Can Flare create Knowledgebases?

[ccardimon]

Is this wishful thinking on my part?

[lacastle]

Automatically?
Or can Flare be used to create Knowledgebases?
what do you mean by knowledgebase? questions and answers? yes. content management system? yes (i'm doing that right now)

[ccardimon]

Allow me to rephrase. Can Flare be used to create knowledgebases or do I need separate, special software for that?

[lacastle]

What would you like your knowledgebase to be able to do?
There are plenty of knowledgebase software tools available, but I think Flare is versatile enough to do you you need.

[ccardimon]

I guess that depends on what I can use a knowledgebase for. One idea is put all the documentation I've created in there. Other than that, I'd like to take a knowledgebase as far as it can go.

[lacastle]

I am making a document library knowledgebase right now of all my documents. Users will be able to search for the name of a document (if we could use WebHelp Plus, they could search the contents of my PDF attachments) or look through the TOC sorted by department. I was planning on making individual topics for each document so that i could keep track of when the document was last updated, who the owner is, and what department it belongs to.

I also have a questions/answers knowledgebase with all of our RFP responses. Users can search for a keyword and then open the topic that contains it. They can also look through the TOC for the subject line of each topic.

The only thing i can think of that would be different about using Flare vs. a real knowledgebase software is that knowledgebase software usually has built in tracking for revisions. You'd have to manually add that to a topic in Flare.

[ccardimon]

You are way ahead of me on this. I am only just starting out with the knowledgebase thing. I looked through Flare's help, but it tells you how to access the Flare knowledgebase, not how to build your own.

[Andrew]

You are way ahead of me on this. I am only just starting out with the knowledgebase thing. I looked through Flare's help, but it tells you how to access the Flare knowledgebase, not how to build your own.

The Flare Knowledgebase is simply a WebHelp project (at least, that's what it looks like from the outside). What attributes are you looking for in a knowledgebase that WebHelp lacks?

[lacastle]

I don't really see any difference with building a knowledgebase vs. building a manual. the only difference is the content you choose to include. And it's easier (in my opinion) because you don't really have to worry about organizing as much. Knowledgebases tend to be more search-oriented.

[ccardimon]

The Flare Knowledgebase is simply a WebHelp project (at least, that's what it looks like from the outside). What attributes are you looking for in a knowledgebase that WebHelp lacks?

Not sure, to be honest. If I put all my documentation into a WebHelp project, would that automatically make it a Knowledgebase?

I guess I was wondering if Flare had a Knowledgebase Wizard. ""If you have a pile of separate but related manuals, here's how to make it into a knowledgebase."

[ccardimon]

I don't really see any difference with building a knowledgebase vs. building a manual. the only difference is the content you choose to include. And it's easier (in my opinion) because you don't really have to worry about organizing as much. Knowledgebases tend to be more search-oriented.

Okay, I think I'm hooked. Does that make me an "infomaniac?"

[LTinker68]

The only difference between MadCap's KB and a WebHelp output out-of-the-box is that Flare's KB also uses the Feedback software, which is not included with Flare by default.

As Laura said, it's the purpose of the KB the separates it from a user's manual or installation guide or any other manual you come up with, not how you output the information. KBs do tend to (or should) be updated more frequently than user's manuals and should be geared more to support searching through the topics instead of reading from beginning to end (or top to bottom) like a user's manual.

So really it's your intent and the type of information you want to provide, now so much how you provide it.

[ccardimon]

So really it's your intent and the type of information you want to provide, now so much how you provide it.

What I am thinking of doing is trying to gather the documentation I have created for our major products in one place -- under one "roof," so to speak.

Instead of having many different PDFs and a bunch of WebHelp outputs, having all of it in one Webhelp output would be simpler, at least for tech support to use.

[Andrew]

So really it's your intent and the type of information you want to provide, now so much how you provide it.

What I am thinking of doing is trying to gather the documentation I have created for our major products in one place -- under one "roof," so to speak.

Instead of having many different PDFs and a bunch of WebHelp outputs, having all of it in one Webhelp output would be simpler, at least for tech support to use.

If you're basically looking for a sort of compilation documentation that comes from multiple different projects, you can create a master project with a webhelp output, and then "suck in" all of your sub-projects so that your webhelp output includes them all -- we do this for our new features manuals (and since all of them use the same style, it's pretty seamless). You could also create a WebHelpPlus output that includes searchable PDF versions of your other documentation (but I've never done it).

[ccardimon]

I've never used WebHelpPlus. Would you recommend it?

[Andrew]

I've never used WebHelpPlus. Would you recommend it?

I'll leave that to someone who has used it.

[ccardimon]

I just looked at WebHelpPlus and it seems like I need access to a Production server.
That's a wee bit above my pay grade.