Lavacon12 rethink content paper to tablet

Rethinking Content from Paper to
Tablets, Mobile Screens & ePubs
Maxwell Hoffmann
Adobe Systems

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
About Adobe
2
 74 Offices in 43 Countries
 Corporate Headquarters in
San Jose, California
 Founded in December 1982
 $4.2 billion in revenue in FY2011
 More than 10,000 employees
 Adobe donates a minimum of 1%
of net income to philanthropy
We simplify complicated, inefficient and expensive workflows
We enable more engaging, compelling content
We drive greater return from digital media and marketing investments

© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
About the speaker:
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Maxwell Hoffmann
 Global Product Evangelist, Tech Comm Suite / Solutions
for Adobe Systems
 Former Product Manager and Sales Training Director
for Frame Technology
 Dozen years in translation industry, working
on “whatever documents walked through the door”
 Trained over 1,200 people in hands-on,
scalable publishing solutions
 Customers in multiple industries/multilingual output; estimated
1,000,000 pages of multilingual production
 Takeaway:
worked for vendors  became customer  works for vendor

(sigh) -- The inevitable history/timeline slide ….
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Writer have wanted their “finger prints” in content for a long time
Human hand prints
from Spanish cave
recently tested to be
over 40,000 years old
5

Re-imagination of Nearly Everything –
Powered by New Devices + Connectivity + UI + Social –
Where we are Now…

First Generation of Re-Imagination – After 125 Years, Landlines
Were Surpassed by Mobiles in 2002
7
Source: KPCB Internet Trends 2012

First Generation of Re-Imagination – After 244 Years, Encyclopedia
Britannica is Going out of Print in 2012
8

First Generation of Re-Imagination – After 305 Years, Newspaper Ad
Revenue Was Surpassed by Internet in 2010
9

Re-Imagination of Computing Devices
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Human Computer Interaction
11
Punchcards

12
Terminal

13
Mouse

Touch

Re-Imagination of Connectivity
15

Re-Imagination of Life Stories
16

Re-Imagination of News + Information Flow
17

Re-Imagination of Magazines
18

Re-Imagination of Books
19

Re-Imagination of Technical Communications?
20
TECHCOMM

How the landscape has changed for Content Creators
 Readers:
 have less time and shorter attention spans
 expect the latest, up-to-date version of any
content ASAP
 Writers/Artists:
 Fewer of us (smaller work groups)
 Less times, shorter delivery schedules
(magnified by target languages with localization/translation)
 Workload (amount of data) often 2-3x that of 10 years ago
 Increased pressure to serve Global Audience
 Graphic Artist used to be a fulltime, corporate position; in some locales those
skills have withered
 21st Century “tech writers” struggling to gain status, recognition and influence
over budget – they struggle for budget as localization customers
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We have “fat” legacy content and less space for it
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In technical documentation, we still write more than people can read
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Customers have less attention & time to consume data
24

How did we a “page-based” lens for content?
 FOR DECADES ….
 Page size or laptop/computer screen has
usually been the “lens” through which we
visualize delivered content
 Most of us write enough words to fill up
the space we are working in (e.g. “write
to the bottom of the page”)
 Technical content: many of us are still
prone to unnecessarily bracketing
“critical info” in nested lists or tables
25

Why do we write more content than people can read?
 We’re subject matter experts; we know a lot, we have a lot
to say
 Most of us are used to describing steps rather
than dynamic, visual presentation
 Sometimes we are revising earlier versions of
“documentation” with content
that is 5 – 15 years old
 We have few examples or models
to work from for “reduced”
content versions
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CHALLENGE: repackaging message/content in smaller containers
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What are our biggest challenges for the “new” small screen?
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We are used to indents, lists, tables, boxed cautions for emphasis
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Mobile aspect ratio presents challenges for technical material
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Traditional, “fat” bullet or numbered lists are a problem
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1. You have 8 to 20 screens
2. Thumbs will wear out
navigating through this
many points
3. Reader retention is
diminished
4. Follow some guidelines
from PowerPoint regarding
max number of points and
reader retention

Some options to consider
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1. Use conditional text or filter
by attributes (DITA) to
reduce content if single-
sourcing
2. In some cases, alternate
sections for an executive
summary
3. Does this lengthy tech doc
manual really need to go to
mobile devices?

