Messages from My Sponsors -- April 6, 2011

by Tom Johnson on Apr 6, 2011
categories: advertiser messages

Every so often I let my blog sponsors post a message to my readers. Below are brief messages from ScreenSteps, Adobe, 3vdia, Congility, Madcap Software, and MindTouch. Read this as if you were browsing a hall of  interesting vendors during a tech comm conference.

ScreenSteps Desktop - Clearer Documentation in Less Time

ScreenSteps Desktop is the simplest and fastest way to create clearer software documentation in less time. By integrating screen capture, image editing and document authoring into a single application, ScreenSteps lets you create crystal clear how-to documents in minutes instead of hours.  The documents you create can be published to services such as MindTouch, Confluence, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and many other wiki, blog and content management systems.

• Capture images using our integrated screen capture tools. As you capture images, your “how-to” document is assembled for you.
• Annotate your images with arrows, boxes, circles and text boxes. Blur out sensitive information in screen captures.
• Author text right alongside your images (no more pasting screenshots into Microsoft Word!).
• Export documents to PDF, HTML, Word, and many blog, wiki and content management systems.
• Add Workgroup capabilities to improve collaboration on your documentation team.

ScreenSteps is available as a single license for Windows/Mac starting at $79.95. Learn more and download a free trial.

Adobe Systems Inc.

Adobe® Technical Communication Suite® 3 software now offers enhanced support for single source authoring, rich media integration and single-click publishing to multiple channels and devices. TEST-DRIVE NOW!

The versatile new release of your favorite toolkit is has plenty of exciting features to help you meet the challenges posed by today's dynamic and evolving world of technical communication. Leverage the productivity enhancements, smoother integration and streamlined workflows to easily accomplish everything you need to do, while reducing the Total Cost of Ownership.

• Create standards-compliant content (XML, DITA 1.2 and S1000D) for multiple needs without leaving the native authoring environment, thanks to the enhanced single-sourcing capabilities of Adobe FrameMaker® 10.
• Manage and repurpose your content better via seamless out-of-the-box integration with leading content management systems like Microsoft SharePoint and EMC Documentum, as well as with others via WebDAV enhancements.
• Accelerate time to market, collaborating and reviewing content more efficiently with roundtrip review workflows.
• Engage your audiences by easily adding multimedia and interactivity using advanced image and video-editing tools.
• Radically expand your outreach, taking your content to multiple channels (including print, WebHelp, XML, HTML, EPUB, Adobe® AIR®, PDF) and devices (including smartphones, eBook readers, tablets), with the single-click publishing capabilities of Adobe RoboHelp® 9.

For more information, please visit the product website.

3vdia Composer

Streamline how you create product communications. Now you can leverage your 3D CAD data directly to your product documentation – from technical manuals to marketing and sales tools:

• Reuse 3D content across your entire enterprise;
• Create better documentation faster and at lower cost;
• Keep content current with the latest designs automatically.

3DVIA Composer's simple, intuitive interface gets you up and running quickly–no CAD experience required. It works seamlessly with Microsoft®, Adobe®, and other popular documentation software.

When design changes are made, you can update graphics automatically, keeping documentation and engineering on the same page.

With 3DVIA Composer, you can easily take your technical documentation to a new level with compelling interactive experiences.

Yes, it's used for software visuals too – here's a link to the product family you can check out www.3dvia.com/products.

Congility 2011 Conference - London, Gatwick, UK - May 24-26

Congility brings together content professionals looking to advance their organisation's goals with better content management and process. Break down silos and learn to deliver better content, for a lower cost, that improves customer experience using:

• Content Strategy
• Content Standards
• Component CMS
• DITA XML
• Agile methodologies

Featuring presentations and workshops by global thought-leaders in Content Strategy and DITA like Ann Rockley, Don Day, Noz Urbina, and Rahel Bailie as well as case studies from global brands like eBay, Nokia, IBM, AMD, Symantec, AGFA and more.

Workshops and conference access is limited! Save 20% until April 29th using discount code: TJRBWCA1120

http://www.congility.com/2011 @congility - Today's Content Needs Agility

MadCap Software, Inc.

New Releases from MadCap Software

MadCap Software recently released Flare 7, the all-new MadCap Contributor, and Analyzer 4. Flare 7 introduced several new features including native SharePoint and Subversion support, improved accessibility, a built-in equation editor, vector graphics support, and more.  MadCap Contributor offers an enhanced workflow for SMEs and managers to review and contribute content.  Analyzer adds new reports, accessibility scanning and analysis, and improved usability.  To learn more about MadCap's products, visit our Product Overview page.

The MadCap Roadshow is Underway, Stopping in 16 Cities

The first leg of the MadCap Roadshow is in full swing, with Austin, Atlanta and Orlando wrapping up the first week, followed by stops this week in the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver, B.C., Seattle and Portland.  The Roadshow is a one-day training session led by Mike Hamilton, VP of Product Evangelism, covering the latest trends in technical communication.  Click here for the full agenda.

MadCap Software Awarded Patent for Flare's Structure Bar Technology

MadCap Software has been awarded a patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Flare's unique Structure Bar technology.  Structure Bars provides a visual representation of the underlying XML structure and architecture of a document and allows the author to use these structure bars to manipulate and edit the document without having to view the raw XML code.  Read the full story here.

MindTouch

MindTouch makes the world's most respected social knowledge base. We power purpose-built help 2.0 communities that connect companies with their customers. Millions use our software every day.

What is MindTouch TCS?

It's a cloud-based social knowledge base that your customers will actually love using. The simple wiki-like interface makes MindTouch TCS perfect for creating product help communities.

Key Benefits

• Lower your customer support costs.
• Juice your search engine ranking (SEO).
• Create more engaged and loyal customers.
• Increase your lead generation.
• Sell and market better with personalization.

We have thousands of customers worldwide, with service and sales partners (resellers) in countries across the world (UK, Germany, France, India, Brazil, Australia, the list keeps on growing). Our product portfolio includes a mix of on-premise and SaaS (aka "Cloud") software. Our Cloud customers are the fastest growing segment of our business.

Our emphasis going forward is Cloud based delivery. This allows us to rapidly increase our rate of innovation thanks to our product's innovative Web Oriented Architecture (WOA; i.e.- RESTful) and by minimizing the overhead associated with packaging, testing, and supporting our software for many different operating systems (at present time MindTouch supports for several virtualized environments, VMWare, Amazon, three flavors of Microsoft Windows, and six distributions of Linux).

Ready to jumpstart your product help? Start a Free Trial of MindTouch TCS Today!