The Future of RoboHelp?

The RoboHelp help authoring tool is now entering its thirteenth year of existence. That's a remarkably long existence for any software title. In that time period, we have seen an amazing expansion of the software industry throughout the 1990s and an equally amazing retraction due to the bursting of the Internet bubble. Making its start in the tiny offices of Blue Sky Software in LaJolla, California, RoboHelp grew into an extremely profitable product. It is also a market leader—having capturing some two-thirds of all Help authoring tool sales. During the Internet bubble years the company changed its name to eHelp, but RoboHelp continued to be its flagship profit center. In 2003, eHelp (and RoboHelp) were acquired by one of the leading providers of web tools—Macromedia. Now it appears that the end may be approaching for RoboHelp.

Welinske, Joe. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

John Daigle on RoboHelp 7

Daigle, an Adobe community expert for RoboHelp, shares his reaction to the RoboHelp 7 sneak peak, and also explains the main features RoboHelp 7 will have: drag-and-drop functionality across the topics, double-byte language support for translation, the ability to have multiple topics open at the same time, snippets with graphics, removal of kadov tags, automatic breadcrumbs, and tighter integration with other Adobe products. Daigle speculates on reasons for Adobe's lack of transparency, and comments on the globalization of Adobe's development for RoboHelp.

Daigle, John and Tom H. Johnson. Tech Writer Voices (2007). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Preserve Changes in RoboHelp for a Linked FrameMaker Book

While it is ideal to maintain all the content in FrameMaker, there are special situations which may require the RoboHelp content to be out of sync from FrameMaker documents either for short duration or for small set of topics. These special situations can relate to project deadlines or project requirements which make the process of maintaining a single source difficult.

Adobe (2007). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

RoboHelp Office v.3x: the Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent

Overall, in my experience, writers and programmers prefer to use RoboHelp to create and maintain Help systems because the application has fewer issues with the Internet and programming platforms. In fact, for this latest version Of RoboHelp, I have only one minor complaint. Here is a summary of my findings.

Hewitt, Sally. MetroVoice (2003). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Tips and Techniques for Single-sourcing with RoboHelp X5

RoboHelp now offers a rich set of features for delivering multiple customized outputs out of a single project. This article by Matthew Ellison provides some guidelines and tips on using the key single-sourcing features.

Ellison, Matthew. WritersUA (2004). Articles>Documentation>Single Sourcing>Adobe RoboHelp

Using RoboHelp to Develop a Simple Web-Based Tutorial

Many technical communicators are tasked with converting user manuals and other documentation written in Adobe FrameMaker into online help using eHelp (formerly Blue Sky) RoboHelp. The problems they face concern not only going from FrameMaker to RoboHelp but also how to put the content in a form that is effective for online help. The solution is not difficult, provided the writer follows a methodical approach.

Kurtus, Ron. School for Champions (2003). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

What Is RoboHelp?

RoboHelp is an authoring tool sold by eHelp Corporation (formerly Blue Sky Software). In an easy 'WYSIWYG' format, it allows you to organize information and create pathways and interactive links so a user can find desired or necessary information (and the user can do so in a non-linear intuitive way that is helpful to learning).

UMBC (2000). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Ten RoboHelp Tips You Won't Want to Miss

I've been using RoboHelp for nearly a decade now. I started off with an older Word-based version to create WinHelp, and now I work with the HTML version to create WebHelp for locally installed and server-based products. Here are a few RoboHelp tips that I've found useful in my day-to-day help authoring responsibilities.

HelpScribe (2009). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

Using Master Pages in RoboHelp 8

Master Pages, a new concept introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 8, intends to provide flexibility in controlling the layout of topics, where in an author may separate the actual content from the layout of the output and may do it from a single place. In Adobe RoboHelp 8, a user may use Master Page as a Layout and Styling canvas where one may put basic HTML elements to be used for Layout purposes.

Adobe (2009). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp

What to Know When Switching from RoboHelp to Flare

I recently switched from RoboHelp 7 to Flare 5. I’m not the person to ask about the merits of one over the other because I don’t have enough experience with Flare yet. Because I’m coming to version 5 with my knowledge being only that which my colleagues have told or shown me, I hope to make life easier for anyone moving from RH to Flare or at least trying Flare out.

Minson, Benjamin. Communications from DMN (2009). Articles>Documentation>Adobe RoboHelp>Madcap Flare

Adobe RoboHelp 8: Start Page, Project Title and Default Topic... Let's Get Them Straight Once and For All!

As I've continued to teach my online RoboHelp class to students who attend from all over the world, one recurring issue has been confusion over the following three RoboHelp features: the start page, the project title and the default topic. The three files/names are totally different, having nothing to do with each other, but are commonly confused. By the time you are finished reading this text, I'm hoping that the confusion is a thing of the past.

Siegel, Kevin A. I Came, I Saw, I Learned (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Adobe RoboHelp