Software Product Documentation :-

The ideal software would be free of errors and so easy to use that everybody would be familiar with it the minute they start the application. However, this is not the case in real life.

Besides the quality of the software product, there’s something else that makes or breaks the deal: technical support. The better the support software publishers and shareware authors provide, the more users are likely to buy the product.

Technical support for software products can be provided in several ways:

• online product documentation
• e-mail assistance
• access to support forums maintained by software publishers
• knowledge bases.

Good documentation may exclude in many cases the need for further forms of technical support. It is, however, not easy to write. One of the reasons why this happens is that it is difficult for shareware authors or other software developers to put themselves into the users’ shoes, since they are already thoroughly familiar with the application.

Read Me file

The first thing every software product should have is a text format "Read Me" file that includes the following:

• Product Name and Version
• Ship date
• Company and Author Name
• Description (like "photo organizer")
• A What’s New list (this should be a list of fixes and new features)
• System requirements (hardware like CPU, RAM, disk space, operating systems supported)
• Price, payment options and instructions
• Copyright and distribution information (rules for people who want to distribute your product)
• Contact details (email, phone, fax website and postal address)

The "Read Me" file is important because everybody that might be interested in your product is expecting it, including reviewers, users, or people who want to put your product on a CD for distribution with a magazine or on their website. The idea here is to minimize frustration associated with the information being too difficult to find, therefore you should put all in one place.

The Manual

The other thing shareware authors and software publishers need to provide with their product is the manual. The first thing you should think about when starting to write it is how your users are going to use it. Few are those that will bother reading it all before attempting to use your product. They are more likely to turn to it later, when they try to do something and cannot figure out how to do it, or when they find something they do not understand.

To help them, it is best to organize your documentation by tasks. "How to…" sections are more useful than merely documenting every command in order. Explanations are easier to understand if they are backed by pictures and diagrams, wherever possible. There should also be a chapter labeled "Troubleshooting", which provides answers to the most common problems. At first you will have to guess where those problems may occur, but a couple of upgrades to your product later, the feedback from the people who tried the product will tell you what the most common problems are. The manual should be broken down into chapters, the first of which telling what the other chapters contain, so that people could readily find what they need.

The interface

Another point worth mentionning is the interface. User friendly is not enough, the interface needs to be navigatable even if the user does not have an overall systems understanding, so screens need to be self-describing.

Online help or online documentation

There is also online help, or online documentation. The documentation put on the website for users to read has to show up in search results. It has to be organized in such a way that users, who are sure to be asking questions like "How can I…" or "Why can't I…" can find the answers quickly. Lots of examples showing how to do various tasks with the software product are also needed. A good idea is to include links to a glossary of terms that might be more difficult to understand.

Always bear in mind that anyone who has had a bad experience with a product tends to remember it for a long time and software is no different. That is why you should strive to make using your product as smooth an experience as possible, something proper support and documentation can help you achieve.

free to contact us We offer exclusive licensing or reseller volume rates, depending on your marketing approach. Also, if you would like to distribute a localized version E in your country, we'd be glad to assist you in translating into your language. nternationalllers/partners for distribution If you're interested in licensing or reselling in your country, please feel free to contact us We offer exclusive licensing or reseller volume rates, depending on your marketing approach. Also, if you would like to distribute a localized version E in your country, we'd be glad to assist you in translating into your language.International resellers/partners for distribution.If you're interested in licensing or reselling in your country, please feel free to contact us We offer exclusive

Macromedia Dreamweaver Vs Microsoft FrontPage :-

If you are new to web design and don’t know where to start, it is probably best that you devote some time initially in selecting the most appropriate web editor. The two most popular WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors are Microsoft’s FrontPage and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver.

This leads to the often heated and delicate debate, ‘Which is the best editor?’ Fortunately this article informs you of the pros and cons of both and as to the level of experience that is required. At this stage, I would like to make it clear that I am not an advocate for Microsoft or Macromedia and have substantial experience of using both web editors.

FrontPage Pros

Starting off with FrontPage, the latest version is 2003 and it has been built on top of the highly successful Microsoft Office suite. It benefits from having a similar appearance to Microsoft Word and many of the other Office based programs. The ‘non technical savvy’ will appreciate such a close resemblance and an easy-to-use menu system.

In fact FrontPage has many uses similar to a word processor. The functionality for inserting images, tables and formatting text are very similar. So the step-up from a well known word processor, to an equally well known web editor is not that big at all! FrontPage also has an abundance of ready to use templates, particularly useful for the novice user.

Dreamweaver Pros

Macromedia products have been designed specifically with web design in mind and Dreamweaver is the industry standard for web editors. Dreamweaver has a nice blend of advanced tools mixed in with a tasteful graphical user interface.
Dreamweaver 8, the most recent version, is part of the Macromedia Studio 8 suite. The tight integration between applications in the Studio is fantastic. Switching from Dreamweaver to another product such Fireworks, Flash and ColdFusion is an absolute ‘doodle’ and a real time saver too!

Dreamweaver also enables you to build your own custom templates, allowing alterations to hundreds of pages to be made with one single change - great large web sites! It also has an awesome array of database utilities which makes creating dynamic pages a breeze.

Dreamweaver has an extensive collection of advanced tools and may at times be a little too complex for those who wish to merely edit pages. Fortunately, Macromedia Contribute is available and is part of the Macromedia Studio suite and enables easy website maintenance. ‘Non techies’ can edit the content of pages, whilst the coding part of the page is protected – so no banana skins here!

FrontPage Cons

FrontPage’s simplicity and ease of use often generates lots of unwanted code which can be difficult to manage. It has been designed specifically for Internet Explorer (I.E.) and does not fully abide by the World Wide Web Standards. This means the web pages look perfect in I.E. but often slightly out of sync in other leading browsers such as Mozilla Firefox.

Another small hindrance of Frontage is that you need a web server that supports FrontPage extensions to get some features to work.

Dreamweaver Cons

Dreamweaver is not as easy to use and may look a little foreign and intimidating to the novice user. The lack of beginner tools and usability may frustrate inexperienced users. Dreamweaver is also a little more pricey than FrontPage.

Conclusion

Dreamweaver is a professional level web editor. It has been designed to be used in a commercial environment and benefits from having advanced web design tools, is part of a great Macromedia suite, offers power database utilities and provides wide range of e-commerce capabilities.

FrontPage on the other hand was intended for the average home user with a modest interest in web design. It is ideal for beginners and offers a range of special effects that will keep the developer busy for quite a while.

I think they both provide value for money and are both are aimed at different markets. The novice user will benefit from FrontPage, where as the professional web designer will require more advanced tools and is more likely to opt for Dreamweaver.

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