127 pt. 36 pt. Trends in Technical Illustrations White Paper 130.5 pt

Visual, rich, and engaging 41 pt. Trends and techniques for illustrations in technical communications

Table of contents Executive summary 1 Executive summary 1 New opportunities The era of Technical Communications 2.0 is here, presenting technical communicators with unprecedented for technical opportunities to expand their roles, increase their internal visibility, and grow the value and reach of every communicators publication they work on. To do this, they must become aware of three top trends that are currently driving the 2 From the drawing creation and delivery of technical documentation: board to the digital desktop and beyond • The push for multidevice publishing 2 Development one: the • The demand for rich media push for multidevice • End-user expectation for social, interactive help experiences publishing 3 Development two: the To transition successfully from exclusively print-based publications to more visual, interactive documentation, demand for rich media a growing number of technical communication professionals are turning to Adobe® Technical Communication 5 Development three: Suite. Using this complete single-source authoring toolkit, technical communicators can: end-user expectation of social, interactive • Respond to the mobile revolution by creating content that can be published in a single click to multiple formats help experiences • Satisfy end users’ demand for rich media by creating technical documents that include interactive how-to 7 Give your movies and animated 3D models documentation the • Transform traditionally static, tri-pane help files into interactive experiences where users can add comments, interactive edge feedback, and ratings

This white paper features real-world examples of technical documentation professionals, who use one or more tools in Adobe Technical Communication Suite to deliver visually rich documentation, interactive social help experiences, and always-available access across a range of smartphones, tablets, e-readers, laptops, and desktop computers. It also presents suggested workflows and high-level techniques for creating highly visual, rich, and engaging technical publications—without a steep learning curve.

New opportunities for technical communicators If you’ve been in technical documentation for as little as five years, you’ve undoubtedly witnessed rapid, expansive changes sweeping the entire field. From the way content is being created to the way it is being consumed, technical communications are quickly evolving to accommodate an explosion of graphics, a plethora of digital devices, and a growing base of end users who expect access to interactive, visually rich documentation on smartphones, tablets, and e-readers as well as laptop and desktop computers.

Welcome to the era of Technical Communications 2.0. There has never been a more exciting time to be a technical publications professional. Yes, end-user expectations are shifting, and traditional printed documentation is no longer the only way to go. But that doesn’t mean the need for technical writers and illustrators has become obsolete—quite the opposite. In fact, this evolutionary shift provides multiple opportunities for technical communicators to expand their roles, increase their internal visibility, and grow the value and reach of every contribution. In addition, today’s tools create streamlined workflows that simplify collaboration, so writers and illustrators can easily exchange information and build on each other’s ideas to create highly visual, rich, and engaging technical publications. Adobe Technical From the drawing board to the digital desktop and beyond Communication Suite facilitates more visual, The origins of desktop-based technical illustration and communication are often, and understandably, attributed to interactive documentation Adobe Systems, Inc. In the early days of desktop publishing, the introduction of Adobe PostScript® technology— that can be published in followed by the release of ® and, later, Photoshop®—helped technical communicators move from multiple formats. the traditional drawing board to the digital desktop. Today, Adobe Technical Communication Suite can help facilitate a similar move away from exclusively print-based publications toward more visual, interactive documentation that can be published in multiple formats—and that facilitates collaboration between members of any technical publication team. This critical move acknowledges current trends that are driving the creation and delivery of technical documentation. Three of the most powerful developments in this field include: • The push for multidevice publishing • The demand for rich media • End-user expectation for social, interactive help experiences

Development one: the push for multidevice publishing There’s a mobile revolution taking place around the globe. In fact, statistics indicate that by 2014, more people will access the web using a mobile device than a desktop computer. Tablets, smartphones, and e-readers are fundamentally changing the way content is consumed—regardless of whether the content is for entertainment or informational purposes—causing every industry to consider best practices for publishing content to this growing selection of digital channels.

