Adobe has announced Adobe Technical Communication Suite 5, the next generation of its complete single-source authoring and multi-device publishing toolkit for technical writers, help and policy authors, and instructional designers.

This latest version streamlines the creation of standards-compliant technical content by leveraging best-in-class XML/DITA authoring with complete Document Type Definition (DTD) support.

The release also enables authors locally and overseas to expand the outreach and adoption of their content by seamlessly disseminating it on iPads and other tablets, smartphones, eReaders, the Web and desktops
through single-click publishing to output formats such as HTML5, e-book and native mobile apps.

All major components of Adobe Technical Communication Suite were updated, including: Adobe FrameMaker 12, a powerful authoring solution now complete with out-of-the-box multichannel publishing at no extra cost
and without any plug-ins; and Adobe RoboHelp 11, a user-friendly authoring and multichannel HTML5 publishing solution that generates stunning, responsive HTML5 output with a single click and leverages support for
17 different output formats, including HTML5, EPUB 3, KF8, MOBI, CHM, and PDF, to make publishing device-agnostic.

Adobe Captivate 7, Adobe Presenter 9 and Adobe Acrobat XI Pro round out the suite, integrating powerful eLearning and demo creation, dynamic video presentation and unmatched PDF functionalities.

“As South African companies realize the competitive advantage that technical documentation provides their products and services, it is becoming increasingly important for them to make high-quality, high-impact Help
information available to customers faster than before,” says Jeremy Matthews, MD at Dax Data, Adobe distributors in South Africa.

“This release of our technical communication tools provides everything that technical writers need to create easily consumable, immediately actionable and readily accessible Help information for any device or platform
– from tablets and smartphones to the Web and desktop.”

With the introduction of Adobe FrameMaker XML Author 12, a streamlined editing solution with XML/DITA and DTD support, Adobe provides the occasional contributor or subject matter expert with an inexpensive and
easy-to-use, yet powerful solution to participate in the content creation process.

The familiar user interface of Adobe FrameMaker XML Author 12 lets subject matter experts easily collaborate in realtime and in-context, even while content authoring is going on, thus accelerating review and approval
cycles.

“We create all of our critically-acclaimed ‘skills & drills’ workbooks using the Adobe Technical Communication Suite, including Adobe FrameMaker. With the Adobe Technical Communication Suite 5, we have a true
single source for content authoring, Adobe FrameMaker 12. We natively publish that content to HTML5, mobile, Web, desktop, and print from within FrameMaker 12 – at no extra cost or with additional plug-ins.

“Of course, we can also choose to quickly bring that content over to Adobe RoboHelp 11 and from there create e-books in both the EPUB and MOBI formats. This one feature alone more than pays for the entire
solution. Don’t even get me started on what we are doing with Adobe Captivate and Adobe Presenter,” says Kevin Siegel, president, IconLogic, Inc and Adobe customer.

Adobe FrameMaker Publishing Server 12, an enterprise software solution for automated multichannel publishing, completes this latest release of Adobe Technical Communications Suite. Users can now access
publishing services remotely, manage them with a comprehensive dashboard, and publish to EPUB 3, KF8, MOBI, PDF, mobile apps, WebHelp, CHM, and other formats.