ClickHelp April 2023 Blossom Update Overview

Our latest Blossom update will take your content creation to the next level with Markdown import, better PDF export, Confluence import updates, and more. We have made the initial steps towards a complete transformation of the Contributor’s app that are sure to ease your work inside the portal. Furthermore, we have implemented a bunch of smaller changes to other areas. So let’s dive in and explore what the Blossom update has in store for you!

Improved PDF Export to Unlock Your Documents’ Potential

ClickHelp is an all-in-one documentation platform that can produce documents in various formats. In addition to online versions, many of our clients create downloadable PDF versions to deliver to their customer base. In this release, we’re improving the PDF experience in many ways – both for contributors and readers!

Although the world is becoming increasingly digital and ClickHelp is a cloud-based tool, PDFs continue to thrive and remain in demand among our clients. Our surveys show that more than 70% of users create PDF versions in addition to online documentation. ClickHelp makes it effortless for users to accommodate readers who prefer documents in PDF format. With just a few clicks, you can easily export one or more topics and share them with your partners or contractors for review. For example, this could be beta version feature documentation that is still a work in progress.

Our latest enhancements are designed to improve the overall experience of generating PDFs:

• PDF Output Preview helps you ensure your content looks great in print by previewing the current topic in PDF with a click of a button.
• Export Presets. Now you can create multiple presets to store all the PDF export settings, so you don’t have to go through the hassle of setting everything up every single time. Simply select the required preset, and your PDF is good to go. What a time saver!
• Online PDF Template Editor. Contributors can now edit PDF export templates without leaving the portal or having to use external tools like MS Word or Google Docs. Our new Online PDF Template Editor offers a familiar UI to set up the page size, a cover page, headers and footers, etc.

  

• Readers can easily download a Single Topic as PDF with just a click. As a contributor, you will specify which template to use for those downloads so that every PDF document matches your brand style!

Single User Type, Different Roles

When working on documentation, team members may need to switch their involvement in managing the content from time to time. One moment they may review content, and the next, they may create it. We have simplified switching between roles by combining internal users into a single user type called “Contributors.”

We have made it effortless for any user within your organization to become a Contributor by merging the Author and Reviewer roles into the Contributor user type. This modification enables seamless switching between access types, enabling our customers to engage other departments in the documentation process effortlessly. As we strongly believe that excellent documentation is a team effort, this new feature will promote collaboration and streamline the documentation process.

Reimagined Author Dashboard and Contributor UI Updates

Authors work with our tool every day, so we know that navigation convenience is critical. We conducted thorough UX research to understand our users better and improve our product’s usability. We had several goals in mind while redesigning the contributor UI:

• Better reflect ClickHelp platform notions in the navigation.
• Make it easier to understand where you are and where you can go.
• Provide quicker navigation patterns, allowing you to switch between pages and contexts more efficiently.
• Improve the UI aesthetics.

The improvements we’ve made have resulted in a more visually appealing, streamlined, and consistent system. So, our users can enjoy a more user-friendly interface, enhanced productivity and other notable benefits. Let’s see in more detail below.

Global Breadcrumbs Navigation

We added a Global Breadcrumbs Navigation that will always show you where you are.

Breadcrumbs that are located at the top of the page enable contributors to easily determine their location within the application, facilitating quick and seamless navigation between different pages and contexts.

The breadcrumbs have drop-down menus on different levels. These drop-down menus allow you to switch to another section on the same level. For instance, if you are currently in one project and need to perform a task in another one, you can quickly jump to that project using the drop-down.

Side Navigation

A new side nav is always within reach. The main sections – Projects page, File Storage, Report Center, Tools, Settings – are available from any page with just one click.

New Projects Page

To enhance user experience and increase productivity, we have revamped the Author Dashboard based on the latest industry best practices and the feedback we have received from our valued users over the years. The updated Dashboard is now called Projects and it became more lightweight, easier to navigate, comprehend and operate, resulting in a more streamlined and intuitive user experience. Moreover, it boasts an aesthetically pleasing design, which adds to the overall appeal.

We added Pinned Projects, so you can keep frequently used projects at the top.

Keep your workplace organized and clutter-free by archiving projects that are no longer relevant or active. For your convenience, the project will be hidden in a separate group on the Projects page. Still, its data — like publications — will remain in your portal.

Recent documents on the right-hand side of the Projects page to provide users with quick and easy access to the most recently visited or accessed items.

Overall, these improvements will make your work with your documentation portal much faster, more convenient, and enjoyable.

