As we look toward the future of technical documentation, it’s clear that traditional methods are no longer sufficient for modern teams. Today, we’re excited to introduce the first piece of a revolutionary new workflow puzzle: Markdown++. This release marks the beginning of a shift toward a streamlined, collaborative, and highly efficient documentation process. By starting with Markdown++ as the foundational authoring format, we’re setting the stage for a fully optimized workflow that will empower teams to produce dynamic, structured content at scale.
Markdown++: The First Piece of the Puzzle
Every powerful workflow begins with a robust authoring format. Markdown++ is designed as this crucial first piece, providing a solid foundation for crafting messages, gathering information, and organizing content in a structured, efficient way. With Markdown++, technical writers and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) can focus on shaping content without the burden of extensive styling and formatting from the outset. This clear, structured authoring format ensures that content is well-organized and easy to manage—perfectly positioned for the next steps in the publishing workflow.
Laying the Foundation for a Collaborative, Transparent Workflow
In addition to simplifying the authoring process, Markdown++ serves as a bridge for greater transparency across teams. By enabling content to exist outside of silos, Markdown++ makes it easier for team members to access, view, and understand each other's work, fostering a more collaborative environment from the start. With Markdown++, documentation can be crafted in an open, transparent manner, allowing cross-functional teams to contribute and gain insights across departments. This transparency reduces the likelihood of duplicated work and ensures that every team member is on the same page, creating a strong framework for effective, seamless collaboration.
A Little Help to Get You Started
At the center of the 2024.1 release is a conversion tool to easily get you into Markdown++.
- Markdown++ as a Source Format: When converting your legacy format to Markdown++, you will be unlocking the ability to publish legacy FrameMaker, Word, and DITA files directly from Markdown++ source. The new source format enables you to convert while preserving the complete style taxonomy of your original documents. With style-by-style control, you can choose which Markdown++ capabilities to enable, allowing you to seamlessly adapt your content without losing valuable structure.
- Effortless Conversion: Turn your source documents into Markdown++ without sacrificing the quality or structure of the original format.
- High-Fidelity Output: Preserve style names, maintain metadata (such as markers), and generate complex elements.
- Advanced Table Conversion: Convert all your FrameMaker and Word tables into Markdown++ tables. These tables support multi-line table cells with advanced styling while retaining Markdown’s transparency, readability, and compatibility with other tools and services, such as GitHub.
- Custom Control: Through ePublisher, decide which style names to retain during conversion, giving you greater flexibility in how you shape your Markdown++ source. Using ePublisher 2024.1 to convert to Markdown++ allows your new Markdown++ content to inherit the full style taxonomy from your original FrameMaker or Word files.
Additional 2024.1 Enhancements
The Markdown++ Conversion tool is just one of the many powerful features packed into ePublisher 2024.1. This release also introduces:
- Pop-up support in Reverb 2.0
- Enhanced Reverb capabilities for handling longer paths
- Better organization of files in the generated output
- Improved conversion times for a more efficient workflow
What’s Next
The ePublisher 2024.1 release isn’t just an update; it’s the first piece of the puzzle in converting your out of date workflow into one that has a future. Markdown++ is just the beginning of our vision. You’ll experience an authoring solution designed to facilitate content creation and transparency, setting a high standard for structured, efficient documentation. Packed with powerful features for today’s needs and tomorrow’s opportunities, this release marks the beginning of a seamless shift toward streamlined, efficient content production. In future releases, we’ll continue to build on this foundation, introducing additional tools and features to streamline every stage of the documentation process. For now, dive into Markdown++, explore its potential, and start creating the content of the future.
Note: ePublisher 2024.1 will be released on Tuesday, November 12, 2024.