From a technical communications perspective, this trend gives new, expanded meaning to the term ‘single-source authoring.’ Not so long ago, this holy grail of technical documentation referred primarily to the strategic reuse of content across multiple printed pieces. However, in light of the mobile revolution, today’s best-of-breed technical content must be repurposed for easy consumption across multiple devices—causing the quest for single-sourcing to take on even greater significance.

For example, even a simple technical illustration that depicts the assembly of a bookshelf might be viewed by the end user on a printed piece of paper, the large screen of a PC, or the small display of a smartphone. For optimum efficiency, this single illustration must be flexible enough to reflow, assuming the shape and size of the viewing medium. To that end, technical content creators need flexible toolsets which facilitate seamless single-sourcing, enable one-click publishing to multiple formats such as print, PDF, electronic publication (EPUB), WebHelp, and XML, and include provisions for flexibly reflowing and exploding illustrations and diagrams across devices. Technical publisher creates in house For many years, do-it-yourself book publisher IconLogic relied on Adobe FrameMaker® to create highly technical, digital . With the advent of e-readers and portable digital devices, IconLogic sought a fast, cost-effective way to convert FrameMaker files into EPUB files. IconLogic chose Adobe Technical Communication Suite to publish all of its books, and then convert them to usable, high-quality EPUB files for viewing on portable digital reader devices.

Using ExtendScript—the solution’s free scripting language and the same language found in other Adobe software such as Photoshop—the IconLogic team can support XML compatible workflows that enable text to reflow for optimal viewing.

The solution enables readers to resize the text, change the font, or view an EPUB on different screen sizes, and the text will reflow to fill the available viewing area. Even rich graphics and animation are seamlessly woven into the digital content, with text reflowing automatically around images for a richer, more engaging reader experience.

According to IconLogic President Kevin Siegel, “With Adobe Technical Communication Suite, we can take any book—even one that is 400 pages and full of rich media—and in five minutes, push it to Adobe RoboHelp® and, from RoboHelp, create an EPUB file.”

2 With , Development two: the demand for rich media you can easily create video demos, embed If a picture is worth a thousand words, what’s the value of a step-by-step how-to video or an animated 3D model? them in documentation, For today’s end user who expects visually appealing, easily consumable content across the board, the answer and evaluate how well might be ‘priceless’. Previously, assets such as videos, animations, and simulations were the exclusive domain of users are consuming the video content. the Training Department. But as end users’ patience for text-based content decreases and capabilities for easily integrating rich media into technical communications grow, these assets have begun making frequent appearances in all kinds of technical documentation including online help and support knowledge bases. It just makes sense. Why should an end user spend hours reading about a procedure when they can gain just as much knowledge, far more quickly, by watching a video or exploring an animated 3D model?

Technical communicators, don’t despair. Thoughtfully organized, well-written content will always be in demand. However, by incorporating rich media assets into your manuals, you can transform your role from traditional tech writer to next-generation ‘content curator.’ In fact, as more and more users turn to YouTube in search of educational content, creating video demos has naturally evolved into a technical communicator’s responsibility. All you need to get started are tools that enable you to embed movies and animated 3D models into your technical documents.

Fortunately, present-day demo creation software makes it simple to create multidevice video learning content— even for those who’ve never done it before. Using Adobe Captivate®, for instance, you can easily create video demos and embed them in documentation. You can also evaluate how well your users are consuming your video content and use that feedback to drive optimization. The learning curve to get started using these features is fairly flat. Show and tell with embedded movies Perhaps you create technical documentation for a company that manufactures broadcasting components. These highly specialized and sophisticated components require both physical and software-based installation procedures in tandem. To most clearly describe the installation process of each new component, you could combine video clips of the hardware being physically installed with screen recordings of the associated software workflow, add an audio narration of the entire process, then easily embed it in your installation guide delivered as a PDF file. No special viewing software is required for the end user.

With Adobe Captivate, you can create robust software demonstrations in a single recording. Automatically record all your actions, including mouse movements and keyboard activity, while using any software application. Create text captions that describe concepts and screen actions. Then easily insert your Adobe Captivate recording into either a RoboHelp or Adobe PDF file—without needing specialized knowledge of ® technology or animation.

