We’re (finally) nearly ready to deploy the new Documentation Portal for SAFE, WebSAFE, ThinSAFE and Ollie. I probably sound like a typical politician when I tell you that although we’ve come a long way, there is still much work to be done. 😀

I want to discuss where we’re at, how it will benefit you and also, without sounding too defensive, explain why it’s taken so long.

The new Doc Portal is a big step forward because it makes it about ten times easier for me to add new content (topics, tutorials, step by step procedures (we’re calling ‘How Tos’). The traditional Windows Help System was very cumbersome. It had to be ‘re-compiled’ — just like a ‘program’ whenever any change was made; and then uploaded to all customers. Plus, WinHelp has always had innate problems running over a network. It was a constant challenge to make sure everyone always had current versions. Even when we switched to WebHelp, a lot of you still had trouble accessing it due to various anti-virus blockers. (Grrr!)

It’s also great in that we can tie all our content together. We can link the documentation, with general product information, pre-sales info, videos, etc.

Now none of this is ‘revolutionary’. If you use any quality software, like Adobe Creative Suite you’ve used these features for years.

Well, aside from the fact that we’re a squillion times smaller than Adobe, I made a key mistake in attempting to import all my hard work from the WinHelp. It would have been far faster to simply re-type all 300,000 lines.

But the other issue, which has been even more time-consuming has been figuring out Search. It’s been my gripe about all on-line documentation for years. Frankly, Search in most programs stinks. Stinks. Most software companies simply generate a PDF with an automatically generated index and leave it at that. Which is terrible. Regardless of the quality of the prose, without a good index; without an easy way to find the answers you need, no docs are actually helpful.

On top of that, our development team was determined that we eat our own dog food; we are using the WordPress platform so that clients can see that we use what we tout. Unfortunately, the weakest part of WordPress is search. It’s not very good out o the box. And I’m determined that our Search be not just good, but really good.

One challenge in the printing business is that there are tons and tons of ways of saying the same thing. If I had a dime for all the ways brokers use the term ‘Purchase Order’, I’d (almost) be able to retire.

I think we’re there. I’m not sure you’ll be ‘wowed’ by the Doc Portal—especially if you are used to really great systems like Adobe’s. But I think we’re not only visually competitive, but also really useful. In short: I think you’ll be able to find what you’re looking for.

Now, if you can’t find what you’re looking for? Please, Please, PLEASE, add Comments (which we’ll open up to all registered users.) Be specific if you can or just give us your feedback. We want to know how we’re doing and what you want to see more of. Commenting, which is tied into specific topics, will help me improve the prose many times faster.

So when? If it were my call, I’d do ‘the big reveal’ tomorrow. The Doc Portal is already much better than the current WinHelp. But the actual prose isn’t what I’d like. There’s still some ‘dead wood’ from my decision to import WinHelp. There are some topics that are no longer needed and some that still need to be updated. Our fear is that old hands will see the Doc Portal and see anything we do as just slapping a coat of new paint on the same old stuff.