Benefits
Fully Localized Flare Interface - German, French and Japanese
MadCap Flare breaks new ground in the authoring industry by offering authors their choice of four languages for the Flare interface. If you prefer to work in a Japanese, German, or French environment you simply choose your preference when starting Flare. No additional versions to buy. No separate installs. If at any point you want to change the interface, you can do so at will.
Single-Source Integration
MadCap Software creates another industry first. MadCap Flare, MadCap Mimic, and MadCap Capture not only work well together and integrate, but the combination takes the concept of single-sourcing beyond text and into multiple media formats. You can share variables between products and by doing a single variable override in Flare you can control changes to Flare content, Mimic movie captions, and Capture text labels and titles. The ultimate in single-sourcing.
Generate multiple output formats
MadCap Flare is the most versatile Help authoring tool on the market. In addition to generating an innovative new kind of WebHelp (cross-browser, cross-platform Help), MadCap Flare will generate Microsoft HTML Help (.chm), DotNetHelp (a .chm format replacement), and printed documentation to Microsoft Word 2003 or Adobe FrameMaker.
MadCap Flare now also supports generating outputs in the new Microsoft Formats XPS (XML Paper Specification) and DOCX (the new XML-based Microsoft Word format) when you pair MadCap Flare and Microsoft Word 2007. This combination also supports a Flare to PDF solution via Microsoft Word 2007 as well.
Support for the Latest Microsoft Technologies
MadCap Software is committed to rapidly supporting the latest technology innovations that impact the professional author. MadCap Flare is fully tested and compatible with the new Microsoft Word 2007 and the new version of Windows from Microsoft, Microsoft Windows Vista.
Easily create content in XML, no programming required
MadCap Flare offers an easy, intuitive XML authoring solution to technical writers. Designed by writers for writers, MadCap Flare employs a visual editor that lets you create and edit content much as you would in Microsoft® Word™. You can then reuse and repurpose your content as needed to virtually any format, standard, device, or platform.
Import existing content to save time
MadCap Flare enables you to import all of your legacy content. Import Microsoft Word documents, Adobe FrameMaker documents, HTML documents, RoboHelp projects, and even HTML Help projects. MadCap Flare will convert them all to XML format, including direct HTML to XHTML conversion.
Language Support
Easily develop content in the languages of your choosing. Flare is fully Unicode compliant supporting Western European, Eastern European, Asian (double-byte), and other languages from a single interface. No separate versions to buy, full language support is included in every copy of Flare.
Note: Right to left languages are not yet fully supported.
Easy Sync
A first in the industry. Flare supports two different work flows when importing Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker documents. With the standard import you can leverage existing content and then continue your editing and maintenance using Flares built in editor. However, with the new Easy Sync capability you can have Flare treat the original Word or FrameMaker document as the source file. This allows you to do all of your edits and maintenance in the original Word or FrameMaker document and still get all of the powerful publishing capabilities of Flare. The first tool in the industry to support two different work flows within the same product.
Enjoy unprecedented ease of use
In addition to the groundbreaking new visual editor, MadCap Flare is packed with features to make your job easier. Customize your authoring environment. Open multiple documents simultaneously for easy cross-editing. Design browse sequences visually with a simple drag-and-drop. Use the command line to compile your output. Take advantage of auto-numbering. Use automated wizards to build your navigation such as Table of Contents and Search.
Source Control Integration
While the XML-based Flare architecture has always been compatible with industry source-control solutions it has been a manual process to check the Flare files in and out…until now! Flare now supports direct integration with Microsoft Visual Source Safe and the new Microsoft Team Foundation Server. Check files in or out, see the status of all project files, plus many other familiar source control functions, all without ever leaving the Flare interface. This new functionality will also work with other source-control solutions that use the MS SCC APIs for source-control integration.
Connectivity with MadCap Feedback
Now, when you combine Flare with MadCap Feedback (running on your own hardware or hosted by MadCap Software) you will be able to track user statistics including what content pages people are using, what searches users are performing, and more importantly what searches your users are performing that aren't finding any results. This data is invaluable when analyzing your systems for improvement and maintenance.
Use your skills to the fullest
MadCap Flare is designed to offer novice or experienced Help authors the ultimate in flexibility and power. Use conditional tags, variables, and snippets for the easiest single-sourcing in the industry. Effortlessly create context-sensitive Help.
508 compliant
MadCap Flare can output 508 compliant web help for user accessibility.