Using tools from Adobe Technical Communication Suite, the Adobe Community Help team includes interactive elements and “show-me” demonstration movies to enrich the customers experience. Click the image above to activate the file, then click play on the play bar to view the demonstration. 3 software Engage and explain with interactive 3D models allows you to package and share text, video, What if a movie is still too one-dimensional? What if you need to clearly explain how to remove, repair, and drawings, 3D models, reinstall a complex subassembly in an industrial-sized machine? A compact, animated 3D model, embedded in a presentations, vector PDF file, might be just the ticket. End users can interact with 3D content using intelligent buttons that activate graphics, and live exploded parts animations, model cross-sectionings, and more. When, for example, an end user clicks on a 3D web content in single, organized PDF Portfolio. model of a turbine, he or she can use toolbar buttons to view the model from all angles, examine how air flows through the turbine, see it in motion, take it apart, and put it back together—all without ever leaving the PDF documentation! And if your company is reluctant to include 3D models in technical communications for fear of compromised intellectual property, most PDF files can be digitally secured to give you control over who views, edits, copies, or prints the models. Add 3D data to PDF files using a 3D PDF converter When you want to add rich 3D data to technical publications, you can use special 3D products that can export the ISO Standard Universal 3D (U3D) or the Adobe Acrobat® plug-in 3D PDF Converter to convert 3D CAD data from popular CAD systems into an interactive 3D PDF file. You can then animate the model with keyframes or Javascript and generate the views. Once converted into U3D, you can embed that data directly into Adobe FrameMaker layouts. Then, you can publish the final piece as a PDF file or use Adobe Acrobat Pro to modify, enable cut sections, and measurement for the free Adobe Reader® software.

This 3D PDF is taken from a service manual. Click anywhere on the PDF graphic to activate it, then click on the Play bar to watch the animation. Use the options on the tool bar to rotate, spin, pan, and zoom the 3D image.

4 This multimedia PDF image was created by Adobe partner Systec for Kurz, a German company that specializes in hot stamping technologies. Adobe FrameMaker was used to create the print documentation, which includes an Adobe Captivate simulation. The 3D PDF images were created with Deep Exploration from Right hemisphere. Put it all together in a PDF Portfolio Sometimes, the most effective way to communicate technical information is through a range of materials. Using Adobe Acrobat software, you can package and share text, video, exploded-view drawings, 3D models, presentations, vector graphics, and live web content in single, organized PDF Portfolio. Highly interactive, PDF Portfolios are easy for anyone with free Adobe Reader software to open, view, and navigate. And to make sure your users find what they need fast, you can add clickable navigation elements.

Development three: end-user expectation of social, interactive help experiences Just about everything we do today is influenced to some degree by social media. Whether it’s for business or personal reasons, we increasingly rely on social media to conduct research, make decisions, and exchange information with friends, colleagues, special interest group members, and subject matter experts. As end users become accustomed to interacting with information in this way, they naturally come to expect similar functionality from their online help systems.

This particular trend presents fantastic opportunities for technical communicators to engage in conversation with end users, be more responsive to their issues, and tap into their knowledge to create even better, more meaningful content. Today, a growing number of technical communications departments are transforming traditionally static, tri-pane help files into interactive experiences that empower users to add comments, feedback, and ratings, encourage user-generated content, and bridge the gap between help authors and their readers. Hyland Software leverages Adobe RoboHelp and Adobe AIR® to help customers increase ROI Hyland Software, a leading independent developer of enterprise content management software, delivers innovative software solutions to its customers. Hyland identified an opportunity to improve content development and delivery in the Custom Solutions Group of its Technical Services division and the group now leverages Adobe RoboHelp 9 and Adobe AIR to develop and deliver its high-profile, customer-facing Software Development Kit (SDK) that contains more than 4,200 topics.

