Author-it and MadCap Flare comparison
I’ve had more than a few questions asking for a review of Author-it or MadCap Flare or a comparison of both. So I decided to do some homework. Initially, I wasn’t sure why they are categorized together. Is it due to the price point? Or is it due to the single-sourcing all-in-one software package aspect? I suspect it’s the latter since the former seems more disparate lately.
Let’s examine the single-sourcing aspects.
Both MadCap Flare and Author-it only work on Windows for authoring (but both offer cross-platform and cross-browser output).
Both MadCap Flare and Author-it output to printed and online formats. These formats and the way they arrive at the output offer some differences, as seen in the “publishing aspects” section below.
Both MadCap Flare and Author-it have a single place to store source.
Both are sourced in databases. The single source for MadCap Flare is in a flat folder structure with XML files. MySQL database. The single source for Author-it is in either a free Jet/MSDE/SQL Express database for up to 4 MGB of content, or SQL Server.
Author-it only imports Word documents. Flare imports both Word and FrameMaker documents as projects.
What are the publishing aspects?
Author-it uses Word templates for all printed page layout. If you’re well-versed and experienced in Word for page layout, this product works for you.
Author-it uses CSS for HTML layout, but some layout and graphics are controlled in different areas. I had to uncover the locations for each graphic and CSS area recently while customizing the HTML output for the One Laptop Per Child project. In my experience the HTML layout was all over the place. From templates to stored objects to files stored locally to certain aspects changed within a dialog box on a template, I felt like the online layout was a bit scattered.
Here are links to their Knowledge Center articles that were helpful: Customizing Related Topics in HTML, Adding a Customized HTML Template, and Using a Customized HTML Frameset. I muddled through somehow, and I don’t have a good comparison for MadCap Flare’s HTML output.
Keith Soltys has a nice Review of MadCap Flare from summer of 2007 that shed some light onto the publishing and he speaks highly of the layout rendering nicely in both FireFox and Internet Explorer. It’s interesting, though, that he’s evaluating Author-it as well, so I guess these two products are often compared side-by-side.
Apparently MadCap Flare uses CSS for all layout aspects including print. The new Blaze announcement offers a non-Frame and non-Word reliance for actual PDF or print output. The reliance on CSS (Word’s interpretation of CSS has its limits) may have forced MadCap to create Blaze. Anyone else think you should wait for the CSS 3.0 specification before really nit-picky print layouts can be accomplished? Or is CSS ready for this level of design? I know with the OLPC project, we’d love CSS layout for really nice ebooks, so maybe MadCap is onto something with CSS for print layout.
I’ve written up this comparison because many people have asked me for it, but I know it’s lacking. Please, feel free to fill in the gaps that this post has so that others may fairly evaluate each tool in their environment.
I had an email conversation with Kai many months ago, who was a good sport with all of my questions regarding the content and priorities with that content. He realized, though, that Author-it was probably eliminated due to its use of SQL Server – they wanted a MySQL database container for their content. So I figured that MadCap was their final answer. It is so interesting how the final decision can be dictated by the underlying system requirements. One of the commenters on Gordon Mclean’s post, Why AuthorIT? (sic, they’re now Author-it) was seeking a similar authoring tool but on a Mac platform.
Sorry Kai for dropping the conversation for so long. But please do share your experience with the tools since then.
Anne Gentle is the author of 
I work for MadCap
Just want to clarify that we do not store content in any database. It’s a flat folder structure with XML files. We do use SQL for storing information used in analysis of the content (reporting, etc) but we store no *content* in a database.
We also use the full CSS standard and do every single print publishing thing you can think of, using CSS. And then some.
Finally, Blaze is the print output part of Flare, broken into a separate tool so that people who don’t need online outputs can get the functionality they need. Everything Blaze does, Flare does and Flare adds online outputs/features. So, if you only need print->Blaze. If you need print and online->Flare.
Hi Sharon, thanks for stopping by and clarifying. I’ve updated the post with strike-throughs where necessary. I appreciate your comment and involvement with the blogging community.
Plus you’re fun to follow on Twitter.
Anne, one thing about Authorit … it can import files other than Word. I’ve imported MIF and .rtf and .html into my Authorit source, so with some initial headaches, it’s actually pretty easy to do a mass import of content from other sources.
Authorit’s output to print, however, is a complicated story if you are not a fan of Word (and I’m not). If Open Office Writer can do a darned good Export to PDF, why can’t this heavier-priced product (Authorit)? Well, that last part probably qualifies as a mini-rant, but still, it bugs me.
Thanks!
Virginia
Thanks for noting the review of Flare I did a while back. I’ve also done a review of Blaze, and it’s available on my blog at this URL: http://www.soltys.ca/coredump/2009/01/madcap-blaze-powerful-alternative-to.html
I should note that I’m not evaluating Author-It any more. I decided that it didn’t suit my needs. If I switch away from FrameMaker/WebWorks, it’ll likely be to Flare.
