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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Resizing Content for the Small Screen: Considerations for Single-Source Authoring for Tablet and Mobile DeliveryMaxwell Hoffmann | Product Evangelist | mhoffman@adobe.com | @maxwellhoffmann
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved.
About Adobe
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74 Offices in 43 Countries
Corporate Headquarters inSan 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 workflowsWe enable more engaging, compelling contentWe drive greater return from digital media and marketing investments
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
About Maxwell Hoffmann
Maxwell Hoffmann
Product Evangelist, Tech Comm Suite
Started with early forms of proprietary single-source publishing, grew with the industry
Product Manager for Frame Technology
15 years in translation industry, working on “whatever documents come through the door”
Extensive sales and customer training experience
Trained over 1,200 people in hands-on, scalable publishing solutions
Over a dozen years in the Field doing consulting & production
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Presentation in a nut shell
Concepts, not specifics, not a SW demo
Observations about several trends that need to die
Why we do things the way we do
Guidelines for content that fits a screen you can hold in your hand
Some exercises we can use to “break” the habit of bloated content creation
Modified expectations about single-source publishing
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
(sigh) -- The inevitable history/timeline slide ….
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
How do we get from “there” to “here”?
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
What I Learned from over 25 years in publishing and training
Publishers (me too) are often hypnotized by new technologies or new delivery platforms
Excessive focus on tools and trends sometimes makes us forget “should this legacy data be republished?”
Legacy files are rarely “cleansed/optimized” before conversion to new delivery
Some writers still want their fingerprints on their chaptersWant to “enrich” content with their personality(“unpublished” novelist syndrome)
“Less is More” has yet to catch on with content
Many gifted writers have instinctive resistance to “guided” content creation (e.g. structured authoring, topic-based authoring or simplified English)
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Many of us have “fat” legacy content and less space for it
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
In technical content, we still write more than people can read
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Customers have less time to consume data
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
How did we a “page-based” lens for content?
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 bracket “critical info” in nested lists or tables
Many of us fall into “arms-length” syndrome:content looks good on computer screen
Try to read Sponsor/Logo on lamp-post banners
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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
Human Nature: some of us just don’t embrace change
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CHALLENGE: repackaging message/content in smaller containers
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Historic precedents: old content on new platforms
Early television content turned to the past: Vaudeville and Radio Shows
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… it worked for 3 to 5 years
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Historic precedents: old content on new platforms
Theatrical films on TV: the world before letter box
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“fat” content on a “skinny” screen
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Historic precedents: old content on new platforms
Newspapers and websites: it took them over 10 years to “get it” …
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1996 LA Times
2012 LA Times on web
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
The LA Times “got it” … multiple platform delivery
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
What are our biggest challenges for the “new” small screen?
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Tech Doc thrives on indents, lists, tables, boxed cautions for emphasis
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This aspect ration 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
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
From “Death by PowerPoint”
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From “Death by PowerPoint”
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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, alternative sections for an executive summary
3. Does this lengthy tech doc manual really need to go to mobile devices?
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
EXERCISES to get a new mind-set
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW can you write content short enough for small screen?
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
Use alternate templates that simulate screen and font/point size ratio with unstructured content
Actually author in this mode; don’t preview
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW can you retune your authoring skills for a small screen?
DISCLAIMER: this slide assumes that you are creating “typical” tech doc (e.g. medical devices, complex manuals)
A practice exercise: use “mailing labels” template in Word, or make “tiny page” template in FrameMaker. Do your normal writing style and see how many “screens” you fill
Scotch tape 3x5 cards to sheet of paper; fill them in on a typewriter (yes, a typewriter) … this is an exercise, you’re only going to do this once Don’t worry about typos
This makes you physically aware of approximate words or characters per screen
Working with physical media (construction paper and scissors) permanently plants a “gauge” of content in your mind
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW can you write shorter sentences for a small screen?
