Content: Mobile and Video

Eeshita Grover

Senior Manager – Cisco Technical Communications

Mobile Content – Strategy

The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) is the company's ongoing effort to forecast and analyze the growth and use of IP networks worldwide.

VNI Mobile Forecast Highlights, 2011 - 2016

• Globally, consumer mobile traffic will grow 21-fold from 2011 to 2016, a compound annual growth rate of 83%.

• Globally, consumer mobile traffic will reach 8,313,052 terabytes per month in 2016, up from 402,289 terabytes per month in 2011.

• Consumers will account for 77% of global mobile data traffic in 2016, compared to 67% at the end of 2011.

Video Clip

Global – Consumer Mobile Traffic

Architecting the mobile presence for Cisco Tech Docs

Compelling Facts

• Average age of our content consumers is in the mid-twenties

• Global organizations, partner-dependent business models, distributed teams

• Fluid workplace, fluid content

• Ease of use

• Appeal of streaming video

Strategy – Mobile Content

• Complex processes to drive satisfactory user experience

• Cumbersome SEO implementation

• Mostly static HTML format of web design

• Lack of agility

• Customer experience – User friendly

• Easy access via an iTunes/Android app

• Geared towards the next generation of users

• Bite-sized, chunked content

• Gives your user documentation an edge over your competition

Advantageswww.<company>.comm.<company>.com

• The Mobile User

• Content Design

• Accessibility

• Success Metrics

Mobile Content – Execution

What do mobile users need that desktop users don’t?

• UI and UX are critical

• Brief, to-the-point information in their pockets

• Pressed for time

• Quick, easy videos

• Self-contained pages

The Mobile User

Define various content types that lend to a mobile portal

• Push – Make frequently accessed content mobile ready

• Pull – Seek customer/user feedback regarding content that they would access from your mobile portal

Create writing guidelines for mobile content

• Implement metadata usage

• Implement guidelines for SEO

• Style Guide

Usage of DITA

• XML-based content lends itself to easier reuse and accessibility via apps

Authoring – Mobile Content

Internationalization is the process of modifying English-language content to meet the unique needs of individual markets around the globe.

Key guidelines for writing mobile content for a global audience:• Consider that ideograms (graphic symbols that represent an idea or concept) for some

languages, such as Chinese and Japanese, take up to 30% more space than the letters used in other languages.

• Use a simple and direct writing style.

• Write in short sentences and small paragraphs to facilitate understanding.

• Use the active voice whenever possible.

• Use consistent terminology.

• To avoid ambiguity, do not use words with multiple meanings.

• Use gender-neutral language.

• Do not use jargon, slang, or colloquialisms.

• Restrict the use of acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.

Internationalization of Mobile Content

• Known limitations (can be included in the release note summaries)

• Mini concepts – Brief description of a feature or technology (without tasks)

• Quick start guides

• Recommended software releases

• Release note summaries (without bugs)

• Upgrade utilities that include caveats for upgrading from one release to another

• Videos, screencasts, and animation

• Command references in CLI navigator format

• Configuration examples (typically a customer pain point)

• Configuration procedures (for a particularly troublesome configuration)

• Troubleshooting tips (include the top 3 to 5 customer pain points with accordion headings to expand and collapse the details)

• FAQs that answer questions about important product features

• Hardware installation procedures

• Interoperability matrices

Supported Content Types

m.cisco.com

The Cisco TD mobile site supports:

• Release note summaries

• Interoperability matrix utility

• CLI navigators

• API navigator

• Videos

• Upgrade utility

• Configuration limits

Mobile Content Wins – Interoperability Utility

Using Web-based Forms

Interop Utility – Before and After

PDF - Page 9 of 55 for a single typical release

JavaScript - Single page, 13 releases

Making the Interop Matrix

QA creates HW & SW interoperability spreadsheet for each release

Scripts convert data into JavaScript (JSON) database arrays

B-Series1.4(3)

B-Series2.0(1)

C-Series1.4(1)

Web-based interactive form (JavaScript/AJAX) allows a user to query the database to get specific results

CLI Navigator

CLI Navigator – Before and After

PDF – 1798 pages HTML/JavaScript - one- page form

1. Each CLI command is made available as a single HTML file of one or two pages

2. A JavaScript expandable tree directory allows the user to locate and select a command in its actual context in the CLI structure

3. Only the selected command file is sent to the user’s device rather than the 10MB+ PDF book or large HTML chapters

Making the CLI Navigator

Mobile-Optimized Content on CDC

EPUB book fileMOBI book file

Mobile content should provide timely information• Publish only the latest content (for the latest software release) so content does

not get stale and out of date

• Do not publish legacy content

Refreshing Content• When new software is released, post a mobile doc for it and remove the mobile

doc for the previous software release

Create guidelines for keeping content current, error free, and in sync with related content on your corporate website• Develop and implement a reuse strategy

• Update and republish mobile docs when corresponding content on your corporate website is updated

• Have the same writer work on content for both your corporate website and your mobile site

