MadCap Software released MadCap Flare 2020R2 about two weeks ago, with new features ranging from those that add convenience to those that, in my opinion, indicate trends. In this review, I’ll briefly look at my favorites in this latest release. (For an overview of all the new features, see the “What’s New in MadCap Flare 2020 r2” video at https://www.madcapsoftware.com/videos/).
Micro Content Enhancements
MadCap continues to expand the micro content feature at a
rapid clip. The most recent change is in the ability to format content
differently when it’s displayed in a traditional topic versus when it’s displayed
as micro content. Why do this?
MadCap’s example of using part of a set of content in
traditional output and a slightly different part of that content in micro
content is a good one. For example, you might not want to mention an option in
the micro content in order to keep that material short in the more restricted
space. Ditto using different formatting, different line spacing for example.
Assessment – From its inception, one of Flare’s major
characteristics has been flexibility. That flexibility is further enhanced by
this newest micro content feature. That feature also suggests future directions
for Flare. (What follows is pure speculation.) For all intents and purposes, the
micro content features are turning Flare into a two-track authoring tool. It
can be used for “traditional” online content, with micro content integrated
into that content, but can also be used to create (micro) content by itself,
positioning Flare as an authoring tool for use in creating content for “terse”
applications like VR, voice, or chatbots.
I have not yet had any Flare clients that make full use of
the micro content features but I’ll be interested to see how that changes in
the next few years.
“Sort at Build” Option
This is one of those seemingly trivial features that solves
an annoying problem – what happens if several authors work on a list in the
same topic and add, delete, or edit list items but don’t sort it before a build
because that isn’t any one author’s job. The result is a list that’s out of order
and doesn’t look correct, or that might even confuse readers. The sort at build
option simply lets authors specify that the list should be sorted at build time
by Flare itself, removing that task from the authors.
Assessment – “Sort at build” is a neat solution to the
multi-author sorting issue. It also reflects a change in the authoring environment
since it implies that multiple authors may touch the same material, which in
turn implies the use of a source control system.
Salesforce and ZenDesk Enhancements
MadCap continues to enhance its ability to create output for
use in these two environments. However, because these environments are so
specialized, a detailed discussion of the enhancements won’t be useful here so
I’ll simply note that the enhancements correct mismatches and problems between
Flare and those environments.
Assessment – My experience is that Salesforce and ZenDesk authors
are often less than happy with the authoring capabilities in those environments.
MadCap’s continued improvement to Flare’s interaction with those environments makes
it more likely authors can use Flare in place of the native authoring features.
Deprecated Features
I found two sets of deprecated features meaningful in both
the trend and personal aspects.
The first is DITA output. DITA was introduced with a bang in
the early 2000s as the answer for structured authoring but, outside of a small
and specialized community, never took off within tech comm. MadCap gave DITA
support a valiant effort but the deprecation is a recognition of DITA’s failure
to effectively launch. (To my friends in the DITA space – let’s just agree to
disagree.)
The second is the WebHelp output. WebHelp appeared in late
1997/early 1998 as a browser-based alternative to Microsoft’s HTML Help, the
first HTML-based online help output. (The previous format, Windows Help, also
from Microsoft, was based on RTF.) HTML5 began to supersede WebHelp in the
early 2010s and is now dominant, as indicated by WebHelp’s deprecation by
MadCap. Tempus fugit.
