Draft:Dr.Explain

Dr.Explain is a Windows-based help authoring tool published by Indigo Byte System LLC.

Features
Program allows a technical writer to create documentation in various formats, such as CHM (HTML Help), HTML, PDF, and RTF. It also has the ability to generate code for the C++, Delphi, and Visual Basic programming languages to integrate the generated CHM help files into the applications. Also Dr.Explain includes user guide templates and image annotation automatic tools for rapid documentation creation. The software also has the capabilities to create electronic educational resources in online and PDF formats.

The program allows capturing application windows or web pages and automatically adds annotations to interface elements on screenshots. This approach is functional when describing the functionality of software as it partially automates the creating of documentation.

The program provides the possibility of multi-user work through Dr.Explain collaboration servers.

History
The section lists the most essential version updates of Dr.Explain software since its initial release in the Summer of 2005.

Dr.Explain 1.2. The first public release of Dr.Explain. (July, 2005)

Dr.Explain 1.5. The multi-byte languages support were introduced. (September, 2005)

Dr.Explain 2.0. The functions for customizing the visual style with CSS, indexing by keywords in CHM, spell checking were added. (August, 2006)

Dr.Explain 2.5. Menu capturing, context sensitive help IDs support, validation tools, and 40 new features were added.(March, 2007)

Dr.Explain 3.0. Images, tables, lists, font styles, and user-defined variables support were added. (March, 2008)

Dr.Explain 4.0. The program's GUI was completely remastered. (Macrh, 2010)

Dr.Explain 4.1. The program was translated into 9 languages. The functions of annotating images, exporting to PDF and inserting HTML fragments have been added. Also it became possible to import documentation from various formats to Dr.Explain. (October, 2010)

Dr.Explain 4.5. The screenshot annotation templates constructor was introduced. (December, 2011)

Dr.Explain 4.10. Social network integration and instant PDF preview were introduced. (March, 2013)

Dr.Explain 5.0. The program introduced the possibility of team-work and collaboration through a cloud service Tiwri.com (September, 2014)

Dr.Explain 5.5. The x64 platform support was introduced. The further x86 platform support and development has been stopped. (September, 2017)

Dr.Explain 6.0. The program's GUI was remastered and new simplified screenshot capturing tool plus improved content editor were added. (April, 2020)

Dr.Explain 6.3. The collection of user guide and knowledge base templates was added to the program. (November, 2021)

Awards

 * On the G2 Crowd website, Dr.Explain is regularly marked with a High Performer award (from Spring 2018 till Spring 2022) in the category of "help authoring tool" (HAT) software, and is placed in the list of top help file authoring tools. The G2 Crowd score is based on the ratings from real users, which takes into account the factors, such as the ease of use, ease of setup, quality of support, compliance with requirements, and others.


 * On November 20, 2015, ComponentSource awarded the Indigo Byte Systems LLC with Dr.Explain as a single listed product with Top 100 Publisher Award. . The allocation of the awards has been calculated based on real sales orders placed by verified customers globally during 2014.


 * On September 02, 2013, Dr.Explain has been reviewed by Frederick Barton, a software review editor at FindMySoft. Based on the user interface, features and complexity, Findmysoft has awarded Dr.Explain with Essential award.

Events
Dr.Explain team regularly participates and sponsors professional events on software development and technical writing:
 * ESWC: European Software Conference, 2021
 * ISDEF: Independent Software Developers Forum, 2017
 * Delphi Developer Days, 2017
 * UA Europe: An annual conference for technical communicators, 2013
 * Tekom tcworld conference, 2010