We have always provided independent consultancy advice, and we do not sell technology products or receive commission for recommending particular tools. However, we know good solutions when we see them, and some technology companies are better than others at investing in and supporting their tools and their customers.
There are some tools we use ourselves again and again because they’re better than others for many situations. Often these tools will make the shortlist of what we recommend to customers when their requirements are similar to what we have seen before. One of these tools is MadCap Flare – a powerful, leading-edge software tool for creating, managing and publishing content to a variety of formats, including print, online, desktop and mobile. It’s great for producing:
- Online help
- Software and API documentation
- Policy and procedure manuals
- Illustrated parts catalogues or maintenance manuals
- Knowledge bases or user guides
Find out more about how and why we use MadCap Flare Software
Want to find out more?
Our investment in MadCap software expertise
At 3di, all our technical authors are trained to use Flare, and most of our senior authors are certified in the MadCap Advanced Developer (MAD) Certification Program, which recognises and validates an author’s ability to use Flare.
Our localization engineers also develop expertise in the tools, putting new versions to the test and stretching Flare’s and Lingo’s capabilities with ever more exotic language translations and publishing contexts.
3di presented at previous MadWorld conferences and several team members have attended both the in-person and virtual events in recent years.
See our blogs on behalf of MadCap here:
Want to find out more?
Where we’ve used MadCap software
We’ve used the MadCap Flare and Lingo products in the work we’ve done for a wide variety of customers and industries:
| Customer | MadCap Tools | Industry |
| BridgeHead Software | MadCap Flare | Healthcare software Read our case study |
| Carbolite Gero | MadCap Flare MadCap Lingo | Manufacturing |
| GE Grid Solutions | MadCap Flare MadCap Lingo | Power systems |
| IndigoVision | MadCap Flare MadCap Lingo | Security systems |
| Promethean | MadCap Flare MadCap Lingo | Education electronics Read our case study |
| Pure | MadCap Flare | Consumer electronics |
| Reactec | MadCap Flare | Health and safety Read our case study |
| Vertu | MadCap Flare | Consumer electronics |
| Oxford Immunotec | MadCap Flare MadCap Lingo | Medical device documentation Read our case study |
Five key reasons we choose MadCap Flare in projects
Efficient authoring
Flare supports single-source topic-based authoring:
- With Flare’s powerful conditioning and snippet features, content written for one product can easily be tailored for other variations of the product.
- Single-source content can be published to multiple channels, with Flare automatically using different styles and layouts for different outputs.
- Modular content enables work to be distributed more easily to a team of authors and can be re-used efficiently.
Ease of use
It’s easy to get started with a new project or a new author:
- Existing content, including Microsoft Word, FrameMaker, HTML and DITA files, can be imported straight into Flare.
- Templates can be used for consistency and efficiency – particularly useful when working with a team of authors.
- Flare’s WYSIWYG XML editor and layout modes for web, print, tablet and mobile make it easy to see how the content would appear in any of these formats.
- Customers can take on the authoring when we hand over a project.
Enhanced user experience
Flare features enable an enhanced user experience with:
- Interactive content with multimedia capabilities, such as embedded videos.
- Responsive websites, so the same content can be presented differently depending on the size of the screen or device.
- Support for high-end printing.
- Flexibility to align with customer brands and other content.
Innovation and support
MadCap Flare provides:
- Built-in project analysis and reporting
- A continual program of innovation and improvement
- Online or on-site training courses, and online help for all its products
- Maintenance plans and well-supported user forums
Support for translation
MadCap Lingo works with Flare and provides a tightly integrated workflow to manage the translation process efficiently. Flare also works efficiently with translation industry standard file formats such as XLIFF, and with the ubiquitous SDL Trados Studio toolset.
Case studies
Related posts
MadWorld 2023: A retrospective
Here is our summary of MadWorld 2023 in San Diego
Creating API docs in MadCap Flare
Find out how you can use MadCap Flare to easily create API documentation
MadCap Flare: managing your project and content
Learn some of our best practices for managing your project in Flare