Hi - Does anyone in this group write service manuals?
The company I work for sells automated pharmacy dispensing devices. My group is charged with the documentation, including service manuals. We are currently discussing the pros and cons of including theories of operation in the service manuals, and I am eager to hear your opinion. Thanks for your help! Joyce [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:00 AM To: [email protected] Subject: TCP Digest, Vol 13, Issue 12 Send TCP mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of TCP digest..." _______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. INTERACTIVE 3D DOCUMENTATION Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com Today's Topics: 1. Re: Run-in heads in Frame (Peter Gold) 2. Best software for a training manual? (Tim Mantyla) 3. Re: Best software for a training manual? (Tom Johnson) 4. Re: Best software for a training manual? (Dori Green) 5. Re: Best software for a training manual? (Sue Heim) 6. Re: Best software for a training manual? (Tim Mantyla) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:12:17 -0500 From: "Peter Gold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TCP] Run-in heads in Frame To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Hi, Lisa: Search Google for: reficons cudspan Reficons is one way to do it, and it's free. There are also other free helpful FrameMaker tools at this great site. HTH ________________ Regards, Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:19:21 -0400 From: Tim Mantyla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Hi all, My mission: create a user-friendly sales training manual. I am wondering if anyone can offer some tips, or point me toward someone who can advise me on what software might be appropriate for this venture. We are thinking about a mostly online, easily revisable and hyperlinked format. I'm a writer familiar w/ MS Word, unfamiliar with much other software. Word has problems displaying images, as I'm sure you're aware. (A huge memory upgrade seems to have solved this problem, at least for now.) Might we consider RoboHelp as an authoring tool, or put it on an intranet within the company? Other options? MS Publisher seems too limited. Going to trial demo ExtremeEase, Madcap Flare, on the list to test Madcap Blaze, maybe test others I find. I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. My goals for the manual include: ? As user-friendly, easy to read & understand as possible Visual when possible Encourage hands-on learning Describe hands-on procedures when helpful Easy to revise - on the network Usable as a training manual and a reference Keep or link updated procedures thru a central source I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. Thanks for any help you can offer! Best wishes for healthy living, Tim Mantyla Account Representative NuStep, Inc. - www.nustep.com 5111 Venture Drive, Suite 1 Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Ph: 800-322-2209, Ext. 173 Fax: 734-769-8180 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Transforming Lives" ?Wellness is more than programs and services designed to enhance an individual's emotional, intellectual, physical, social, spiritual and vocational dimensions. In the future, effective whole-person wellness programs will promote optimism, self-efficacy, fun and strategies for changing health behaviors.? --Jan Montague, Whole-Person Wellness Observations for 2001: The Journey Continues? at http://www.janmontague.com/articles/alsuccess101.html Find more insight at http://www.nustep.com/active/index.html ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:56:24 -0400 From: "Tom Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? To: "'Tim Mantyla'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hi Tim, You'll get a bunch of opinions here. First, you should decide if you're goal is print or online. If you favor one or the other, that might influence your decision. If it doesn't matter, then you might choose from a few of the products that do both fairly well. Some would argue FrameMaker is among the best for printed manuals. It also does well as the basis for PDF. It is also capable of creating online, hyperlinked manuals, but it takes some forethought and work. Flare seems to be gaining ground with the online help crowd, but I think it falls short for print. That's where Madcap hopes to break in with Blaze. I really would recommend against trying to use a beta product (Blaze) for a high-profile project. That is, unless you have unlimited time and patience and are willing to beat your head on the desk while you deal with the inevitable bugs. You're right, Publisher is not up to the task. AuthorIT is a possibility. I don't know enough about the other online help packages to offer much advice. To me, those seem like they do a good job of presenting topic by topic information, but they lack something when it comes to organizing a linear document like a sales training manual. How will the reader know when he or she has finished reading? Other than that, I recommend you visit Char James-Tanny's HAT Matrix to get a good overview of different Help Authoring Tools. http://helpstuff.com/hats.html Tom Johnson -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tim Mantyla Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 1:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? Hi