Flare debuts

If you're mourning the demise of RoboHelp (a sentiment which I do not share, by the way) then you might find consolation knowing that MadCap Software has released the first version of Flare. It's a new help authoring tool, created by the original RoboHelp developers, that is generating a lot of hope among distraught portions of the tech writing community.

Flare definitely uses a more modern approach than RoboHelp, and it's packed with support for all the latest buzzwords and most help technologies;including the forthcoming Vista Help from Microsoft. At the very least, an authoring tool that promises to generate cleaner code, compared to the notoriously bad RoboHelp, is a most welcome addition to the marketplace. It's hard to judge exactly how Flare will fare, but there's a tedious 45 minute feature demo on their website that will help you determine if it looks like a good replacement for your work.

Posted: March 4, 2006 link to this item, Tweet this item, respond to this item