Author Archives: Sreeranjani

Adobe FrameMaker

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This tool by Adobe is essentially a Document Processor developed to create and modify large documents, including “Structured Documents” that contain embedded coding and also unstructured documents if the need arises. In other words, it is the most comprehensive application for authoring, editing and publishing professional Technical Documentations and is a favorite amongst the Technical Writing community. It is certainly a must-have tool for students of this program.

How is it used in the industry:

FrameMaker is used in the industry for structuring unstructured documents. They are widely used for creating user manuals and design specification documents. FrameMaker is seen as one of the advanced tools for creating technical documents. Only experienced technical writers usually work with FrameMaker.

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

This tool was earlier taught as a part of the ENG 519 course in the MSTC Program but is not anymore. This is due to the frequent changes and updates to the software and also because of the fact that not many companies in the industry use this software anymore.

Where can you get more information about FrameMaker:

You can access the tutorials for FrameMaker from https://www.adobe.com/support/documentation/en/framemaker/#tutorials.

Adobe FrameMaker is available at the CHASS Lab for students.  

Adobe Fireworks

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“Fireworks” by Adobe is a bitmap and vector graphics editor. It is primarily used by website designers to create graphics for their websites and enables them to add various features such as slices and hotspots. It is remarkably easy to use and often used in conjunction with Dreamweaver. Ultimately, a full-fledged website with beautiful graphics and high-definition pixel count is the end result, if this tool is properly mastered by its user.

Fireworks is a part of the Adobe Creative Suite bundle and is available for students at the CHASS Lab at Tompkins 113.

What you need to know in FireWorks:

Edit a graphic: You should know how to edit a vector graphic. For this purpose, you need to know how images are used in a website. Apart from this, you should also know how to modify the resolution of the image according to the webpage specifications.

 How it is used in the industry:

FireWorks is not widely used by technical communicators in the industry. Managers do not specifically mention the need for new graduates to know how to use this tool.

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

Adobe FireWorks is taught to undergraduate as well as graduate students in the MSTC Program. It is taught when students are taught how to use DreamWeaver. Fireworks is mostly use to create banners for webpages.

Courses in which Adobe Fireworks is taught in the MSTC Program:

ENG 317 – Designing Web Communication

Students are taught the basics of editing and manipulating an image using Adobe Fireworks. They are given more information on how FireWorks works with HTML based software and how it is used for web development.

ENG 517 – Advanced Technical Writing, Editing, and Document Design

In this course, students are taught FireWorks as an extension to DreamWeaver. Adobe Fireworks is used to create banner that will be used by students in their DreamWeaver project. Students are given assignments on creating banners and customizing them according to the requirements of a webpage that they will design in DreamWeaver.

Where can you get more information about FireWorks:

If you are interested in learning more about Adobe FireWorks, refer http://tv.adobe.com/product/fireworks/.

Adobe Acrobat Professional

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Adobe Acrobat Professional consists of the Adobe PDF Reader and Editor. You can use this tool to create, edit, and export Portable Document Type (PDF) Files. This is a paid software and students can get only free trail if they download it directly from the website. To know about student license information check http://software.ncsu.edu/vendor/adobe/package/adobe-products-student-version.

What you need to know about Adobe Acrobat Professional:

Technical Communication managers expect you to know the basics of opening and editing a PDF in Acrobat Pro. Some companies also use it for preparing Release Notes. You should also know how to convert Word Documents into PDF and vice-versa. Apart from this, if you know how to add comments to a word document you should be able to learn about comments section in Acrobat Pro too.

How it is used in the industry:

As mentioned earlier, corporations use Acrobat Pro for editing and adding comments to a document. Technical Writers who prepare Product Documentation often use Acrobat Pro for preparing Release Notes to go with it. When preparing Release Notes, functionality ranging from writing, editing, and converting gets covered.   

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

This tool is not taught to students in the graduate level. But, students opting for electives specializing in Technical Writing in the undergraduate level will learn how to use this tool in the editing and document design course.

Where can you get more information and learn about Acrobat Pro:

You can learn about Acrobat Pro in the Adobe Acrobat Professional website at https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/tutorials.html. There are separate tutorials for beginners explaining each functionality.

Acrobat Pro is available in all NCSU Libraries, CHASS Lab, Tompkins Computer Based Classrooms for students access.

Alternative free open source software to edit PDFs:

If you want to learn to edit PDFs and work on them, there is a free PDF Editor called PDFescape. It is a cloud-based software that needs no mandatory registration or installation. It also works on multiple browsers.

You can access PDFescape at http://www.pdfescape.com/.

PDFescape will let you edit a PDF document up to 100 pages long. There is a restriction on file size and hence, your file cannot be more than 10 MB. You can also save your file online for up to 7 days. After that it gets deleted automatically. Most of the functions that you can do in Acrobat Pro is covered in PDFescape.   

Adobe Captivate

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Adobe Captivate is a screen capture tool developed by Adobe Corporation. It is the most commonly used screen capture tool in the technical communication industry.

What you need to know about Adobe Captivate:

  • Concepts of Screen Capture techniques: Before learning the tool, you should be aware of how a screen capture tool works and the purpose for which it is used. Knowing how to write scripts for e-Learning videos will help you in producing a good quality video.
  • Editing a video: Before using Captivate, it will be useful to know how to crop and trim videos. Knowing the basics of video editing will help you work better in understanding the interface of Captivate.

How it is used in the industry:

It is used in the industry to create e-Learning videos.  Documentation team is usually responsible for creating management and training materials for the employees of the organization. Technical Writers often coordinate with the Human Resources team of the organization to develop training materials.

Hence, technical writers usually use Adobe Captivate to only capture instructions and add voiceover to it and convert it into a training or instructional video.

How it is used in the MSTC Program:

Adobe Captivate is taught to students in the MSTC Program who wish to specialize in Technical Writing. Although it is not taught extensively to undergraduate students, it is taught as a part of the Technical Writing and Editing course for graduate students.

Courses in which this tool is used:

This tool is not used in courses in the MSTC Program. But, a similar video editor is taught to students in the ENG 517 course. If students are interested in using the tool, it is available in the CHASS Lab.  

Where can you learn more about Captivate:

If you would like to get a preview on how the tool is used and know about the basics before learning it in the program, you can visit the Adobe Captivate official website here.

If you want to try working on the program and create projects, this software is available to you at all CHASS computer-based classrooms and the CHASS Lab located at Tompkins 113.