Guide. This is a RoboHelp 8 project called Web Graphics Special Edition which is an updated version from the one that ships with the software.
Try It Exercises

The Reviewer's Guide itself can be downloaded here:
Adobe RoboHelp 8 Reviewer's Guide PDF

Thanx
john

[Guest]

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply. Adobe.com is quite the spiffy new environment!

I had already downloaded the Reviewer's Guide, it but movies would not play from either local or online version. I did receive a message that there were features in the downloaded pdf that required a newer version of Reader. I had 8. When I got version 9 all was fine.

The online Guide should specify that users need to save it locally before they can watch the movies if this is the case.

While pursuing this, I felt that the Adobe User Experience fell apart in 2 ways:

1. When I was told I needed a newer version of Reader, I clicked Help - Check for Updates and was informed that there were none available. So I navigated to Adobe site, found the Adobe Reader page, and sure 'nuff, there was a new version (I was on 8, not 9). So why didn't Check for Updates tell me this?

2. I never got any type of communication that RoboHelp 8 was released. As a user since RoboHelp 3, I am always interested in updates, and especially interested in the new Air layout. (Looking for something delivered as a single file, that we can use as locally-installed Help instead of CHM files.)

Frankly, some aspects of Air output I just don't get, and I have questions about platform and browser compatibility (a constant thorn in my side with Web Help)... but that's for another post.

Jeanne

[Jared Hess]

Thanks for the info everyone. Sounds like it has some good things. I think I'll investigate the trial. Will the trial of RH 8 install and function side by side with my existing RH 7 w/o problems?

[Captiv8r]

Hi Jared

I've been using RoboHelp 8 alongside 7 for a while now. Indeed it seems to coexist fine.

The only thing you might consider is that if you are accustomed to locating your XPJ and double-clicking to open, RH8 is associated (as it was installed after 7). Additionally, you should not expect to play with a 7 project in 8 to see how it behaves, then revert to 7 to continue.

Other than that, things should be fine.

Cheers... Rick

[lillibetUK]

Wow! Wow! Wow! Well done Adobe on what looks like a fabulous release.

If only I had waited for 6/7 months before upgrading to TCS.
Unfortunately during these times I can't see my company shelling out another £800+ for another upgrade in the same year.

BTW Mal Reynolds: The serial number issue is not related to Vista. I had this problem (admittedly for all products except Acrobat) when I upgraded to TCS 1.3. This was eventually resolved by scanning the box and sending some particular codes to Adobe. Adobe then sent a new disc out to me. I'd get on to Tech Support if I were you.