“That needs to be documented.”

This oft repeated phrase can cast a dark cloud over an otherwise sunny day. The process of sitting down at the computer and wrestling with multiple programs for a few hours while you create and publish documentation is not for the faint of heart.

Perhaps the only phrase to rival it is:

“This documentation needs to be updated.”

The more visual your documentation, the harder updating can be. If you created videos you may feel like crying in the corner for a while before you sit down and record again. Or if you enlisted the help of screenshots you have your work cut out for you as you replace images and reapply annotations.

I’m here to tell you that you needn’t suffer so. ScreenSteps is here to help and now it publishes directly to MindTouch Deki, the open source collaboration and integration platform.

You see, ScreenSteps is different than other documentation tools you have used. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of some documentation software, but it will allow you to create and publish documentation faster than ever before.

With ScreenSteps you naturally go through the process you are documenting, capturing still images of each step along the way. With each new image you capture a step is added to the ScreenSteps’ lesson open in the background.

Once you have all of your images you can quickly add titles, instructions and image annotations. Need to update a lesson? No problem. Just click the image replace button and capture a new screenshot. The step image is replaced and the editable annotations are left intact.

Of course writing your documentation is only part of the equation. You need to publish it as well. With the release of ScreenSteps 2.1.2 we are happy to announce MindTouch Deki support. No need to upload individual images and write markup by hand. ScreenSteps does all of the work for you so you can quickly add and update your documentation in MindTouch Deki. (see sample)

So cheer up. With ScreenSteps documentation gets done. We are offering a 20% discount to all customers who purchase ScreenSteps with “MINDTOUCH” entered as the Coupon Code active through Aug. 24th

Trevor DeVore
ScreenSteps.com |  Blue Mango Learning Systems
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Mozilla Selects MindTouch as Future Platform for Developer Community

San Diego, Calif., May 7, 2008 - MindTouch today announced the release of MindTouch Deki Wiki “Jay Cooke” v8.05––the latest version of its award-winning open source enterprise collaboration and integration platform. The Deki Wiki v8.05 release was driven in part by the requirements of Mozilla, which selected MindTouch for the upcoming re-launch of their Mozilla Developer Community.

MindTouch Deki Wiki v8.05 continues MindTouch’s tradition of bleeding edge technology with innovations in internationalization/localization, search, user management, integrated scripting, automation, mash-ups, user experience and more… Specifically, this new release revolutionizes multilingual content management. Previously, Mozilla managed 16 distinct sites, one for each language. Deki Wiki v8.05 introduces a new polyglot feature that allows Mozilla to host all languages as a single site. Now language can be specified by sections and pages thereby automatically adapting the user interface of Deki Wiki to the appropriate language. Also, users may search across all languages and search results are prioritized by the user’s default language. Lastly, Deki Wiki v8.05 supports OpenSearch, which makes integrating search with other applications nearly automatic.

A short demo of the new multi-lingual polyglot feature.In order to meet the needs of Mozilla’s large and open community, v8.05 also includes new sophisticated tools for IP and user banning, transactional page management, the addition of MediaWiki-like talk pages and provides new functionality that matches and exceeds MediaWiki templates. With the addition of more than 100 new functions added to the DekiScript runtime, a built-in scripting language that’s point-and-click simple, v8.05 continues to lead as the most powerful platform for connecting enterprise systems, web-services, and Web 2.0 applications. Now it’s easier than ever to create content, systems automation, dynamic reports, and situational applications.

In MindTouch’s continuing effort to lead the market with the absolute best user experience this release includes several improvements that, yet again, raises the bar for the industry. Some of these improvements are: an all new file uploader, improved dialogs and on-the-fly content transforms that allow users to specify selections of text for syntax highlighting, SVG, LaTex, various graphs, and more… Moreover, adding new content transforms is a trivial matter for a site admin and takes only minutes.

The new file uploader exemplifies MindTouch’s passion for a quality user experience.
A quick look at content transformations in Deki Wiki.MindTouch Deki Wiki is the only platform that delivers polyglot, content transforms, and allows users to connect systems and easily create data mashups, situational apps, and more… And does so with point-and-click ease.

MindTouch’s Web Oriented Architecture, feature set, and user experience were reasons cited by Mike Shaver, Mozilla’s Chief Evangelist, for having selecting Deki Wiki after an extensive evaluation of vendors. “I’m looking forward to deploying Deki Wiki for the Mozilla Developer Center; especially with the enhancements that the Jay Cooke release brings,” said Shaver, “Mozilla believes in the power of the web to bring people together in wonderfully collaborative ways and MindTouch Deki Wiki’s extensibility and flexible architecture will allow us bring more of this to our developer community. The opportunity to easily create our own tools and extensions on top of Deki’s extensive API is sure to inspire some great improvements from our community.”

About MindTouch

MindTouch, recognized the world over for innovation beyond open source wiki collaboration and content management, is delivering a leading edge application integration and development platform. MindTouch Deki Wiki, built with a Web Oriented Architecture (WOA), enables users to connect teams, enterprise systems, Web services and Web 2.0 applications with IT governance. Users easily access and organize data and systems efficiently to achieve their business objectives.

MindTouch Deki Wiki is deployed by Fortune 500 companies, major media, research/education institutions, government agencies, and online businesses worldwide. Customers include Microsoft, Fujitsu, Siemens, Gannett, FedEx, U.S. Army, DoD, and others. MindTouch is committed to delivering next generation solutions to people, businesses and governments. For more information about our company, people and innovations, visit http://mindtouch.com .