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The lists button and functionality simply works, and I don't have to resort to any tricks to continue lists or do anything special to have them start at a certain number. Where styles are the same, I leave the setting as default and it applies the style for both print and online mediums. This allows me to define one style for print output and another style for online output without having to create separate stylesheets. Each stylesheet can have a print and online medium (and additional mediums too). You can also manually insert more advanced CSS styles than what you find in the Flare CSS editor. Mastering this styling language allows you to go beyond Flare and use your knowledge in other applications (for example, WordPress, a blogging platform, uses CSS to style the look and feel of its display).

The more masterful I become with CSS, the greater control and style I have over the way my content displays. Except for the special table style editor, standard CSS determines the display for nearly everything in Flare. CSS is a standard that isn't a proprietary Flare format language, but rather is knowledge you can apply in many aspects of web design.

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CSS is used to style everything, even the Webhelp skin and printed output. (Note: In the image below, I customized my twisty images.) 5Ħ. This creates more clarity for the user about the text on the screen. When the drop-down text is expanded, the twisty arrow points down. The drop-down hotspots have little twisty arrows at the top to indicate their state - collapsed or expanded. And I can quickly select the style I want. If I'm in a paragraph block, paragraph styles appear. If I've selected a word, character styles appear. The styles that appear are related to text I've selected. When I press F12, Flare's style pane opens and stays open. Except for a bug about cross references pointing to bookmarks in drop-down hotspots, the cross reference feature works pretty well. When I generate my Word target, cross references I created in Flare indicate the correct page numbers of the topics they link to. The concept and implementation of cross-references (as opposed to just hyperlinks) is a major step forward for single sourcing - at least when printed documentation is one of your outputs.

MADCAP SOFTWARE COMPETITORS MANUALS

Indexes are key features in print manuals - and indexes need to be accurate. You'll want your index words to point to the right pages. Embedding index keywords in topics (rather than just within headings) is critical if you have numerous hotspots on a page or have long pages and plan to generate printed output. I can add index keywords half way through the topic if I want. This is the most important feature for me because I want to single source my content. Although there are still some minor things to edit and check, the Word output is definitely impressive.

When I generate printed documentation, the Word output looks almost perfect, especially the numbering and margins. I arranged the numbers in general order of importance. In my system, 5 is extremely important, and 1 is relatively trivial.

I also rated the importance of each item on a scale of 1 to 5. While working with Flare for about a month, I took careful note of all the things I liked and disliked about Flare. I also added quite a bit of content and other enhancements to the help. I just finished converting a help file (which I originally created using RoboHelp 7) into Flare, using version Flare 3.01.

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When you use Flare to create an actual project (rather than just experimenting with a trial version), you come to know the ins and outs, the major benefits and the quirks, its usability and learning curve, the things you love and the things you hate. Madcap Flare is one of the most advanced, functionally robust online help tools for technical writers who want to single source their content. Tip: For an updated perspective on this post, see Guest post: 10 New Things to Love and Hate About Flare.

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