When I started my career, I did a lot of high-speed documentation creation. It wasn't uncommon, in fact, for my unscrupulous boss to advertise software classes, wait to see how many people would sign up, buy the software on a Wednesday, give it to me Wednesday night, and expect me to deliver a customized, fully-illustrated manual (and teach from it!) on Thursday morning.
Yesterday, I sat down to create yet another user manual -- this time, for a multi-million dollar videoconferencing system that, remarkably, seems to have been sold to The Company without so much as an instruction book.
I admit I've been procrastinating a bit, mostly because I dreaded doing all the cutting, pasting, and writing associated with this particular project. But thanks to a remarkable new tool -- ScreenSteps -- I was able to create an attractive, comprehensive fifty-two page instruction manual ... with full-color screenshots and step-by-step procedures ... in less than five hours.*
The Basics
In the same way that iTunes makes storing and sorting your music collection easier, ScreenSteps makes creating, storing, sorting, and formatting illustrated step-by-step guides easier than ever.
The software couldn't be easier to use. (It's also fun -- but please don't tell my boss that!) As you perform an onscreen task -- scheduling a videoconference, in my case -- ScreenSteps allows you to snap a screenshot every step of the way. ScreenSteps assumes that each image will be associated with a step in a larger process, so it drops each image into a series of consecutive "steps" in the master document.
Once you've snapped your screenshots, you can highlight buttons or links with circles, rectangles, or arrows, or add numbers to point out items that must be clicked in sequence. Title your steps, write a few brief sentences describing each, and -- poof! -- you've created a detailed, illustrated lesson in record time.
Like iTunes, ScreenSteps organizes all your lessons into one huge library. Individual lessons may then be dragged and dropped into manuals, making it easier than ever to create and customize great-looking manuals.
Related lessons may be dragged and dropped into sections; sections may then be dragged and dropped into manuals. Then, with the click of a single button, your manual can be exported into any of several formats: HTML pages (for web sites), PDF documents (for printing or sharing onlilne), or even blog entries (for those wanting to publish step-by-step lessons on their personal or business blogs).
The Right Tool for the Job
I own a copy of Skitch, which lets me quickly and easily snap, crop, annotate, and save screenshots. I also own Scrivener, a powerful piece of software that allows me to create, reorganize, and produce large documents. Using these together, I could easily replicate 80% of the functionality of ScreenSteps.
Except ... I wouldn't want to. I cannot over-emphasize how cool it is to have one fast, simple piece of software that's been designed from the ground up to create documentation on the fly. Once you start using ScreenSteps to turn steps into lessons, lessons into sections, and sections into manuals ... the software just becomes invisible in your hands. Because the controls are so simple -- and because the workflow is flexible -- you can get a lot done in very little time.
Simple on-screen controls appear when you need them and disappear when you don't. All buttons and labels make sense. As a result, there's zero learning curve -- in fact, yesterday's fifty-two page manual was my very first ScreenSteps project ever ... so the five hours I logged for this project includes what little time I spent figuring the program out!
One Limitation: Templates
The current version of ScreenSteps comes packaged with one -- yep, one -- template. It's an attractive "blue on white" affair, and it does look nice. But there is only one, and, with time, someone's gonna notice that all your documentation has a (very) consistent look and feel. This may not be a bad thing.
On the other hand, the fact that one template exists suggests that, with a little tweaking, other templates could be created ... and, truth is, I've not worked with the program enough to discover how to do this myself.
It does Windows, Too!
Unlike so many of the cool tools I come across, ScreenSteps is available for both Mac and Windows users, so all my friends slaving away in the wildernesses of Vista and XP can get in on the fun, too.
Verdict
If you have to design step-by-step documentation of any kind, you owe yourself a copy of ScreenSteps. You don't have to take my word for this; instead, take advantage of the fully-functional thirty-day trial period. For a month, you'll be able to do everything ScreenSteps can do, without limitation. By that time, you'll know whether or not the modest $39.95 purchase price will prove worthwhile for you.
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*I did capture all my screenshots and design the documentation in less than five hours. Prior to making this manual, I had extensive experience with the system, had taught informal sessions on it, and had even jotted down a list of every process someone would have to know to make the system work.
Actually, you can modify the templates.
http://bmls.screenstepslive.com/manuals/screensteps/lessons/187-Selecting-PDF-and-HTML-Templates-for-Lessons
http://bmls.screenstepslive.com/manuals/screensteps/lessons/327-Changing-Setting-the-Default-Template
http://bmls.screenstepslive.com/manuals/screensteps/lessons/328-Overriding-the-Default-Template-for-a-Lesson
Posted by: Jonathan DeVore | November 17, 2008 at 01:20 PM