HOW can you write content short enough for small screen?
 Use alternate templates that simulate screen and
font/point size ratio
 Use WYSIWYG editing display to see how much content
you have for iPhone screen as you write it
 User alternate CSS style
sheets with XML or
XHTML content
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1 page of wild and wacky exercises to “think/write” differently
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 Try writing an outline on a typewriter; you can
only write; no editing/formatting; will feel and
look different
 Dictation: try creating 1.5 pages of content via dictation. (SW
or recorder.) One breath = good sentence for iPhone screen.
 Put topics or concepts on post-it stickers, and “organize
them” on a manila filing folder
 Read or listen to good examples of concise content that gets
to the point in very few words:
 Martha Stewart (“everything you need to
know” radio and podcasts)
 Dorothy Parker / E.F. Benton (1920s “modern”
humor; short pithy sentences)
How to break old “long sentence” writing patterns
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Fewer words, shorter sentences
36
Controlled English - Instrumentation
Quaternary Pump
When turned on, the quaternary
pump runs through the
initialization procedure to
determine the upper dead center
of the first plunger. The first
plunger moves slowly upwards
into the mechanical stop of
chamber and from there it moves
back a predetermined path length.
(44 words)
Controlled English reduces text size by 30%.
Quaternary Pump
When the Quaternary Pump starts
operation, the plunger moves
inside the chamber.
This movement lets the computer
calculate and store
a position called “Top Dead
Center” (TDC).
(27 words)
Simplified
Example courtesy of www.smartny.com

One movie is worth a thousand screen shots
DISCLAIMER: this slide, again, assumes that you are creating typical,
lengthy tech doc with lots of screen captures (e.g. software manuals)
 Make discreet use of rich media; 3D graphics, video clips or dynamic
screen captures (sized for small screen)
 This allows the reader to pause on one screen (or PDF page) and “get it”
37

Lessons from the translation industry apply to source content
authors
 In some cases, “copy writing” (or rewrite for summary/mobile version)
may be appropriate
 Not all technical content will be suited for 100% single source publishing
to full “page” output and vastly reduced “hand held” screen output
 Think of portable devices as a “locale”:
 You have an exotic population that has less time to absorb a message
 Your target “locale” has a shorter attention span; important points must come
first
 Your target “locale” only has a thumb to navigate
…. Content must appear in visual ‘chunks’
 In many cases, the reader is “standing in line”
… physical comfort as well as findability are
major issues
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Adobe Tech Comm Suite 4: Embracing the Multiscreen Revolution
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KINDLE
BOOK
MOBILE APPS
NATIVE
MOBILE
APPS

Deliver content to the iPad and other tablets, smartphones and
desktops using Multiscreen HTML5 Output
 Modern-looking Frameless
SEO-friendly HTML5 output
 Responsive Design with Fluid
Layouts, CSS3 and Media
Query
 Socially-enabled
Documentation
 Create CSH for iOS and
Android Mobile Apps

Multiscreen HTML5 Publishing – Screen Layout Examples

Browser Support for HTML5 Has
Improved Dramatically Over the Past
Two Years
Maximum potential score = 500
Chrome 21 -> 437/500
Industry Support for HTML5 Continues to Grow
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Test your browser at:
Html5test.com

Recommended Resources
 Recorded Adobe Webinar: “Multi-screen Help Authoring” with guest Joe
Welinske = http://adobe.ly/QXtBUq
 Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski (2011) at http://amzn.to/QCxXQK
 Check out webinars and website/blog resources from
Acrolynx and
Smart Software
websites for
guidelines on
word reduction
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Question And Answer Time
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Contact Information
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Information
Maxwell Hoffmann
Adobe Systems, Inc.
Product Evangelist
Twitter twitter.com/maxwellhoffmann
Email mhoffman@adobe.com
Web www.adobe.com
LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmann
Blog blogs.adobe.com/mbhoffmann
Blog blogs.adobe.com/techcomm
Facebook facebook.com/adobe.tcs

Lavacon12 rethink content paper to tablet

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