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MadCap Flare 9.0 Offers Industry-First Native Right-to-Left Language Support, New Level of Social Interaction for Online Content, Expanded Capabilities for Advanced Print Publishing

(March 05, 2013)

La Jolla, CA, March 5, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MadCap Software, Inc.
(http://www.madcapsoftware.com) the leader in multi-channel content
authoring and a showcase company for Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)
Visual Studio and Microsoft XPS, today announced the launch of
MadCap Flare 9.0. Flare is the industry's leading technical
authoring application for publishing online Help, knowledge bases,
policy and procedure manuals, user guides, and other forms of
content. Only MadCap Flare lets authors create a single project and
then directly publish it in multiple formats optimized for the Web,
mobile devices, desktops, and print publishing--without the need
for any additional tools.

MadCap Flare 9.0
(http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/flare/overview.aspx) builds
on MadCap's innovation in single-source publishing to print and
online channels with 30 new features and enhancements,
including:


  • Socially-enabled output for online documentation

  • New advanced print and layout features that allow authors to be
    better designers

  • Expanded language support with right-to-left languages

  • Topic editor enhancements to speed the learning curve and
    streamline authoring

  • Mobile publishing enhancements

  • Support for Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe FrameMaker 11

  • Free integration with MadCap Capture
    (http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/capture/overview.aspx) for
    image capture and graphics editing

"Our customers understand the importance of
enabling readers to choose how they receive information, whether
it's in print, on the Web, on desktops, or on their mobile
devices," said Anthony Olivier, MadCap founder and CEO. "Flare
uniquely delivers on this demand by empowering authors to create a
single project and then directly publish to it to any of these
channels. With version 9.0, Flare again takes it to a whole new
level--delivering socially-enabled content to a range of online
formats, including HTML5, and allowing that same content to be
published as top quality, professionally printed collateral and in
any language, even Arabic, Hebrew or Persian. Whether in print or
online, it translates into best-in-class content."


Socially-enabled
Documentation


New with Flare 9.0 isa documentation-centric
social collaboration platform that enables users to connect,
collaborate, and share knowledge with fellow authors, employees and
customers. MadCap Pulse
(http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/pulse/overview.aspx), a new
server-based plug-in to Flare, allows published online
documentation to contain functions much like those of many social
media websites on the Internet.

Olivier observed, "By offering true
socially-enabled content from Flare, our customers can offer more
relevant information and enhance the quality of their documentation
using true collaboration features and community feedback, as well
as foster broad information sharing around any type of online
documentation being published."


New Capabilities for Advanced Print
Publishing

Flare 9.0 adds several new functions that
support advanced print publishing and allow authors to create
professional design-quality documents without the need for designer
involvement or high-end designer layout tools. These include
support for crop marks to indicate where the printer should trim
pages and registration marks to ensure that colors are matched up
accurately as printers align plates on the press. Additionally,
first left and first right page options provide more ease and
flexibility when creating different looks for the beginning and
ending of chapters. Other layout features include bleeding,
padding, margins and empty pages, among others.

The newest release of Flare also adds support
for the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key--or black) color
model, which is often the preferred model for print-based output.
Since Flare already supports the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) model that
is primarily intended for electronic content, authors can now
designate the color model most appropriate for their online and
print content. Flare 9.0 also includes Web, print and mobile layout
templates, so authors do not have to create design layouts from
scratch. 


Expanded Language Support Includes
Industry First

For years, MadCap Flare's native XML
architecture and support for Unicode have facilitated the ability
to author and publish content in all left-to-right languages
including single-byte languages, such as French, German and
Italian, and double-byte languages, including Japanese and
Korean.

With version 9.0, Flare introduces an industry
first by adding support for native authoring and publishing for
right-to-left (RTL) languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew and Persian.
RTL languages can now be selected anywhere in the interface where
languages are chosen, and RTL text can be authored correctly and is
readable in the XML Editor. As with text, tables flow from right to
left. Additionally, three options are selected by default when an
author chooses an RTL language at the project or target level.
These options are used to automatically invert language-related
style rules locally or in the style sheet, as well as to invert
page layout settings.

"I am thrilled that a major content authoring
tool has finally made the move to support right-to-left-reading
languages," said Jennifer Schudel, localization manager at Advanced
Language Translation Inc. "MadCap Flare 9.0 generates PDFs and
online Help systems in languages, such as Hebrew and Arabic, and
allows users the option to invert or 'mirror' styles, layouts, and
images from MadCap Capture. These key features allow flexibility
and ease of use, as much of the process is done automatically for
the user."


