Product User Guide and F1 Help

Project description and scope 

For this project, I was required to provide a help system and a printed user guide for a new application. I wanted to single source the content to ensure accurate information in both the printed documentation and the online help.

I researched help authoring tools and selected a suite of tools from MadCap Software to use as my authoring tools. The final help system contained about thirty topics and was over 150 pages long.

Output types and deliverables

This project contains two separate outputs: online help and a printed user guide (provided as a PDF to customers).

Using my HAT, I single sourced all content so the same topics were used for both outputs. I designed the CSS style sheet with separate styles for printed and online outputs. The project uses advanced single-sourcing features such as snippets, snippet conditions, conditional text and extensive use of variables. 

The online version is enabled for context-sensitive help, so application users can press F1 on any screen and can see help related to the task they are performing.

Tools used

I created this entire project from scratch using MadCap Flare v3.1 as my HAT, and MadCap Capture v2 for my screen captures Capture improved my workflow by allowing me to take screen captures early in the project, and then update them shortly before the release to accommodate changes in the UI.

Skills showcased

This sample illustrates my ability to use a new software suite to quickly produce high-quality output. As the only writer on this project, I had to interview subject matter experts to get functional details, and work that information into a format usable by the target audience. This project shows my ability to design layouts using CSS and write documentation using a HAT.

Writing sample information

I've included the preface and first chapter in this PDF file.