Social Collaboration: How User-Added Content Enhances Your Documentation

There’s been a lot of talk about taking technical communication social, but what’s in it for you? In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• How social collaboration enhances customer satisfaction.
• How user-added content supplements your documentation.
• How user-added content saves you time and money.
• How to incorporate user-added content into your workflow.
• How tracking user activity helps you create more useful documentation.

You’ll also get a brief introduction to MadCap Software’s social collaboration platform, MadCap Pulse, so you can see these concepts in action.

Using MadCap Flare as a Content Management System

Content management systems (CMSs) are a hot topic these days and you may be thinking about adopting one for use in your doc group. But it’s not a simple task… Cultural issues can delay or derail implementation. Defining whether and how a CMS might fit into your workflow isn’t easy. And getting it wrong can waste a lot of money since even a simple commercial CMS is far more expensive than a help authoring tool.

Help authoring tools (HATs) like Flare seem unrelated to CMSs, but HATs have gone far beyond help authoring. They now offer features like repositories, review support, content customization, flexible input and output, and more. In effect, today HATs are lightweight CMSs. Which means?

If you’re thinking about adopting a CMS, you can use Flare to build a simulated CMS to try to spot problems before buying a “real” CMS. You might even be able to use Flare as a CMS, reducing disruption and saving a lot of money. This webinar looks at how Flare can be used to create “pseudo-CMSs” for testing purposes, and how it might be used as lightweight but functional “true” CMS.

Code-o-phobic? Time to Get Over It!

Are you code-challenged—always sticking to the WYSIWYG side of things? Are you nervous about clicking Flare’s new “text” tab to switch to the “other side” to hunt for errors? Do you think code is only for geeks?

Since we fear what we do not understand, it goes without saying that if you can learn the basic structure and terminology of code, it will no longer be able to confuse or elude you. You might be surprised at just how little you will need to know in order to take away the fear.

In this class, we will discuss structure, elements, tags, attributes and divs. We will touch on cascading style sheets (CSS) and how they correlate to HTML. We will look at Flare’s new split view (XML and text), autocomplete and syntax coloring. At the end of class, you will be instructed in how to create a practice piece in notepad that you can play with in your browser so you can see for yourself just how simple it can be.

Calling All Propeller Heads: How to Start Your Own Flare User Group

Can't find a Flare user group in your area? Start one! It's not hard, and just takes a little planning, a bit of management, and a lot of passion.

This webinar offers strategies for starting a Flare user group in your community. We'll cover how to:

• Find other interested "propeller heads"
• Choose a location
• Devise a schedule of meetings
• Run a meeting that's both fun and packed with information
Foster participation and sharing among members
• Plan activities that keep members coming back for more
• Establish membership rules and set boundaries (so no one feels taken advantage of)
• Use technology and social media to manage and promote your group
• Avoid burning yourself out (if you're the manager!)

Whether you're a newbie, intermediate, or expert Flare user, you will marvel at how quickly your knowledge of Flare (not to mention other MadCap products) grows as a result of participating in a user group. You'll acquire a deeper understanding of how, what, and even why you should "dive deep" into Flare features.

Converting From FrameMaker to Flare? We’ve Got Your Back.

Feel like your brain is about to explode? This session will focus on planning and implementing a FrameMaker-to-Flare migration project, particularly on a large-scale. John will present some basic strategies and approaches to consider before you start, demo some third-party tools to tame your Frame documents, and a bit of text editor magic to help with the cleanup after you import.