#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE HOW TO#
#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE MANUALS#
#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE UPDATE#
#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE MANUAL#
#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE SOFTWARE#

This was accomplished by hooking alias files up to Finale, and it provides a seamless experience. But, if the user is offline, or if the user chooses, a locally installed version of the Help is used. In Finale, we have added another dimension of the context-sensitive functionality based on whether the user is connected to the Web or working offline.Д¬ustomers are directed to the Web-based Help by default. We have also wired context-sensitive Help IDs into our applications, so that when users click on a specific term or feature in the software, it automatically opens up the relevant page in the Flare Help system.

#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE UPDATE#

We have created a series of topics that address common customer questions about each of our products, which we update as we gain new insights into where our users want more guidance. This has been enabled both by FlareвЂ™s topic-based approach and its support for context-sensitive Help. One of the significant developments with our Flare-based Help is that we are now providing several ways for people to access solutions to their problems as quickly as possible. As a result, once there was an understanding of the core concepts, developing the online Help was a relatively straightforward process. Everything seems to be in the right place, and managing different output targets is very easy. On the UI design front, MadCap has done a really good job of organizing extremely deep functionality with Flare.

#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE HOW TO#

Fortunately, Flare includes very effective help itself, with explanations of how to import volumes of content from various sources, best practices for integrating cascading style sheets, and suggestions on how to approach important tasks like providing indexes and targeted search results. In moving our Help systems to the Web, we have had an opportunity to rethink our whole approach to Help from scratch.ДЄlthough familiarity with previous help systems made the transition relatively smooth, there was still a lot to learn. We have been enhancing both help systems using Flare ever since. Our success using Flare to deliver dynamic, context-sensitive Help for Finale meant it was the obvious choice when upgrading the help system for MakeMusicвЂ™s other product, SmartMusicВ® (the award-winning interactive application for enriching music practice). The decision has paid off, even across products. But, after some stress testing and a chat with the MadCap folks at a local conference, I was satisfied it was reliable, and the solution we needed.

#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE SOFTWARE#

Adopting Flare to create the Help system was a bit of a bold move at the time, because the software had only been introduced the year before. We also provided context-sensitive help (accessible through help buttons), which included a lot of duplicate content, and was authored in a completely separate system.

#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE MANUAL#

Migrating to a modern platformД«ack in 2007 FinaleвЂ™s user manual was a collection of PDFs and a printed tutorial manual. Flare offered the solutions we needed, and there is good reason to believe more music is being created these days as a result.

Today virtually all of FinaleвЂ™s documentation is authored in Flare, and our printed offerings have been reduced to a small quick-reference guide. What resulted was a completely new online help system that replaced all our previous resources, and we haven't looked back.

When we were looking for a solution, I heard of a new product called MadCap Flare, so I downloaded the trial version and gave it a test drive. It needed to be a complete single-source solution to all our documentation problems. It would also need to be able to import our existing content, be easyto- use (so we could focus on the content), and provide adequate search, cross-platform contextsensitivity, and conditional text capabilities. The solution would need to be comprehensive, interactive and online.

#HOW TO USE THE NEW SMARTMUSIC OFFLINE MANUALS#

In other words, to get them back to creating as quickly as possible.ДЇlipping through heavy, multi-volume printed manuals or browsing through lengthy PDFs tends to distract even the most technology hardened composer, and several years ago, it was obvious we needed something better. As its documentation editor, my job is to help explain how it's done, and to do so with minimal interruption to that creative flow. As the world standard for music notation software, FinaleВ® has always offered users new and exciting ways to make music вЂ“ each feature promising to unleash some aspect of the musician's creative energy.

How to use the new smartmusic offline