RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR - Beta 2 Announced

[Vivek Jain]

RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is now updated.  You can download the
new version for FREE from Adobe labs -
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/. It has added a long list
of novel features - first time for a HATT.  Now, besides multiple tabs,
favorites, commenting and multiple skins like Multi-Tab Accordion and
Uni-pane Help, you have another set of new features.

Designed for End Customers - Adobe AIR based Help templates have been
designed keeping in view the end customer. They have some high-end
navigation features like Mini TOC, Breadcrumbs, etc. Apart from these
capabilities, the new Adobe AIR based Help also empowers the end
customers to customize the Help. An end customer can set their own
preferences and customize Help as desired.

Compelling Rich Branded Experience- RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
provides a compelling rich user experience. It includes templates that
help authors package the same content into three completely different
styles - Multi-Tab Accordion, Uni-Pane or the Classic Tri-Pane Help.
Apart from this it also helps the Authors brand the Help as per
Corporate Branding Guidelines. It provides support for the addition of a
Company Logo and a Punch line in the main Help window. Apart from this
it also provides an About Box in the Help that details the version,
description, copyrights, logos etc.

Auto Update -Adobe AIR based Help applications provide an Auto Update
feature using which updates can be pushed to all installed connected
versions of Help. Usually, the Help content bundled with the application
is never updated, while the web content is updated with current feature
enhancements and additional resources. Adobe AIR based Help provides you
with the option to publish updates for your end users at a common server
location. The Adobe AIR based Help is intelligent enough to check for
updates and prompts users to apply updates when it detects a new version
is available.

Review Workflows / Personalization of Help

Adobe AIR based help files can be configured in such a way that you can
add comments to topics and publish those comments at a common location.
This feature enables a complete review workflow, whether or not the
reviewer is a part of your group/organization.

*	Reviewers within your network: Reviewers can publish their
comments to an XML file on a shared folder. They can also synchronize
the comments from other reviewers on the same network. This enable
multiple reviewers to simultaneously view the comments being made by
other reviewers as they review.
*	Reviewers outside your network: You can send the .air file to
these reviewers who can then export their comments to an XML file and
send it to you. You can import these comments into your Adobe AIR
application. 

Apart from the rewire workflow, the feature is designed to help an end
customer personalize Help by adding comments on the same. These comments
will not be uploaded to the server, however can be exported to a file
and shred with friends over email.

New Classic help Template - A new template called Classic Help has been
added. It is named Classic because it is a Tri-Pane Help. Apart from
that it has got all the power of any other Adobe AIR based Help
template. This template has a new feature called "How do I" that lists
all the browse sequences defined in the WebHelp. We recommend that
authors design their browse sequences in such a way that they provide
complete workflow information to end customers.

Supports Packaging of Merged WebHelp- RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
now supports merged WebHelp. If an author specifies the WebHelp folder
of a Master project, the Packager is intelligent enough to detect and
convert all referenced projects in the Master Project. However, one
needs to be careful while using this feature. It doesn't provide as much
flexibility as Merged WebHelp. A new Package needs to be created every
time even when you update any of the sub projects. 

In Beta 2, zoom works flawlessly and search results has been further
improved.  

If you have not tried the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR, you can
download it now for FREE (Adobe RoboHelp 7 required).

Thanks and regards
Vivek Jain
 
Group Product Manager, Adobe Systems
Adobe Technical Communication Suite, FrameMaker and  RoboHelp
www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite/
blog- http://blogs.adobe.com/techcomm/
RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR-
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/robohelp/