I'd second Joseph's assessment. I use both RH as part of the TCS and MIF2Go -- RH produces nicer looking files more quickly because it has nice templates, but MIF2Go is much more stable and bulletproof.
Art Campbell ? ? ? ? ? ? ? art.campbell at gmail.com ? "... In my opinion, there's nothing in this world beats a '52 Vincent and a redheaded girl." -- Richard Thompson ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? No disclaimers apply. ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?? DoD 358 On Wed, Mar 30, 2011 at 2:54 PM, Joseph Lorenzini <panopticon23 at gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Gay, > > It depends on what exactly you are looking to do, the level of quality you > expect, and the output that you need the help system to be in. It also > depends on what software you currently have. I am assuming your criteria is > 1) inexpensive and 2) low learning curve 3) can generate a help system from > FrameMaker books. > > So if you have the technical communication suite, then your best is to > import FrameMaker books into RoboHelp. Its the cheapest solution since its > already provided to you out of the box and as long as you have a basic > understanding of CSS and HTML the learning curve isn't too bad. Now with > that said, there is some incredibly annoying gotchas in TCS 2.0 (don't even > get me started on the horrible job it does handling numbering). I have been > making help systems this way for about 2 years and I can walk you through > the process if you want. > > If you don't have TCS and need to purchase help system solution, then I > don't think you can beat mif2go. I don't have a lot of experience with this > but its 1) been around forever 2) its dirt cheap compared to other tools out > there 3)it produces excellent help output and 4) people who use it swear by > it. The one downside is the learning curve could be considered somewhat > steep. Its all based on setting up configuration files and its not really > GUI based. You can get a demo version to test for yourself. > > http://www.omsys.com/dcl/mif2gopg.htm > > The other big one I have heard of but have not used personally myself is > madcap flare. I've seen mixed reviews on this one. Some people say its the > best things since sliced bread. Others says it has a steep learning curve > and does not produce the best results. I have no experience with the product > so I can't give you an opinion on that one way or the other. > > http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/flare/overview.aspx#introduction > > There are other solutions out there but that gets into using structured > FrameMaker authoring and enterprise XML solutions. This gets very pricey > very quickly and usually has a very steep learning curve so I won't get into > those here. > > Hope that helps. > > Sincerely, > Joseph Lorenzini > > _______________________________________________ > > > You are currently subscribed to framers as art.campbell at gmail.com. > > Send list messages to framers at lists.frameusers.com. > > To unsubscribe send a blank email to > framers-unsubscribe at lists.frameusers.com > or visit > http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/art.campbell%40gmail.com > > Send administrative questions to listadmin at frameusers.com. Visit > http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info. > >