• Have your mobile content reviewed by SMEs and your editor

Maintenance Mobile Content – Best Practices

At Cisco, you can publish the following types of mobile documents:

Publishing – Mobile Content

Mobile-Optimized HTML

EPUB MOBI

Where viewable

Web browsers, such as Safari, Opera, Firefox, & Google Chrome

Devices with a compatible EPUB app or EPUB extension, such as iPad, Nook, & Sony e-reader; also from Firefox using an EPUB viewer extension

Amazon Kindle & Kindle Firee-readers

Where to publish

Mobile site & mobile app

Corporate website, mobile site, & mobile app

Corporate website, mobile site, & mobile app

What to publish

Small docs & docs that require user interaction ( CLI navigator & interop utility)

Large multi-chapter docs (such as configuration guides)

Large multi-chapter docs (such as configuration guides)

Success MetricsSample of documents for August 2012:

Page Visits

Mobile tech docs index (/web/mobile/td/)

1855

7600 router mobile tech docs index 234

Nexus 7000 release notes summary, 6.1(1)

103

UCS HW & SW Interoperability Matrix 2351

UCS B-Series CLI Navigator, mobile 143

UCS B-Series GUI configuration guide, PDF*

2996

UCS B-Series GUI configuration guide, HTML*

1895

UCS B-Series GUI configuration guide, EPUB*

250

*Combined mobile and desktop access

• Developing iOS and Android apps for technical documentation

• Limitations of current publishing systems

• Dependencies on other cross-functional groups

• Competition for resources

• Customer education – Gaining visibility for mobile docs and getting

the word out to customers

• Getting more writers to produce and publish mobile content

• Keeping internal mobile doc instructions and information current for

writers in a continuously evolving environment

Mobile Challenges

•“Finally!”

• “EPUBs are a beautiful thing, thank you.”

• “Great.”

• “PDFs are nice but ePubs are amazing!!!”

• “Thanks for adding epub to N5K docs.”

• “Would be great to have .epub for 12.4T docs as well. I`m sure most CCIE students would love it ;-)”

• “The N7K documentation is mostly already available as epub. Please do this for the other product documentation (IOS 12.4T, Cat3560, ...) as well.”

Testimonials for EPUBs

Cisco Tech Docs – iOS App

Available now in the iTunes app store

Prompts to open with an eReader app

1. The Cisco Tech Docs app downloads an XML index file from cisco.com. This file contains an up-to-date directory of Cisco technical documentation that’s available as an e-book or other mobile-friendly format.

2. The user selects the product and the desired document.

3. The app opens an appropriate viewer for the document type. For EPUB documents, an eReader app is launched. For HTML or JavaScript documents, a Web View is launched within the app.

As new documentation becomes available, authors can add links to the XML index file, making the new documentation available in the app.

Making the Cisco Tech Docs App

Video Content – Strategy

Need for a Video Content Strategy

• Enable ease of use

• Faster rate of adoption

• Video and Search Engine Optimization – Use of keywords and metadata

• Video availability on mobile devices

Design and define creation, maintenance, and accessibility of Video for Technical Communications

Focus Areas

• Implement creation and maintenance standards and guidelines for video content

• Drive quality customer experience via live video, screencasts, and animation

Strategy – Video Content

• Content Design

• Accessibility

• Success Metrics

Video Content – Execution

Authoring

• Define various content types for video

• Apply metadata and consistency across all video content

• Standardize on the usage of tools and techniques for video creation

• Develop a reuse strategy

Maintenance

• Create guidelines for keeping video content current , error free , and in sync with related content on your corporate website

Archiving – Develop CM strategy for templates, reusable clips, and project files

Design – Video Content

Drive ease of use and quality customer experience via video and animation

• Design content for multiple platforms (smartphones, tablets, and PCs)

• Scalable infrastructure – Partner with relevant teams to create an infrastructure that supports responsive design for streaming, downloadable, and shareable videos

• Mobile and video – Mobile app for tech doc videos for smartphones and tablets

• Drive availability of Technical Documentation screencasts and relevant videos from your mobile site

Metrics

Track video attention metrics – Initial attention, average attention, and captivation metrics

Accessibility – Video Content

Migrate to using the universal player

Embed video in an HTML page

Publish three files:• Video file

• First frame image file (screen shot or title frame)

• HTML host file (title, summary, file path, and video type)

Publish to corporate website, mobile site, mobile app, and YouTube

Publishing to mobile devices• Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch) – Support H.264-based video files

such as MP4, MOV, and M4V formats, at data rates up to 2.5 Mbps.

• Android devices – Support H.264-based video files such as MP4 and 3GP formats.

Publishing – Video Content

• With the Installation screencast - “I was able to complete this complex installation within 7 minutes.”

• “Accessing screencasts on my smartphone helps me while I am in the lab.”

Testimonials

John Chambers says – Mobility is the

killer app…

Q and A

www.wsol.com

www.brightsoft.com

www.loganfranken.com

Acknowledgements