Adobe Unveils Technical Communications Suite 2

By Eric Brown Jan 20, 2009

Technical communications, much like many other industries, has been clamoring for a comprehensive suite of tools that meets the demands necessary to keep up with the evolving technological world. A few years ago Adobe answered that call with their Technical Communications Suite. Today, they push the envelope even further with the release of their Technical Communications Suite 2.

The original release of Adobe’s Technical Communications Suite came less than a year ago and offered the latest versions of Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Captivate and Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended (as of the 1.3 update released in April of 2008).

But in a world of rich visual imagery and the high demand for quality video, even technical communicators found themselves needing still other tools. So Adobe has chosen to add some programs to the new Technical Communications Suite 2.

For starters, Adobe has decided to include Adobe Photoshop CS4 in the suite for high-quality, industry-standard image creation and manipulation. They have also included in the new version (as part of Photoshop CS4), the newest version of Adobe Bridge to create simple and easy to use workflows.

Adobe Unveils Technical Communications Suite 2

Adobe Technical Communications Suite 2: Inside the Box

The full Technical Communications Suite 2 comes with a set of 6 programs which have some additional applications included as well (such as Adobe Bridge).

Adobe FrameMaker 9

FrameMaker is Adobe’s technical authoring and DITA publishing tool. The software is used in the creation of more engaging online documentation. The new version has a number of updates including new DITA support:

New interface styled after CS4 interfaces
Modular books for topic-based authoring with support for nested books and new section and subsection numbering
Support for Hierarchical structure with groups and folders plus the ability to exclude files from publishing
Books can contain XML, FM, DITA, DITAMaps, BookMaps and nested books
Full support for DITA 1.1 and 1.2
WebDav enhancements with full http support
CMYK support on Windows

Adobe RoboHelp 8

Adobe’s help system and knowledge base authoring tool is used to build, manage and publish content for help systems and standalone knowledge bases.

New features include:

Projects are now XML-based
Built-in editor is based on XHTML
XHTML iFrame and Comments support
Support for dynamic linking of Word documents
DITA import support
New support for master pages and templates
Out-of-the-box Adobe AIR support with Flex-based option for web

Adobe Captivate 4

Adobe’s eLearning authoring tool is designed for creating simulations, scenario-based training and quizzes. The following new features will aid in eLearning content creation without having programming or multimedia skills:

SWF Commenting through Adobe AIR
Templates for projects and design
Variables and advanced actions available now
Text-to-Speech capabilities
Photoshop Layer support with individual layer animation
Enhanced usability with panning, right-click simulation, single SWF publishing, in-line editing of text captions and more