all, My mission: create a user-friendly sales training manual. I am wondering if anyone can offer some tips, or point me toward someone who can advise me on what software might be appropriate for this venture. We are thinking about a mostly online, easily revisable and hyperlinked format. I'm a writer familiar w/ MS Word, unfamiliar with much other software. Word has problems displaying images, as I'm sure you're aware. (A huge memory upgrade seems to have solved this problem, at least for now.) Might we consider RoboHelp as an authoring tool, or put it on an intranet within the company? Other options? MS Publisher seems too limited. Going to trial demo ExtremeEase, Madcap Flare, on the list to test Madcap Blaze, maybe test others I find. I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. My goals for the manual include: . As user-friendly, easy to read & understand as possible Visual when possible Encourage hands-on learning Describe hands-on procedures when helpful Easy to revise - on the network Usable as a training manual and a reference Keep or link updated procedures thru a central source I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. Thanks for any help you can offer! Best wishes for healthy living, Tim Mantyla Account Representative NuStep, Inc. - www.nustep.com 5111 Venture Drive, Suite 1 Ann Arbor, MI 48108 Ph: 800-322-2209, Ext. 173 Fax: 734-769-8180 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Transforming Lives" ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:26:59 -0400 From: "Dori Green" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? To: <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Tim Mantyla wrote: My mission: create a user-friendly sales training manual. **************** Audience = sales associates? How technology-savvy are they? Purpose = give them the info needed to present the product effectively? (the sizzle that goes with the steak)? Output format? PDF or HTML? Interactive via links for diving in to more detail about a feature? Should pretty much be a piece of cake. I'd set it up as a Wiki, myself, with the caveat not to abuse this audience by having them replace your testing crew. I would make it accessible only to limited subscribers, not open to everybody on the Internet. Support the Wiki with expert responses to their questions and other precious feedback in a timely fashion that proves Management's understanding of the value of this feedback. This "manual" can become an incredible tool for team building and engagement of the sales force -- and the customers! What fun you are going to have! Dori Green ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:26:15 -0700 From: "Sue Heim" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? To: "Tom Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: Tim Mantyla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I've stayed out of this till now but... Tom, the requirements you listed are really not requirements for what a tool can do. They are requirements for how you will write your docs. And unless I'm mistaken, so far, there isn't any tool out there that will actually write the content for you. So better questions that you should be asking and getting answered are: 1. Do you have existing content? Can the tool import that content? 2. Are you going to provide multiple output formats? If so, what type? PDF? HTML Help? HTML pages (web site or help?). 3. Is this the only document you'll produce? If not, will you use the tool to create user docs? 4. How many people will be working on this project? 5. Is this project a one-off or must it be maintainable? What about expansion? There's more, but you get the idea, yes? If you are thinking of an online format (such as help or Web), pretty much any help authoring tool will do what you want. If you also want to provide PDFs, then your choices narrow somewhat. Framemake with an ADDITIONAL tool allows for print and online. RoboHelp does online well and print less easily. Ditto with Flare. AuthorIT does both well and allows for easier reuse of content. So my advice would be to narrow down the requirements of what you want the TOOL to do, and then go and download evals of the top 3 or 5 tools. Check out www.hat-matrix.com for a help authoring tool comparison. And then come back and ask more specific info or tips/tricks for the tool you've selected. (BTW, MadCap Flare is not necessarily "gaining" as much momentum as they would have you think. They gained a lot of users off the bat because of the RH-like interface and the special offers when it was that that RH was in the stages of becoming a sunset app. Now that Adobe is actively developing RoboHelp, some who may have been on the fence are going back to a known tool. I know the guys at MadCap and they are great folks, but they are not the market leader no matter how much they may think they are. And yes, I own AuthorIT, RoboHelp, and MadCap Flare!! <grin>) ...sue On 9/25/07, Tom Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Tim, > > You'll get a bunch of opinions here. First, you should decide if you're > goal > is print or online. If you favor one or the other, that might influence > your > decision. If it doesn't matter, then you might choose from a few of the > products that do both fairly well. > > Some would argue FrameMaker is among the best for printed manuals. It also > does well as the basis for PDF. It