MobiFlex - Introduction

After a decade of false starts, mobile is finally taking off to help you create business value in the mass market. If you're in technical communication and use tools like Flare or RoboHelp, you can convert online help or doc files to run on mobile devices pretty easily. But what if you're not in technical communication, or need “true” mobile apps? Perfectly do-able – witness the thousands of apps for iPhones and Android devices – but it calls for far greater technical skills. Until now…

MobiFlex now offers a visual app development tool that does the coding for you. No Eclipse IDE, no MIME types, Java, Objective C, SDKs, or other programming elements. Instead, you can create native apps visually using skills like drag and drop features, including robust back-end data management across the Internet. The concepts will be new but the mechanics will be familiar. And the benefits...

• No code – Create apps without worrying about having to work in code as a non-programmer.

• Native Apps – Create apps that use key on-device resources, including GPS, camera, audio, calendar, and more.

• Rapid development – Create apps in days, not weeks, to quickly respond to business needs. Then, quickly modify them for changing business needs and in response to user feedback.

   

• Simple data management – Use Google Docs spreadsheets as data repositories for basic apps, as well as many robust business apps. (If you've ever used Excel, you're off to a good start on data management.) And MobiFlex supports web services and SQL databases for more complex data management.

• Low overall cost – Avoid custom development costs that often run to tens of thousands of dollars.

• No huge upfront investment - Low development costs and provisioning directly to the Apple App Store and Android Market.

• Quick to learn – Learn basic app development using MobiFlex in a half-day course. Other half-day courses are planned for topics like app definition, advanced Google Docs spreadsheet operation, and basics of SQL and web services, but you can get going at a basic level in half a day.

This half-day, hands-on course is aimed at technical communicators and at non-technical business people (sales, marketing, operations, HR, etc.) who want to create mobile apps to extend traditional documentation or enable business operations outside the office. Past experience creating online help is helpful but not necessary. The only requirements are broadband web access and either an iPhone 4 or an Android phone running Android 2.2.

Seminar Outlines

• MobiFlex - Introduction
• MobiFlex - Data Management
• Creating Mobile Output With Flare
• Creating Mobile Output With RoboHelp
• RoboHelp 9 (and X5, 7, 8)
• Madcap Flare
• MadCap Flare Project Setup
• MadCap Mimic 5
• Structured and Topic-Based Authoring