Yes, the “wrong” DB actually did eliminate Author-it from the race. We went with MadCap Flare, and we were extremely happy with it. Not to say it’s a flawless tool, but the combination of “open everything” files which allows you to fiddle with templates, the well-run and helpful forum and dedication to improve on MadCap’s side just made it about the most pleasant professional software experience. (I didn’t receive anything to say this – I even had to specifically ask for a free t-shirt at the trade fair…
)
Since we didn’t have a lot of legacy content, I manually migrated Word paragraphs into Flare, chunking the content as I went along. We defined the deliverables we wanted (sometimes on the fly to satisfy marketing or pre-sales on short notice) and created web help and PDF. The initial layout of PDFs/Word did take some time, but much of it was spent on the last 10%, to get from quite pretty to near perfect.
I’m writing in the past tense because I’ve since moved on to a different company. And again, the sys reqs come into play: Since we’re looking at huge amounts of legacy content and a distributed network of writers, we will be watching closely how Flare’s flat folder structure behaves over the network and in terms of build times.
Hi Anne
Some points of clarification…
* Author-it imports many file types — Word, RoboHelp, FrameMaker (MIF), RTF, WinHelp, CHM, HTML, XML, among others
* The database limits for the free JET/MSDE/SQL Server Express options are Microsoft limits, not Author-it limits. And I think it’s 4 GB for SQL Server Express, not 4 MB… I have SQL Express libraries well over 250 MB! SQL Server is a paid option, with this limit removed.
* Author-it’s default CSS can be modified within the style objects. Or you can create a custom CSS and custom HTML templates to do whatever you want. Customizing is more for someone reasonably familiar with HTML and CSS. You don’t need to know anything about CSS or HTML to get HTML output ‘out of the box’ if you’re happy with the defaults and don’t want to tweak.
Hope this helps
Rhonda Bracey, Author-it Certified Consultant
Thanks Rhonda for these details – I really appreciate it! I’ll update the post.
Thanks Kai, good to hear of your experiences. I do hope your large amount of content holds up to the test.
Keith, your posts are extremely helpful, mine pale in comparison!
Hi Virginia – I am sooo lucky that Mary Connor does all our Word work at ASI. While I can read and write Word macros it’s certainly not my first choice to do in a given workday.
Hi Anne, a few comments on this article. I’m working with Flare at the moment but I’m a big fan of Author-it and miss it badly! I’m also an Author-it Consultant but do my best to be impartial.
I think it unconventional to apply the idea of ’single-source’ to mean the source files instead of the output options.
Rhonda, you didn’t mention that the MS SQL Express is free. To put 4Gb into context, in a recent project, on an earlier version of Author-it (4.5), 2Gb was more than enough for 5 authors for 2 years _with_ a large legacy import from the previous 10 years.
As for customizing HTML output in Author-it being confusing… yes it is BUT, all you need is a good map. I created a map of how the media objects feed the template objects feed the front-page, toc, body and index output and used that as a guide while I worked. Then it was easy. Author-it don’t provide such a map and I keep meaning to suggest it to them.
You do mention a couple of times a confusion over why Author-it and Flare are compared and I have to agree. To me, Author-it is, above all else, a component content management system (CCMS) which can start small (single author) and grow huge, with support for team authoring, sharing, reuse, management … Flare are developing team server but I can’t imagine it even approaching Author-it’s dominance in this field.
Richard Pineger, Tech Doc Direct Limited
Hi Anne,
I work for Author-it. Some of our users have provided feedback above which is great (and I’d love a copy of Richard’s map) but I’ll clarify where a lot of evaluators see the difference between Flare and Author-it.
Author-it is built on a CMS so many of the functions of a CMS are provided:
- authentication
- permissions (who can do what, when, and from where)
- workflow
- remote contribution (web or windows)
- localization management
- visualization and management of your entire documentation set
For end users the Xtend tool is becoming invaluable, making re-use automatic. For larger clients the Author-it API is important – they can link other systems directly into the Author-it CMS. The single source publishing engine also provides many different ways to publish output, using our own engine or a third party (even the ODT if you feel inclined). We have clients that publish to Frame, Flash and InDesign for example.
Finally, Author-it’s licencing is concurrent, so the software can be installed on any number of PCs (or delivered via a standard web browser). Sales teams, HR, Operations and other SMEs all create and review content directly, and based on each person’s user account the software ’switches off’ Author-it functions that aren’t appropriate to their role.
Hope this helps.
Matt Armstrong
Author-it Software Corporation
Matt, thanks so much for these important distinctions that evaluators have pointed out. Very useful, thanks!
Thank you for this. I didn’t read it very deeply the first time around, but I just won (yes won!) a free copy of Author-it at this month’s STC meeting. I know! It’s very exciting but a whole new world for this Frame gal.
This is very helpful! I’m looking up all your other articles on Author-it!
Oh! And, I’m glad you’re healing so well.