Do you remember when software documentation was frozen in headered and footered PDF books, or bewildering webs of static HTML pages — when the printed page had been migrated to digital format, but not a lot else had changed?
For many of us, this is still the norm. And in the meantime, our consumers — yeah, the same people who swipe their phones to board airplanes, and develop apps on their iPads–seem to have moved on to another planet.
Using DITA, the DITA Open Toolkit, a dash of video and a touch of Javascript, SAP is bringing static product documentation into the amazing world of dynamic user assistance, with interactive image maps, embedded YouTube videos, tables you can slice and dice, as well as custom BYOGs (Build Your Own Guides). It may be just a beginning, but hey, SAP user assistance, welcome to the 21st century!
Come share some of what we’ve done to date, and see other ideas we’re tinkering around with.