"There is full support for multi-device and multi-channel publishing – letting you distribute your finished content across different formats including mobile devices, tablets and eBook readers"
John Hillman
Adobe RoboHelp 9 is a tool that lets technical writers create multipurpose help systems, policy content and knowledgebases. It’s a highly specialised piece of kit that can be bought separately or as part of Adobe Technical Communications Suite 3.
You can use this software to create interactive help systems, policies and procedures, and knowledgebases with reusable content. You can also work with co-authors thanks to some very good collaboration tools. It makes easy-to use content with automated context-sensitive help, and multichannel, multi-device output options.
What we like best
One of the core areas where Adobe is really pushing forward with this next generation HAT software is in recognising the shift towards more socially-enabled and interactive content. The whole of Technical Suite 3 goes out of its way to provide a much richer and more immersive documentation experience.
There is full support for multi-device and multi-channel publishing – letting you distribute your finished content across different formats including mobile devices, tablets and eBook readers. For example, it allows you to publish in WebHelp, XML, CHM/HTML Help, Print (Adobe PDF, .docx, .doc), Adobe AIR, electronic publication (EPUB), and others.
The most interesting new addition to Adobe RoboHelp 9 is the ability to invite multiple users in real-time to review your content. You can do this using the Cloud, and invitees are able to access your PDF and make real time suggestions and provide feedback using track changes or sticky notes. The reviewers do not need to have their own version of the software – all they need is Adobe’s free PDF reader, so you can collaborate with co-workers on your technical documents in real-time, even if they are spread out across the world. It is a pretty cool feature.
Larger organisations, or people who just don’t trust cloud computing, can get the same results using their internal servers, and it is fully compatible with the Sharepoint Workspace.
What we like least
If you are a small company or tight on budget, you can probably get almost as much collaborative value using Google Docs, which is free. Just a thought.
RoboHelp has always suffered from a bit of an image crisis, and while the interface has had a number of improvements, it is still hindered by fact that the user interface is to the UI experience what South Park is to visual animation. It is also very expensive still, and I’m not entirely sure why.
All in all a good part of the Technical Communications Suite 3, but as a stand-alone product it is not quite up to Adobe’s normally high standards. We do like the ease with which you can work in real time with other writers around the world and there is a definite step in the right direction towards the real-time Web 2.0 world that we all live in nowadays. I’m just not sure that it is really of such enormous benefit as to justify the expenditure on its own. My advice would be to get the whole Technical Communications Suite instead, as this represents much better value for money.
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Features
Create easy-to use content with automated context-sensitive help, and multichannel, multidevice output options
Add On
FrameMaker 10
Photshop CS5
Download or CD
CD
System Requirements
- Intel Pentium 4
- Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 3
- Windows Vista with Service Pack
- Windows 7 32 and 64 bit
- 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
- 1.2GB of available hard-disk space for installation
- Additional free space required during installation
- Cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
- DVD-ROM drive
- 1024x768 display (1280x800 recommended)
- 16-bit video card
- Internet Connnection
Acrobat 9 takes the PDF document into the 21st Century with some ground breaking features, whilst introducing some simple and practical ones too.
For students this is a real-handy little package. It allows you to create, edit and manage PDFs, a document type which is really popular at universities or in schools. You can hyperlink content to make it even more interactive – which will appeal to those who have to produce presentations.
The software comes in Standard, Pro or Pro Extended formats.
Standard lets you combine different files into a single PDF document, or form, and distribute it easily with 256-bit encryption security features. That’s as secure as an online bank.
With Pro and Pro Extended you can collaborate with others online, letting multiple users work on a document simultaneously in real Web 2.0 style.
Acrobat Pro Extended allows you to convert video into PDF embeddable Flash format and display interactive multimedia including 3D models which the user can navigate up, down and around. This promises to change the face of the PDF file forever.
With the redaction tool (pro-editions) – a company can find every accidental mention of name or subject and black out the potential leaks from a PDF with one blow. Whilst the document comparison feature lets you see all the editing changes made between two versions of the same PDF.
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