Adobe gets Flashy with tech manuals

Adobe has released a new version of a suite aimed at authors and designers of manuals and interactive technical documentation.

Adobe Technical Communications Suite 2 now includes Photoshop CS4 for tight integration of image processing into workflows.

Central to the package is the Framemaker 9 publishing module, which has been revamped with a user interface similar to Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Books created under Framemaker 4 now support XML, including Dita 1.1 and 1.2 formats. It can export and import to Adobe Acrobat 9 Extended, which is also included in the suite. This allows documents to be shared and reviewed easily, without a dedicated server, via the Acrobat site. Other modules in the suite include Captivate 4 for creating Flash-based simulations and software demos, and Robohelp 8 for authoring help files. The latter supports Adobe’s AIR screen-writing technology which allows help files to be sent via mobile devices.

The addition of Photoshop provides access to Adobe Screen Capture and Adobe Bridge, for linking modules.

RJ Jacquez, senior product evangelist at Adobe, said the new suite provides a “solution for authoring, reviewing and publishing technical detail.”

Estimated street price for the suite is £1,509 ex Vat. FrameMaker 9, RoboHelp 8 and Captivate 4 are available standalone respectively for £795, £935 and £555 (all ex Vat). For full information see here.