With the release of MadCap Flare
version 3, MadCap Software introduces a new
revolutionary way to get live user feedback on your
documentation - not only for Web-based Help, but also
for desktop Help such as HTML Help and DotNet Help.
Introducing the MadCap Feedback Server™.
Cutting-edge Web 2.0 capabilities allow readers to
comment blog-style directly in documentation, as well as
rate different topics. At the same time, authors retain
full control of which features are used and by whom.
Additionally, the new Feedback Explorer, which is
available both as part of the Flare interface and as a
standalone application, lets content developers view and
track all reader activity through a user-friendly
interface. Now documentation professionals can easily
gain insight into what readers are looking for—and
whether they can find it.
With the addition of the Feedback Server, the on-premise
option to MadCap's Feedback Service, MadCap becomes the
only Help content authoring provider to offer
state-of-the-art Web 2.0 communications in both hosted
and local server-based versions. As a result, MadCap
customers have unmatched flexibility for enabling end
users to become an extension of the documentation team
itself.
The MadCap Feedback Server combines the best of Web 2.0
access to readers along with the flexibility to control
how information is shared with the community. Readers
can post immediate, blog-style comments and the comment
can become part of the page that future readers can see.
Content teams can establish rules-based access, whether
it is allowing everyone to contribute or only registered
users. A live comment mode, ideal for internal
development or open source projects, facilitates input
from the entire community. The approved comment mode
requires readers' comments to be approved by the project
author before they go "live."
The MadCap Feedback Server also offers Web 2.0 support
for rating topics. It enables readers to rate published
information using a standard five-star system, so
authors can find out what information readers truly find
beneficial. Readers’ topic ratings are tabulated,
providing an overall community average score that all
readers can then see on a page-by-page basis. Authors
have the control to turn this feature on or off at will.
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This is the key to viewing user activity. Available
both within the Flare interface and as a separate
application, the Feedback Explorer allows content
authors to view and track all reader activity via a
user-friendly interface.
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Using the Feedback Explorer, authors can view search
keywords entered by users. This helps to answer such
questions as, "What are they looking for? What are
they finding? What are they not finding?"
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Content authors can add synonyms to synchronize
search phases, increasing the chances that readers
will find the information they are seeking. Since
the synonym data is separate from the project data,
there is no need to re-publish the content pages.
- By
transferring user statistics to configurable,
multi-color, multi-shape feedback charts, authors
can analyze and report on readers’ usage trends.
- The Feedback Server, not only tracks
reader activity on Web-based Help, but also on
desktop Help, such as HTML Help and DotNetHelp. This
allows a wider base of Help authors to take
advantage of MadCap Feedback and benefit from
thorough insight into usage patterns and
requirements.
- Track user searches so you know what customers
are finding (or what they are looking for and not
finding)
- Collect feedback from online or desktop Help
using DotNet Help, HTML Help (.CHM), WebHelp, or
WebHelp Plus
- Web 2.0 community capabilities, allowing readers
to add their own comments and provide feedback on
your documentation
- The ability to allow readers to rank the quality
of the topics and content using a simple star system
- Track topics visited
- Synonyms on-the-fly (update search parameters
using synonyms without having to republish any
content)
- Produce and print configurable and multi-color
charts on feedback statistics
- Export feedback statistics so you can view and
edit them in other programs, such as Microsoft Excel
- Publish output anywhere - to a website, on your
intranet, even attached to an application
- Conveniently offered as a hosted service (no
additional servers, hardware, or maintenance
required) or self-hosted server product and keep the
feedback data hosted on your own hardware, allowing
you to control every aspect of the MadCap Feedback
experience.
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- Windows operating system (the following are
supported):
- Microsoft Windows 2000
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
- Microsoft Windows XP
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- 512 MB memory (RAM)
- 200 MB available hard drive space
- SQL Server (the following are supported):
- SQL Server 2005 Standard
- SQL Server 2005 Express (free download from
msdn.microsoft.com)
- SQL Server 2000
- Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS)
- ASP.NET 2.0
- MadCap Feedback Server Admin
Also, although we don't require it, we highly recommend
having an SSL certificate for the Feedback Server. This
is because certain functionality requires passing their
license key across the Internet and if the server has an
SSL certificate installed, it will be encrypted.
The Feedback Service is available as a perpetual license
or offered as a hosted service in
increments of 3, 6 and 12 months. |
MadCap Feedback™ - User Feedback and Reporting
