COMPONENTONE DOC-TO-HELP 2009 INTRODUCES XML-BASED AUTHORING, EMBEDDED HELP, AND MORE

The Industry’s Most Trusted Tool Continues to Make Authors’ Lives Easier

PITTSBURGH, PA – September 19, 2008 – Today marks a milestone in ComponentOne’s mission to evolve with technology trends and user needs. With the release of ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009, they’ve introduced a built-in XML-based editor, a tool for embedding dynamic Help in applications, and many new authoring features.

Authors today recognize the benefits of XML-based authoring when creating re-usable, portable, and formatted content. XML-based authoring has traditionally come with its setbacks since it requires specialized knowledge. Doc-To-Help 2009 lifts this constraint by providing a built-in editor for XML-based authoring. With this new editor, you can work in an easy-to-use authoring interface while enjoying Microsoft Word-like style formatting. Doc-To-Help automatically creates standards compliant XML and CSS files as you write.

“The new editor gives the author the best of both worlds,” states Dan Beall, product manager at ComponentOne. “Authors get to use an extremely user-friendly authoring environment complete with all the functionality they need, while Doc-To-Help automatically creates code conforming to the latest technology standards. Users can actually open Doc-To-Help, author content; produce standards-compliant Help, Web content and manuals without needing to know what is happening under the hood.”

Doc-To-Help’s advanced technology also allows you to convert existing Word documents to XHTML in just one click. You can even map Word styles to CSS styles associated with the new XML file. Doc-To-Help is flexible in the fact that it still allows Word users to work in Word if they wish rather than converting to XML.Now authors and developers can work seamlessly together with the new ComponentOne DynamicHelp™ tool included with Doc-To-Help 2009. This tool provides an easy way to embed dynamically updating Help into your applications. To do this, the .NET developer embeds the DynamicHelp control in the application and passes it off to the Help author. The Help author takes the application and uses a visual mapping interface to connect Help topics to interface elements (buttons, text boxes, menu items, and more). “The ComponentOne DynamicHelp tool will change the way authors and application developers work together,” stated Gustavo Eydelsteyn, managing director at ComponentOne. “The developer and technical writer will come together harmoniously without having to communicate about context IDs.”

Pricing and Availability
ComponentOne offers the full version of Doc-To-Help for $900.00 per user and those who purchase Platinum support will receive free updates, product enhancements, and new products during its term. You may purchase ComponentOne Doc-To-Help online at http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/ or by telephone (800.858.2739 or 412.681.4343).

About ComponentOneComponentOne has more than 20 years of experience as a Microsoft Premier partner and is the provider of ComponentOne Doc-To-Help, DemoWorks, and FrontLine. ComponentOne Doc-To-Help provides technical communicators and policy authors with the industry’s leading content authoring product. The award winning ComponentOne DemoWorks video creation software allows anybody to produce professional quality demonstration videos without programming, multi-media, or graphic design expertise. ComponentOne FrontLine is an easy- to-own, Web-based help desk and knowledgebase system empowering smaller enterprises to provide world class online support and knowledge resources. ComponentOne is a privately held company headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

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