EC Software has released Help & Manual version 5, a powerful Windows
application that lets software developers and technical writers create
help files, PDF manuals, knowledge bases, and other documentation. In
addition to being a classic help authoring tool, Help & Manual’s
multi-user capabilities let teams of content managers create a content
management system (CMS), without having to wrestle with database or
server software. All of the output from Help & Manual can be saved as
Webhelp, PDF files, HTML Help, Winhelp, Word documents, XML, or e-Books.
Version 5 was built around the revolutionary new Microsoft Office ribbon
interface. Using Help & Manual is as easy as using an ordinary word
processor, allowing non-technical people to create web site and print
content, quickly and easily.
The new version of Help & Manual saves data in pure XML format, in a
consistent schema top down. Documentation sources can be split at any
level, divided into sub-projects, and merged together seamlessly when
publishing.
Help & Manual has improved the handling of very large help projects with
several thousands of topic pages. Improvements include the dynamic
loading of help projects, quicker search and replace operations, and
customizable topic status. The new reusable styles and HTML skins can be
applied on the fly to style entire projects when you create output. By
applying skins, you can apply your corporate layout to any new project,
with a single mouse click. Creating customized skins is quick and easy.
Additional improvements in version 5 include a new Snippets function
that lets you build libraries of reusable content, extensive support for
conditional output, and one-click publishing with skins – project
templates to customize and overwrite the default HTML layout.
Help & Manual continues to provide all of the features that you would
expect in a professional help authoring application. The program fully
integrates the design of a table of contents, a keyword index, and
context-sensitive help. Using simple drag-and-drop, you can create
hyperlinks to other topics, and test your work in design mode. Help &
Manual offers full Unicode support.
Help & Manual comes with several additional tools rarely found in other
packages. There is a built-in screen capture function, an image editor
optimized for screen shots, and a manual designer to customize the
layout of print and PDF manuals.
Help & Manual runs under Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000.
Prices range from $399(US) (Standard Edition, single-user) to $1498 for
a concurrent license for the Professional Edition. This new concurrent
licensing model lets developers run the program on an unlimited number
of client computers connected to the same LAN, with no individual
installations required. Volume discounts are offered on the EC Software
website. A fully-functional 14-day trial version (extendable on request)
is available from http://www.helpandmanual.com/.
For more information, contact: EC Software, Suedtirolerstrasse 1, 5201
Seekirchen, Austria. Phone +43 6212 30235 Fax +43 6212 30236 Email:
sales@ec-software.com Internet: http://www.ec-software.com/
