La Jolla, CA, May 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MadCap Software, Inc., the leader in multi-channel content authoring and a showcase company for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Visual Studio, today announced that MadCap Central May 2018 Release and MadCap Flare 2018 are now available. Through the addition of a new lightweight editor in the cloud, the latest versions of MadCap Central and MadCap Flare give technical writers and content developers greater flexibility than ever to create, review and deliver technical, medical and policy documentation.
Together, MadCap Central and MadCap Flare provide a comprehensive, agile, and cost-effective alternative to enterprise content management (ECM) and component content management system (CCMS) solutions. MadCap Flare offers cutting-edge technical authoring and publishing capabilities with advanced features to maximize authoring efficiency, content reuse, and multi-channel publishing. MadCap Central is the first cloud-based platform for content and project management designed specifically for the documentation industry. By combining MadCap Flare with MadCap Central’s cloud-based collaboration, publishing, and content management functionality, authors can get the best of both desktop and cloud-based environments, without sacrificing productivity, network requirements, security and more.
MadCap Flare 2018 adds features and functionality designed for the end user, such as powerful new search with Elasticsearch, a distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine that is fast, powerful and easy to configure. This release also includes powerful analytics and reporting capabilities for the optimization of content quality and accuracy. Additional new features include a modern side navigation HTML5 output for improved search engine optimization (SEO) and user experience, Salesforce Connect improvements, and more.
“Today’s technical communications and documentation professionals increasingly want to combine comprehensive functionality for delivering state-of-the-art content with cloud capabilities for easier collaboration and management. We are giving customers greater flexibility than ever to address these dual demands with our newest releases of MadCap Central and MadCap Flare,” said Anthony Olivier, MadCap founder and CEO. “Our new MadCap Central cloud-based editor brings a new level of ease to non-Flare users who need to review on contribute content while new capabilities in MadCap Flare provide authors with a single solution for producing modern, multimedia-enriched web content.”
New Cloud-based Editor in MadCap Central
MadCap Central is the powerful cloud-based content management solution designed specifically for the creators of MadCap Flare-based content. With MadCap Central, technical communication professionals and content developers can facilitate collaboration among teams and other departments, automate publishing, track tasks and projects, manage user permissions to control access and maintain quality, and host projects and content in the cloud—all from one central location. Additionally, the highly scalable MadCap Central can grow to meet the demands of any size organization.
At the heart of MadCap Central May 2018 Release is the new cloud-based editor, which enables subject matter experts, authors, and other users in the organization to easily create and review Flare content using an integrated cloud-based workflow. The new editor frees SMEs from having to download and install any software, since the contribution and review workflow is completely integrated and takes place in the cloud using any web browser, and it enables multiple users to contribute, make changes and add comments to the same topic or snippet simultaneously. Importantly, the lightweight editor offers a streamlined, easy-to-use interface where SMEs only see options and features that are relevant to the contribution and review process, and changes are auto-saved as users work. Once the review process is completed, a user simply submits any reviewed topics and snippets back to the Flare author.
Unlike the XML Editor in MadCap Flare, the MadCap Central cloud-based editor provides only the features necessary for contribution and review by SMEs and non-Flare users. These include the ability to insert and delete annotations, make additions and deletions to content and track these changes, and review but not edit condition tags.
With the addition of the cloud-based editor, MadCap Central also now features two kinds of users: authors and SMEs. Authors work in MadCap Flare to create, edit and publish content, as well as in MadCap Central to manage projects, and they have full access to all of MadCap Central’s functionality. SMEs only have access to parts of the user interface relevant for adding or reviewing content. Author and SME subscription pricing reflects the different levels of functionality provided for each type of user.
Features for State-of-the-Art MadCap Flare Content
MadCap Flare is used by thousands of companies worldwide to create and publish their technical documentation, user guides, instruction manuals, online Help, and support websites to any number of print, web, desktop and mobile formats—in users’ languages of choice. It is the only professional authoring and publishing solution that allows authors to create and publish responsive HTML5 output with top navigation, which more closely resembles a modern, search engine-optimized, and completely customizable informational website. Native XML architecture gives MadCap Flare the extensibility of leading ECM systems.
With the latest release, MadCap Flare offers several new and enhanced capabilities for delivering modern, best-in-class content.
MadCap Flare 2018 now includes all the features and functionality previously offered by a separate product, MadCap Analyzer, which have now been embedded directly into Flare. Now authors can find and fix critical issues quickly, get content suggestions for snippets and variables, meet accessibility guidelines, generate custom reports, and much more—all within Flare. Additionally, two multimedia products that are tightly integrated with MadCap Flare are now bundled in at no extra cost: MadCap Capture for image capture and editing and MadCap Mimic for creating videos and software simulation movies.
MadCap Flare 2018 also provides three options for search. In addition to MadCap Search and Google Custom Search, authors can now add Elasticsearch to HTML5 web output for top navigation, side navigation, and skinless websites. A distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine, Elasticsearch is fast, powerful, and easy to configure.
Additionally, the latest release of MadCap Flare offers new side navigation HTML5 output that improves both SEO and the user experience. Authors now have the flexibility to create websites with navigation elements to the left or right side, in addition to top navigation output with MadCap Flare. The new HTML5 output offers all of the advantages of modern web design while offering the traditional side navigation elements of tripane-style Help and support sites.
Also new in MadCap Flare 2018:
- Enhancements to Salesforce Connect add support for multiple languages and the latest platform, Salesforce Lightning.
- Automatically synchronized tables of contents (TOCs) highlight the topic that is open as a user navigates from one topic to the next in HTML5 output.
- Microsoft product versions now supported include SharePoint 2016, SharePoint 365, and Team Foundation Server 2018.
Availability and Pricing
The latest releases of MadCap Central May 2018 Release and MadCap Flare 2018 are available today. Pricing for MadCap Central starts at $79 per month for an Author subscription and $10 per month for an SME subscription. It includes 10 GB of storage per company account (with additional storage available), free product upgrades and updates, platinum-level maintenance and support with unlimited email and telephone support, a knowledge base, and forum access.
MadCap Central is integrated with MadCap Flare, versions 2016 R2 and later. A perpetual license for the newest release of MadCap Flare—which features integrated MadCap Analyzer functionality, comes bundled with MadCap Mimic and MadCap Capture, and includes Bronze-level maintenance and support—is $1,648. The cost to upgrade from the previous MadCap Flare version is $799.
MadCap Central and MadCap Flare licenses can be purchased directly within the trial versions of the solutions, online at the MadCap Software Store, or by contacting sales@madcapsoftware.com or +1 (858) 320-0387.
About MadCap Software
MadCap Software, Inc. is a trusted resource for the thousands of companies around the globe that rely on its solutions for single-source multi-channel authoring and publishing, multimedia, and translation management. Whether delivering technical, policy, medical, marketing, business, or human resources content, MadCap’s products are used to create corporate intranets, Help systems, policy and procedure manuals, video tutorials, knowledge bases, eBooks, user guides, and more to any format, including high-end print, online, desktop or mobile. MadCap services include product training, consulting services, translation and localization, and an advanced developer certification program. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, MadCap Software is home to some of the most experienced software architects and product experts in the content development industry. Learn more about MadCap Software at www.madcapsoftware.com.
MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo, MadCap Central, MadCap Flare, MadCap Analyzer, MadCap Mimic, and MadCap Capture are trademarks or registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of their respective owners.