Adobe Unveils Technical Communication Suite
Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) today announced Adobe® Technical Communication Suite software, a first-of-a-kind, integrated solution for authoring, managing, and publishing technical information and training content across multiple formats and languages. Using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, technical communicators and instructional designers can create powerful documentation, eLearning courses and user assistance programs containing both traditional text and graphics along with rich media, including Adobe Flash® Player compatible video and 3D.
The suite includes Adobe RoboHelp® 7, a major upgrade to Adobe’s help system and knowledge base authoring tool, as well as Adobe FrameMaker® 8, Adobe Captivate® 3 and Adobe Acrobat® 3D Version 8 software. Product and workflow integration and support for rich media formats — including Adobe Flash Player compatible video, SWF, MP3 and AVI files as well as industry standards, such as Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF), XML and Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) — empower authors to deliver compelling information, save time and reduce discrepancies in content.
"Adobe’s leadership in the industry puts us in a unique position to deliver a completely new product, targeted squarely at technical communicators and instructional designers," said Naresh Gupta, senior vice president, Print and Classic Publishing at Adobe. "The Technical Communication Suite provides all the tools publishers need to take technical communication to the next level with dramatically improved workflows and rich features like video, animations, 3D and Unicode support."
Inside the Technical Communication Suite
Introduced today, RoboHelp 7 delivers major new features enabling technical communicators to author, manage, and publish engaging content for embedded help systems and standalone knowledge bases. For the first time, technical communicators can easily update their online help systems with information authored in FrameMaker 8, without the need to re-import files for each update. The new release also adds Unicode support for publishing in multiple languages.
Automated wizards and topic templates allow users to incorporate standard and advanced help features, including table of contents, indexes, glossaries, graphics, sound, video, simulations and navigation. Authors can generate multiple tables of content and apply conditional tags, index items, folders, and tailor output for specific purposes and formats, such as HTML, Adobe PDF and FlashHelp®. RoboHelp 7 also supports a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) allowing easy copy and paste editing across topics. Additional new features include an updated and customizable user interface, enhancements to the HTML editor, and improved navigation and search features. For more details please visit http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp.
Launched in July 2007, FrameMaker 8 is a complete authoring and publishing tool that combines the simplicity of word processing with the power of XML. The new version adds support for 3D, DITA, XML and Unicode. With the integration of Adobe Captivate 3 technical authors can deliver high-impact information with quizzes, visual product demonstrations and simulations – all without the need for multimedia development skills. Acrobat 3D version 8 delivers a complete and more secure way to collaborate with extended teams on 3D designs via Adobe PDF documents. Technical communicators can easily manipulate and incorporate interactive 3D models without having to purchase CAD software.
Pricing and Availability
Adobe Technical Communication Suite will be available for Microsoft® Windows Vista™ and Windows® XP and is expected to ship by the end of October 2007 at an estimated price of US$1,599. Users can upgrade for an estimated price of US$999 if they have prior versions of Adobe Captivate, FrameMaker or RoboHelp. To learn more about the suite please visit http://www.adobe.com/technicalcommunicationsuite.
RoboHelp 7 and RoboHelp Server 7 will be available for Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP or Windows 2000 and are expected to ship by the end of October 2007 at an estimated price of US$999 for RoboHelp 7 and US$1,999 for RoboHelp Server 7. Customers of RoboHelp 6 and RoboHelp Server 6 can upgrade for an estimated price of US$79 and US$160 respectively. Customers of any previous version of RoboHelp can upgrade to RoboHelp 7 for an estimated price of US$499. For more information and additional upgrade pricing visit http://www.adobe.com/robohelp.
About Adobe Systems Incorporated
Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information – anytime, anywhere and through any medium. For more information, visit http://www.adobe.com.
