The Software Changed Again?! News & Views Software Review

by Mike Hendry Senior technical writer at Interdigital Communications. Originally published in News & Views September 1998 issue. Copyright 1998 STC-Philadelphia Metro Chapter. For permission to reprint this article, contact the Managing Editor.

As we're all painfully aware, companies update their software often, and several packages have been updated since being reviewed in the last few months. Two new releases worth noting are ForeHelp 3.0 and Corel Ventura 8. One update both have in common is the new Windows 98 interface. All that means is that none of the buttons have borders around them. This is supposed to make it look less cluttered. I can't say I get it, but I suppose it looks mod. ForeHelp 3 ForeHelp 3 has a lot of nice new features, but the best news about ForeHelp 3 is what hasn't changed: the basic program or its interface. The menu is expanded, and there are a couple of new buttons, but if you have already been working in ForeHelp, the transition will be painless. ForeHelp still has all the strengths I described in my review in the May issue, but has added new features that address some of its weaknesses, making it even stronger still. To review, ForeHelp is a stand-alone, WYSIWYG help tool; it's like a Winhelp editor. Its strengths are that it is easy to learn and has the most intuitive interface (borders or no borders). It's got the best interactive authoring environment and the best test features. For more information, see my on-line review at http://stc.org/ region2/phi/n&v/soft0598nf.html. The new features improve and expand its project management tools, its workgroup tools, and its ease of use. For project management, ForeHelp now has an Explorer-style topics list anchored on the left. You can organize and navigate from there. It now uses templates for easy topic creation, and styles (like MS Word) for paragraphs, characters, and bulleted and numbered lists. You can use predefined bullets, or any symbol or graphic. There's a related topics wizard that lets you create related topics lists easily, an expanded reporter tool, and a graphics manager. ForeHelp now supports conditional text, for single-sourcing multiple targets. The best improvement is in the graphical navigator, as shown. Somebody's finally got it right. It's simple, intuitive, and easy to use. You click on the plus sign to expand links, and the minus sign to collapse them. No more cryptic icons or wondering what will happen next. ForeHelp 3.0 Graphical Navigator The workgroup tools now include to-do lists and topic status, so you can see where in the review cycle each topic is. And for ease of use, ForeHelp now supports drag and drop for TOC and index creation. It has Hyperfind, which finds text not only in topics, but in templates, keywords, and macro arguments. When it finds text, you can replace it, make it a hot spot, and add macros and keywords to the topic. Then there's the paste palette, which holds up to 10 items for cut and paste. There are many more new features which I can't cover here. For a complete list of new features, and to download a demo version, visit ForeFront at http://www.ff.com. One thing is for sure, we certainly benefit from the fierce competition between all the Help Authoring Tool companies. ForeHelp is now a much stronger tool, and will no doubt continue to improve in the future. MSRP $395 full version, $149 upgrade. Additional tools and add-ons extra. Corel Ventura 8 Corel Ventura 8 continues Corel's evolution of Ventura Publisher, which it purchased at version 4.2. This upgrade features mainly performance improvements, with some enhancements, to its interface and its Internet support. Ventura Publisher always had the reputation of being unstable, and Corel has been improving on that steadily. I have been using version 8 for a while now, and it hasn't crashed once (that's not to say it never will, but it sure looks good). Its graphics engine is much faster now-you can page through and graphics update fast. It also prints faster. It integrates with other Corel products, so you can edit graphics in Draw or Photo-Paint directly from Ventura. It also now supports Photoshop plug-ins for imported bitmaps. Best of all is its new Internet features. I use Ventura for my HTML publishing, and it now provides support for customized frames, cascading style sheets, different Internet protocols, and live URL links within the publication itself. Included with Ventura 8 are Photo-Paint 8, WordPerfect 8 with SGML support, a bunch of utilities and a ton of clipart. Visit http://www.corel.com for more information. MSRP $695 full version, $199 upgrade, $99 limited time upgrade special.

Return to . . .

[News & Views] [STC-PMC Home] [STC Home Page]
Posted September 10, 1998 (dls)