is also capable of creating online, > hyperlinked manuals, but it takes some forethought and work. > > Flare seems to be gaining ground with the online help crowd, but I think > it > falls short for print. That's where Madcap hopes to break in with Blaze. I > really would recommend against trying to use a beta product (Blaze) for a > high-profile project. That is, unless you have unlimited time and patience > and are willing to beat your head on the desk while you deal with the > inevitable bugs. > > You're right, Publisher is not up to the task. > > AuthorIT is a possibility. I don't know enough about the other online help > packages to offer much advice. To me, those seem like they do a good job > of > presenting topic by topic information, but they lack something when it > comes > to organizing a linear document like a sales training manual. How will the > reader know when he or she has finished reading? Other than that, I > recommend you visit Char James-Tanny's HAT Matrix to get a good overview > of > different Help Authoring Tools. http://helpstuff.com/hats.html > > > Tom Johnson > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On > Behalf Of Tim Mantyla > Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 1:19 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? > > Hi all, > > My mission: create a user-friendly sales training manual. > > I am wondering if anyone can offer some tips, or point me toward someone > who can advise me on what software might be appropriate for this venture. > We are thinking about a mostly online, easily revisable and hyperlinked > format. > > I'm a writer familiar w/ MS Word, unfamiliar with much other software. > Word has problems displaying images, as I'm sure you're aware. (A huge > memory upgrade seems to have solved this problem, at least for now.) Might > we consider RoboHelp as an authoring tool, or put it on an intranet within > the company? Other options? MS Publisher seems too limited. > > Going to trial demo ExtremeEase, Madcap Flare, on the list to test Madcap > Blaze, maybe test others I find. > > I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. > > My goals for the manual include: > . As user-friendly, easy to read & understand as possible > Visual when possible > Encourage hands-on learning > Describe hands-on procedures when helpful > Easy to revise - on the network > Usable as a training manual and a reference > Keep or link updated procedures thru a central source > > I'd appreciate your "hip-pocket" reviews of software you use. > > Thanks for any help you can offer! > > Best wishes for healthy living, > > Tim Mantyla > Account Representative > NuStep, Inc. - www.nustep.com > 5111 Venture Drive, Suite 1 > Ann Arbor, MI 48108 > Ph: 800-322-2209, Ext. 173 > Fax: 734-769-8180 > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > "Transforming Lives" > > > ______________________________________________ > > Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. > New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help > technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. > > > Interactive 3D Documentation > Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com > _______________________________________________ > > Technical Communication Professionals > > Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: > http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com > Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com > ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 09:46:29 -0400 From: Tim Mantyla <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [TCP] Best software for a training manual? To: [email protected] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of Sue Heim > Tom, the requirements you listed are really not requirements for what a > tool > can do.... > So better questions that you should be asking and getting answered are: > ...sue Thanks for the replies--great points and questions! Keep them coming...trying to get some answers from my organization...on what you listed and a few more... It's something of a "cart before the horse" project. There are no training modules designed or written out, so I'm essentially creating a rough draft at this point of not only the manual, but the training. I went through sales training of sorts--more like "random episodic learning"--so this project motivates me to save others from that plight! The hard part is organizing it all. The fun part is helping determine training needs and goals and best practices in a small and dynamic, growing and successful company. As Simon Bar Sinister from UnderDog says, "I'll rule the [training] world!" > On 9/25/07, Tom Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Hi Tim, > > > > You'll get a bunch of opinions here. First, you should decide if > you're > > goal > > is print or online. If you favor one or the other, that might.... > > reader know when he or she has finished reading? Other than that, I > > recommend you visit Char James-Tanny's HAT Matrix to get a good > overview Went there, good site!...now my problem is learning the language. It's mostly "Geek" to me... > > of > > different Help Authoring Tools. http://helpstuff.com/hats.html > > > > Tom Johnson Tim Mantyla PS: Tom also replied above, but I'm Tim. End of TCP Digest, Vol 13, Issue 12 *********************************** ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