5 Using Adobe RoboHelp, the Custom Solutions Group integrates help content from documents, HTML files, Microsoft .CHM files, Microsoft Visual Studio files, and many other formats. Adobe RoboHelp topics reside in a common source folder, making it easy for developers to write snippets of HTML code and easily integrate them directly into the SDK. Adobe RoboHelp also provides a cost-effective and centralized way for documentation specialists to update and repurpose the content across projects, with other important capabilities delivered by Adobe AIR.

Having a single interface and a single, integrated kit, the Customer Solutions Group can work seamlessly with their developers and deliver Hyland customers a much more usable and higher quality document with a quicker time to market.

Karen Dular, documentation specialist in the Custom Solutions Group, Technical Services at Hyland Software says, “Using Adobe RoboHelp and delivering our help systems as Adobe AIR applications has transformed the way we produce, maintain, and deliver the SDK to our customers.” Streamline your workflow for easier, more productive content creation Adobe Technical Communication Suite is an end-to-end solution for authoring, enriching, managing, reviewing, and publishing technical information and instructional documents in multiple languages and formats. The suite includes Adobe FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Adobe Captivate, Photoshop, and Acrobat Pro software. More than a collection of five products, the suite of applications are specially integrated to help technical communicators spend less time switching between programs, more time developing informative, engaging technical documentation. Streamlined authoring processes Take advantage of RoboHelp features from within FrameMaker, or vice versa. Tight, robust integration means you can perform all authoring and publishing tasks within your preferred authoring environment. Link FrameMaker content in RoboHelp. Then, when you update FrameMaker source files, RoboHelp files are automatically updated. You can also import FrameMaker content in RoboHelp, maintain the hierarchical structure of your FrameMaker books, and publish as multiple RoboHelp outputs. Integrated video and image capabilities Use Adobe Captivate to enhance documentation with ’show me’ software demonstrations, interactive simulations, and quizzes—no Flash or animation experience required. Edit previously placed Adobe Captivate movies, and they will automatically update in FrameMaker and RoboHelp files. Create high-quality images with Photoshop, then edit them without ever leaving your FrameMaker authoring environment. Do the same with Illustrator files, thanks to out-of-box integration. Use third-party software such as Deep Exploration by Right Hemisphere to create and embed interactive, 3D models and drawings. Collaborative review processes In FrameMaker, you can choose to save your document as a review-ready PDF file that can be sent to the entire review team. Using free Adobe Reader software, team members can comment and markup the file, and see and respond to other reviewers comments. Multichannel publishing When your documentation is ready, easily publish your content to a wide range of devices, such as readers, smartphones, desktop computers, and tablets. Using Technical Communication Suite solutions in combination with FrameMaker Server, you can publish to multiple formats including print, PDF, EPUB, Adobe AIR, XML, and HTML, as well as Adobe FlashHelp, JavaHelp, Eclipse Help, and Oracle Help.

6 Adobe Technical Communication Suite is a complete single-source authoring toolkit with multichannel, multidevice publishing capabilities. Develop standards-compliant content with Adobe FrameMaker software, publish in various formats with Adobe RoboHelp software and Adobe Captivate workflows, collaborate with reviewable PDF files, incorporate images using , and add demos and simulations using Adobe Captivate.

Give your documentation the interactive edge The era of Technical Communications 2.0 is upon us. Gone are the days when technical documentation was comprised exclusively of static, paper-based manuals and 2D vector drawings. While paper and 2D drawings will assuredly remain vital parts of the technical mix for years to come, today’s end users expect so much more, including visually rich documentation, interactive social experiences, and always-available access across a range of smartphones, tablets, e-readers, laptops, and desktop computers.

Whether you write or illustrate step-by-step manuals on the installation and deployment of enterprise software or you create cutaways and exploded views that illustrate how pieces of a complex subassembly go together, you can easily keep pace with emerging trends and meet end user demand by taking your documentation to the illustrative edge for the benefit of your career, your end users’ experiences, and your company’s bottom line.

For more information Solution details: www.adobe.com/products/technicalcommunicationsuite.html

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