Sending Topics For Review (I can't get to work)

[Ericam]

I would like to take advantage of sending topics for review. It says on the bottom of the help file that this feature requires the .NET 3.0 framework. What is that and how can I get it?
This is what happens when I try to send. It hangs on the popup.

[LTinker68]

.NET 3.0 is a "framework" that Flare is built on. You probably have several versions of it installed already. I'm wondering why it's coming up now, unless you have an older version of Flare that you're using with X-Edit. (I think you need X-Edit for the review feature.)

Anyway, MadCap has the .NET framework installations on their website at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/downloads ... ables.aspx (very bottom of the page).

Does your company use Microsoft Outlook Exchange for the company email?

[helen]

Have a read of this thread: http://forums.madcapsoftware.com/viewto ... =15#p38859 (this post has a possible solution depending on your setup).

[ccardimon]

You need X-Edit, and everyone to whom you are sending topics also needs X-Edit. Reviewers also need DOT NET 3.0.

No one here wanted to spend the time or take the trouble to upgrade, so I'm still sending out Word versions attached to email messages!

[Andrew]

No one here wanted to spend the time or take the trouble to upgrade, so I'm still sending out Word versions attached to email messages!

IMHO, that is one of the fatal problems with X-Edit: compared to Word + Tracked Changes, X-Edit is anemic as a review tool, especially the free version, and it is a non-trivial installation process.

[ccardimon]

*Fatal* and *non-trivial* indeed. I lost my reviewers' interest once they discovered what they would have to do. I had to go Old School to get them back.

[doc_guy]

Whch, IMO is too bad. Because I think X-Edit is a cool tool. It's nice that it integrates with Flare so easily. It's just a bummer that the .NET framework is so limiting. Most of my content experts are working in a linux or mac environment, so I can't use X-Edit either.

[KevinDAmery]

*Fatal* and *non-trivial* indeed. I lost my reviewers' interest once they discovered what they would have to do. I had to go Old School to get them back.

Yeah, it's hard enough to get reviews *period.* You want them to install a new piece of software and learn it too? You'll be lucky if you ever hear from that person again (until they start complaining that the help isn't ready and what's done isn't right

[ccardimon]

*Fatal* and *non-trivial* indeed. I lost my reviewers' interest once they discovered what they would have to do. I had to go Old School to get them back.

Yeah, it's hard enough to get reviews *period.* You want them to install a new piece of software and learn it too? You'll be lucky if you ever hear from that person again (until they start complaining that the help isn't ready and what's done isn't right

That's when I print out all 200+ pages of the user guide and put it in their physical mail box.

[doc_guy]

I think to get X-Edit to work properly as a review tool in an organization requires buy-in from not just the reviewers, but their bosses. If the reviewer's boss says: review the docs in X-Edit, then they'll do it. But they won't if I just tell them to.

So, to get X-Edit working in your (generic you) organization, I think you have to think a level up, and sell the bosses on the concept, and then let them implement the new rule.

[ccardimon]

I think to get X-Edit to work properly as a review tool in an organization requires buy-in from not just the reviewers, but their bosses. If the reviewer's boss says: review the docs in X-Edit, then they'll do it. But they won't if I just tell them to.

So, to get X-Edit working in your (generic you) organization, I think you have to think a level up, and sell the bosses on the concept, and then let them implement the new rule.

Exactly. And when my supervisor said, *I'm not doing this [installing X-Edit and upgrading to DOT NET 3]*, that gave the other team members reason to step away. I'm right back to emailing zipped copies of Word manuals.

[Ericam]

Yikes! Thanks everyone. There is no way I am going to get anyone in this organization to download anything. It is difficult enough to get my help project linked up to their application! I have never seen such resistance! I'll do it the old fashioned way.

[ccardimon]

Sometimes old-fashioned ways are best.

[Cecily]

The installation of X-Edit itself has improved and slimmed down since its first release (menioned in other topics on this forum), so I'm not sure that's a show-stopper for those who already have dot net 3.

However, you're not necessarily missing out. X-Edit could be so good, and I've had no problem getting developers and PMs to do it, but it has several great weaknesses, including but not limited to: the lack of revision marks; the fact you can't package several topics in one email; you can't easily include the TOC to show the relationship between topics, and if you've had a review back with lots of changes and incorporated some of them, you can't easily check back to the original review version.

[Andrew]

However, you're not necessarily missing out. X-Edit could be so good, and I've had no problem getting developers and PMs to do it, but it has several great weaknesses, including but not limited to: the lack of revision marks; the fact you can't package several topics in one email; you can't easily include the TOC to show the relationship between topics, and if you've had a review back with lots of changes and incorporated some of them, you can't easily check back to the original review version.

Right, the problem is that, in return for installing this (to a reviewer's way of thinking) random app, they are getting a substandard reviewing tool. They are used to Word + Tracked Changes, which is easy to use, familiar, and effective at communicating what needs to be changed and how. X-Edit is none of those things (well, it may be fairly easy to use, if only because what you can do with it is very limited).

I know I'm being hard on a free product, but the reality is that free is useless if the product doesn't fit the need. I am hoping that the current X-Edit is merely MadCap's initial foray into this, and that they will continue to improve the product. I am totally on-board with the idea of integrating reviewing more tightly with Flare; there's a lot of time and effort that can be saved by improving the management of reviews, both in terms of integrating changes with existing documents, and in terms of tracking who is reviewing what, but X-Edit is not there yet.

[ccardimon]

Right, the problem is that, in return for installing this (to a reviewer's way of thinking) random app, they are getting a substandard reviewing tool. They are used to Word + Tracked Changes, which is easy to use, familiar, and effective at communicating what needs to be changed and how. X-Edit is none of those things (well, it may be fairly easy to use, if only because what you can do with it is very limited).

Indeed. There's your problem. X-Edit is not at all like Word. If it was, much of the resistence would fall away.

[gregoryrwalker]

Ideally, MadCap would create a system where you select a range of topics or section of the table of contents and create a "review" version of a Word document. Then, using the same sort of Review work flow currently in place you could email this Word document out for review. Reviewers make changes and email the file back to you.

Now, Flare could look at the underlying XML data of the Word document, leverage the track changes information, and import all that back into Flare with the same sort of Contributions work flow they presently have in place.

This way authors would get the tighter integration of review material and reviewers would feel comfortable doing what they've always done.

Obviously there are some obstacles with creating this sort of work flow, but it would really be the ideal solution.

--gw

[siskamoens]

And what would be a even more ideal situation is that you get an indication of which topics have been reviewed. As a kind of approval cycle if you will.

Right now I'm adding hidden(=condition which is excluded from any output) lines at the top of my topics, typing manually who reviewed what and when...