Topic Editor Enhancements

New Topic Editor features in Flare 9.0 make it
easier for beginning users to get up and running, as well as
streamline the process for experienced Flare authors. For the first
time, users can choose to view the WYSIWYG (what you see is what
you get) representation and underlying XML code at the same time,
since the XML Editor and Text Editor are more closely synchronized.
Furthermore, all editing is displayed in real-time in both the code
and WYSIWG view.  With the click of a button, authors can
choose between this integrated view, a split-screen view with two
windows in either a side-by-side or top-bottom orientation, the
WYSIWYG view only, or the XML code view only. The Text Editor adds
autocomplete functionality, allowing authors to quickly select
valid tags as they type XHTML and CSS (cascading style sheet) code.
Additionally, syntax is now colored to help easily distinguish
different parts of the syntax.


Enhanced Mobile Publishing

Flare takes advantage of its single-source
multi-channel publishing functionality to let authors easily
publish their Flare-based content as dynamic mobile content and in
the EPUB format for eBooks for users on the go. Flare 9.0 adds
support for the EPBU3 standard--used by devices such as Barnes
& Noble Nook; and Apple iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch--along
with MOBI, the standard format for the Amazon Kindle. Additionally,
the latest release of Flare takes advantage of MadCap Mimic 7.0 and
HTML5 to run software simulations, tutorials, and full-motion video
on any mobile device, including the Apple iPhone and iPad, and
devices running Windows Mobile or Android, to name a few.


Additional Enhancements to the Flare
Authoring Experience

Flare 9.0 adds several other features for
enhancing the author's experience. Among these are:


  • Microsoft Office 365 support--enabling authors to import and
    export Microsoft Word content without installing the Word
    software.

  • Adobe FrameMaker 11 support--allowing the import of content
    from the latest release of Adobe's software. Flare 9.0 also
    enhances the import capabilities of earlier FrameMaker versions and
    Adobe RoboHelp.

  • Free MadCap Capture integration--giving users the ability to
    download Capture at no cost and take full advantage of its image
    capture and graphics editing capabilities with Flare.

  • Accessibility enhancements--supporting Section 508 compliance;
    new functions include the ability to add empty ALT text for images
    and a warning for images when ALT tags cannot be read.

  • Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) support--offering users
    the option to publish projects using the SFTP protocol, the secure
    option to the older File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

Other usability and performance enhancements
include a new character/symbol user interface, an updated Equation
Editor, expanded search capabilities, advanced conditional
expressions, an optimized target compiler, and source control
improvements.


Availability and Pricing

MadCap Flare 9.0 is available today both
separately and as part of MadCap's MadPak. A standalone Flare 9.0
license is priced at $999. MadPak
(http://www.madcapsoftware.com/products/madpak/overview.aspx), at
$1,499 per license, includes MadCap Flare 9.0, MadCap Contributor
5.0, MadCap Analyzer 6.0, MadCap Capture 6.0, MadCap Mimic 7.0, and
MadCap Lingo 6.0. MadCap Pulse pricing tiers start at 10 advanced
users (employees) and 500 basic users (customers) in 6- or 12-month
subscriptions for $1,500 and $2,400, respectively--including all
upgrades and unlimited email support. Maintenance (support and
subscription) fees start at $199 per year for the Bronze Level,
$299 for the Gold Level, and $499 for the Platinum Level. Discounts
for multiyear maintenance contracts are also available.

MadCap Flare and the MadPak also are available
through MadCap Software's two enterprise-licensing models.

The Multi-User license allows companies to buy a
single license key for as many dedicated users as they need,
simplifying the installation and license management process. No
registration is required; a single license key manages all users
and activations.

The Floating license is designed for
organizations that standardize on Mimic or the MadPak, and it is
based on concurrent users rather than dedicated users. Therefore,
any number of users can activate the software under a single
license key. The only limit is how many users can work in the
software at the same time. MadCap's software can even be installed
on a central server, such as Citrix, allowing for users to access
it remotely. Floating licenses include access to all product
upgrades and updates as they become available.

Both licensing options include access to the
highest levels of MadCap technical support. For more information
call 1-888-MadCap1.


About MadCap
Software                                                                                                  

MadCap Software, Inc. is a leading technical
communication software firm specializing in integrated applications
for end-to-end content development, delivery and management.
MadCap's software products provide state-of-the-art content
workflow solutions for multi-channel publishing, including the Web,
print, desktop and mobile. Through its strategic partner Microsoft
Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), MadCap delivers solutions optimized for
Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio, and the .NET environment.
Headquartered in La Jolla, CA, MadCap is home to some of the most
experienced software architects and product experts in the
documentation industry. Learn more about MadCap Software at
www.madcapsoftware.com.

MadCap Software, the MadCap Software logo,
MadPak, MadCap Flare, MadCap Mimic, MadCap Capture, MadCap Lingo,
MadCap Analyzer, and MadCap Contributor are trademarks or
registered trademarks of MadCap Software, Inc., in the United
States and/or other countries. Other marks are the properties of
their respective owners.

# # #


http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=16496

CONTACT: PR Contact:
Rebecca Hurst
Kinetic.PR for MadCap Software
rebecca@kineticprllc.com
650-679-9282



MadCap Software


Page: 1


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