Interactive Screenshots

Our clients frequently use a multitude of screenshots, which are often very large. Our Reader UI has long been able to automatically adjust the image size to fit within the visible area. However, now it has become even better! Every screenshot inserted is now interactive – the reader can click on it and expand it to full screen. As always, we aim to make everything effortless for you, so writers don’t have to make any additional steps – all screenshots are now interactive automatically!

Quick Portal Setup with Automagical Branding

Those trying out ClickHelp will typically start with setting up their portal parameters – primary colors of reader UI, home page styles, etc. In this release, we’re making a step towards making this process more automated! Our new wizard is designed to analyze your company’s website and automatically configure your portal. All you have to do is follow the wizard’s prompts and either accept the suggested settings or make changes as needed. With Quick Setup you can easily and efficiently set up all the main parameters. Say goodbye to the hassle of manual setup and hello to a seamless onboarding experience with ClickHelp!

The automagical branding allows trial users to see how the portal will look like with their logo, fonts, and branding colors.

Confluence Import Improvements

We’ve made significant improvements to Confluence import, so your migration experience is even smoother. You can expect better-looking complex elements, organized images and attachments, and support for more Confluence macros. We also preserve emoticons, image captions, and table cell background colors during import, along with Jira links and any unsupported elements.

Markdown Import

Introducing another useful feature for writers – the ability to import Markdown text directly into your ClickHelp projects! This means that if your developers are already using Markdown to create content, they can now provide you with some documents in MD format and you can easily import them into your project. They will become HTML content that can be edited in ClickHelp.

Author-It Import

Great news for those who have been using Author-It as their primary documentation tool and are looking to switch to ClickHelp. You can now easily import all their existing content into ClickHelp via Web Help format. The process is simple and straightforward, and the imported content looks just as good as it did in Author-It. This significant improvement will no doubt attract many users who are looking for an easy way to move their documentation over to our platform.

OpenAPI Import Improvements

ClickHelp constantly improves the support for OpenAPI definitions import. And we’re pleased to announce that following the import of a definition, you’ll now be able to easily identify method types — GET, POST, PUT, and so on — through distinct labels displayed within the TOC panel. This change significantly improves the clarity of your documentation and makes it easier for readers to quickly locate the information they need.

Multi-Tag Topic Preview

Those who actively utilize conditional content will appreciate the new multi-tag topic preview feature. When you have highly dynamic content with a lot of conditions, you may want to see what your content looks like for a specific set of Output Tags without publishing. This is exactly what the new feature offers – the Preview tab of the topic editor now offers multiple Output Tags selection!

In the example below, you can see how we preview a topic by applying several output tags – a few clicks and you better understand what that final output will look like for a specific country, industry and output type.

Google Analytics 4 Support

According to Google, Universal Analytics is “going away on July 1, 2023,” but don’t you worry – ClickHelp already has the integration with GA4, and the ability to integrate with any other similar engines. So, remember to update your GA settings in your documentation portal so you can start collecting data using GA4.

You can gather valuable insights into your readers’ behavior by analyzing the search queries they run in your portal – they are now reported to GA4 as well. This provides you with additional data such as popular queries and their geographical distribution. Combine GA reports with our existing Report Center functionality that provides information on the number of search results and clicks for each query. This way, you can gain deep analytical insights into your readers’ behavior and further optimize your documentation.

New Dynamic Homepage Template

On the road to simplifying the visual appeal of a portal ClickHelp has designed a new dynamic homepage template. With its automatic color feature based on your Reader UI settings – selection color and hover color, this template takes the guesswork out of customizing your portal’s appearance.

Our intuitive Quick Setup wizard and Automagical Branding ensure that you achieve the perfect look for your portal in no time at all. Say hello to a sleek, professional-looking portal with our latest template. Simplify your portal styling today and let us take care of the rest!

Conclusion

Those are the features and improvements of ClickHelp Blossom Update that can enhance the user experience and productivity. Starting from a well-designed contributor UI of the Contributor’s environment, to GA4 integration. All these enhancements can significantly increase the value of your documentation and ease your work with it. Check out the complete list of features that the ClickHelp Blossom brings in our Release Notes.

Don’t settle for ordinary documentation! Make your content stand out and captivate your audience with our visually stunning elements. Whether you’re revamping your existing documentation or starting from scratch, we’ve got you covered. Want to see for yourself? Sign up for a free trial today and experience the extraordinary!

Good luck with your technical writing!
ClickHelp Team
Author, host and deliver documentation across platforms and devices