Changing writing style to shorter word count: (No, I’m not kidding) – use dictation; record your text
with digital recorder or Siri (even cassette tapes)
Don’t worry about quality; you can edit later
Whatever you can say w/o taking a breath is a good gauge for memory retention on small screen
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW else can retrain your mind to compose shorter sentences?
Read Dorothy Parker short stories
Although Parker wrote fiction, she was a master atusing minimum number of words to convey profound thoughts and emotions
Find podcasts of Martha Stewart’s 90 seconds of “what you need to know”
Stewart (or her writers) was a genius at capturing all essential ingredients for a messagein a radio or podcast about the length of an “elevator pitch”
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… and if you really want to go retro …
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Find some Reader’s Digest Reference books from ‘60s and ‘70s
Disclaimer: author not a fan of R.D.’s politics
The content of one of these books doesn’t matter
Just read part of it for the sense of sentence length, and “getting to the point” in topic sentence
Clever use of “key” graphics made good visual references
You’re not going to copy anything that you see (style, layout, etc.) … but the staff at R.D. were highly gifted at digesting critical information down to its essentials
Note: content went downhill about 12-15 years ago (IMHO) 32
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
512 Common Nouns
218 Verbs
36 Adjectives
20 Adverbs
18 Preps. and Conj.
Total 985 Words
171 Technical Nouns
ASD-STE100
Developed in 1988 by Fokker Aircraft.
The “core”
Simplified Technical English (STE) – an example
(www.smartny.com)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Controlled English - Instrumentation
Quaternary PumpWhen 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
(www.smartny.com)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Some software tools to reduce vocabulary and sentence length
English language has >900K potential words
Simplified English (or STE, CE) uses from 1,000 to 2,400
There are may companion products to FrameMaker and Word that can “guide” word choice Example: Maxit Checker by
Smart Software(www.smartny.com)
AuthorAssist by SDL.com
Tools by Acrolynx.com
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(graphic = www.smartny.com)
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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”
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW can you think in “chunks” for the small screen?
Work with a physical story board (try this with physical media first)
Make a storyboard on manila file folder with post-it stickers
Put topics or concepts on post-it stickers
Forces your mind to think in pictures; this translates better to shorter content
This is an exercise, not a way of life … don’t freak out. I tried it and this works
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
HOW can you think in “visual units” appropriate for the small screen
Turn to Graphic Novels for inspiration
Good comic books or graphic novels make good use of “close up” and long shots
Wordless images are used for emphasis
Graphic novel illustration panels are similar to the real estate of small hand-held devices.
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http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/canadian-lit-prize-snubs-graphic-novels-graphic-artist_b8096
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
One more way you can hone your visual communication skills
Watch and analyze a “good” silent movie
The Artist
The Big Parade (1925)
The Last Laugh (no title cards)
Wings (1928)
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Lessons from the translation industry
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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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
My product “wish list” …
We need an authoring solution that shows how much text you have created in different screen sizes while you are writing
Complete separation for format from content may not always work for this scenario
DITA modules can be ideal, but visual feedback on “frame fill” is needed
Authoring solution needs to be accessible to mere mortals. Not all SMEs are going to be experts at document structure or working in a “tagged” view
Author plug-ins that not only “guide” simplified English but set off a “buzzer” when you’ve hit 1.5 screens with one paragraphs
An ability to pre-visualize final output to ePubs and mobile devices before you’ve completed mountains of text
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
One solution: Adobe Technical Communication Suite 3.5
=
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Brief DEMO of various single-source output options with Tech Comm Suite
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© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
Question And Answer Time
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Contact Information
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Information
Maxwell HoffmannAdobe Systems, Inc.Product Evangelist
Twitter twitter.com/maxwellhoffmannEmail mhoffman@adobe.com Web www.adobe.comLinkedInwww.linkedin.com/in/maxwellhoffmannBlog blogs.adobe.com/mbhoffmannBlog blogs.adobe.com/techcommFacebook facebook.com/adobe.tcs
Slides available upon request
© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.© 2012 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. Adobe Confidential.
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