Analysis of current scenario of your company is very important in deciding the HAT (Help Authoring Tools) and Content Strategy for your company. These PPT slides provides a analysis of existing scenario in a company and how RoboHelp was chosen as the HAT.

1. Choosing RoboHelp as
your HAT
- Raghuram Pandurangan

2. Agenda
• Introduction
• Analysis
 Current Scenario
 Limitations with Existing HAT
 Comparison of Tools
 Points to Consider
• Solution
• RoboHelp 2015 Overview
• RoboHelp Tips
• What’s New in RoboHelp 2017
• CSH with Online Help
• Demo

3. Introduction
 Adobe RoboHelp
 WYSIWIG and good usability – flat learning curve
 Developed by eHelp and acquired by Macromedia in 2003,
later by Adobe in 2005 [version X5]
 How we chose RoboHelp
 Analysis
 Points to Consider
 Solution
eHelp
Macromedia
Adobe

4. Analysis

5. Current Scenario
• MS Word for authoring
• Drupal 4.x for Online Help [OLH]
• Limited resources and time
• Existing help content in MS Word
• Agile process – need to show progress

6. Limitations with Existing HAT
 Spend too much time in formatting and alignment of multi-level
headings
 MS Word prone to crash with bulky documents
 Drupal OLH is difficult to customize
 Content reuse and productivity is limited
 No versioning or conditional text
 No structured authoring
 Navigation and search in output is difficult

7. Consolidated Comparison of Tools
Tool
Price
UpgradeCost
OnlineHelp
Support
Versioning
Conditional
Easeof
Migration
MobileHelp
Structured
Authoring
Comments
Help and
Manual
$550 $389 for
Upgrade
  (with
Server
$1295)
    • Good WebHelp Output
• Minimum changes required after importing the RTF
document
• Supports Version when integrated Help & Manual
Server
• Has inbuilt screenshot enhancer(Impict)
Help Smith $199 $99 for
Upgrade
      • Supports variables, breadcrumbs, custom HTML
code.
• Supports Translation (Unicode support)
Helpinator $250 $250 for
Lifetime
Upgrade
      • Good retention of formatting when copy pasted
from MS Word
• Supports Translation
• Screenshot association with topics for easier
management of screenshots
Dr.Explain $249
OR
$349
No
Mention
      • Good Online Help output
• Easier organization of content
• Automate the Help Authoring (Needs Setup and
Learning required)

8. Tool
Price
Upgrade
Cost
OnlineHelp
Support
Versioning
Conditional
Text
Easeof
Migration
MobileHelp
Structured
Authoring
Comments
Adobe
RoboHelp
$999 $599   (with
Server-
$1999)
    • Flat Learning Curve
• Easily import from MS Word
• Easy customization of skins and
templates
• Good option for Online Help Output
Author-IT
(Client-Server)
$2000-
1000
(Group
of
Users)
No
Mention
      • Ease of Use
• Import from MS Word
• Easy Documentation Management and
Content reuse
PTC Arbor Text Secret
Pricing
Model
No
Mention
      • Automate the production with
integration of CMS
• Include interactive 2D and 3D
illustrations
• Easy to transfer MS Word content
(Copy/Paste)
Madcap Flare $1448 No
Mention
      • Steep Learning Curve
• Excellent output and customizations
available
• Consistent output and versatile
Adobe
FrameMaker
$999 $599 
(with
Plug-
in)
 (with
Server
$5999)
    • Steep Learning Curve
• Needs Plugin Software (needs to be
purchased) for Online Help
• Consistent output
• Good option for PDF output
Consolidated Comparison of Tools
[Contd.]

9. Points to Consider
• Reuse of existing MS Word content
• No training or limited time for learning the new HAT
• Content from new HAT must be delivered within next 6 months
• OLH support for multiple devices:
 Desktop
 Mobile
 Tabs
• Organization structure
• Content
• Easy to generate MS Word format files for reviews
• Easy to search content
• Easy to embed Videos

11. Why RoboHelp 2015?
• Import existing MS Word files easily
• Fit the company’s budget and user-based licensing
• Easy-to-use and less setup compared to leading HATs
• Use MS Word stylesheet itself
• Reuse content using topics and set up a
project once
• Indexing is easy and Search is customizable

12. RoboHelp 2015 Overview
 Easily import Word documents by mapping the
para tags
Single sourcing

13. RoboHelp 2015 Overview [Contd.]
 Output Setup and Output SSL tabs
 Master Pages (for MS Word output)
 Skins
 Screen Profiles
 Screen Layouts

14. RoboHelp 2015 Overview [Contd.]
 Index wizard to add index keywords topic-by-
topic
Generate batch of outputs on
single click

15. What’s New in RoboHelp 2017
• Dynamically filtered output
• Toggle the view between variable and its value
• Generate content centric to iOS and
Android – create apps
• Search suggestions and autocomplete

16. Tips for RoboHelp
 Create Base project
 Create a project with primary output
 Set up or import skin or screen layout
 Set up or import master pages
 Configure Output SSL for outputs used
 Copy the project to a shared location
 Copy the project for a new help project and rename the project file name
and properties

17. Tips for RoboHelp [Contd.]
 Understanding project files [XML format]
 .xpj –project information
 .hhc –TOC
 .hhk – Index
 .glo – glossary
 .fpj – each folder contains this file with index
Project
Topic2
Topic1
Useful when the project file (.xpj) is corrupted
Can be used to integrate topics where a team
is sharing project

18. CSH with Online Help

19. Author and Developer Roles for CSH
Creates map files
and assigns map
IDs to each Help.
Generates the
output to include
the context-
sensitive Help
topics.
Tests the context-
sensitive topics in
the application.
Writes code that
calls the correct
Help topics from
within the
application
Obtains map files
that contain the
map IDs from the
author.
Builds the
components that
make up the
application.
Notifies the author
when changes are
made to the
application.
AUTHOR DEVELOPER
Writes the Help
topics that describe
how to use
application.

20. Bibliography and References
• Adobe.com [A to Z of RoboHelp]
• Wiki (for eHelp)
• Graphics courtesy
• Adobe.com
• Combiboilerleeds.com
• www.aqusagtechnologies.com
• http://rpsec.usca.edu
• Further references
• RoboHelp 2015
• Content Strategy in Tech. Comm. –Sarah O’Keefe
• Technical Communication on Life Support: UX and Content Strategy are the
Reclamation! –Chris LaRoche
• The Intersection of Content Strategy and TechComm –Adobe Blog
• Bust a Move: From Tech. Comm. to Content Strategy –Madcap Webinar
• Content Strategy for Everything –Kristina Halvorson

21.  Contact Information
• Email: pragram@gmail.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/raghuram77/
Thanks