One of Flare's biggest strengths lies in single-sourcing, which means to reuse content, and producing multiple outputs from the same set of source files. Flare lets you single-source your projects in many ways, using various features.
Single-sourcing is a way to manage content that provides a lot of flexibility in how you put together a project and create output. A concept that allows for this is “chunking content.” Instead of having all your content in one long document, the content exists as smaller, modular pieces to make up the whole. Each chunk of content can be reused throughout the project.
When single-sourcing, features such as snippets, variables, and conditions are inserted or applied to eLearning content. These features work in the same way as when applied to other content files.
Note When you are looking for content to reuse or edit, sometimes it can be a challenge to locate specific pieces or topics, especially when projects are large. For information on how to find other files, see Locating Content in a Project.
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Snippets
A snippet is a chunk of formatted content that is heavily used in single-sourcing. Snippets can include text, tables, images, and whatever else can be included in a normal topic. You can insert snippets into one or more topics throughout your project, thus allowing you to reuse content that is maintained in one place. You can even insert them into other snippets, creating nested snippets.
For example, you can use snippets in eLearning content in various ways:
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If you are including notes in a course intended for a trainer or an instructor only, a snippet can be used when reusing the note in multiple topics.
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If you are creating questions, and want to include instructions for the multiple response type to say, "Select all answers that apply," after the question, you can create a snippet. That way you're not retyping it each time a multiple response question is used. If you update or decide to remove it, you only have to make the changes once in the snippet file for it to affect all instances of it.
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If you want to reuse questions, you could create snippets of them. This might happen if you have a question that appears in a knowledge check, and you want to reuse it in the test portion of the course.
Warning You can create snippets for entire question sections and reuse them. However, use caution when doing so, because each question has its own question ID associated with it, and you do not want the ID to end up inside the snippet. The question ID is necessary for eLearning tracking.
Variables
A variable is a small piece of plain text or auto-generated content that can be edited in one place but used in many places throughout your project. Variables are especially useful for text that might change frequently, such as version numbers and dates.
For example, you can use variables in eLearning content in various ways:
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If you have a specific way to write a product or course name, and want to use the name frequently.
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If you have two PDF targets (e.g., instructor PDF and student PDF), use a variable and an alternate variable for designating the title and subtitle of the document.
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If you have a term or phrase used a lot in the content.
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If you want to include a course version number for the eLearning material in multiple places.
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If you want to associate a date with the course.
Conditions
A condition is a single-sourcing feature that you can apply to files or different areas of your content. Conditions can determine whether certain information displays in some outputs but not in others. You can also control whether content displays on a certain device or screen size.
For example, you can use conditions in eLearning content in various ways:
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If you create an instructor's guide versus a student's guide, you can use conditions to fulfill specific needs for different targets within the same project. You might want a printed copy of the instructor guide, and an online version of the course for the learner. In your project, you can create a PDF and HTML5 target type. You can create and apply conditions to the content (e.g., print versus online), and then associate the conditions to the different target formats.
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If you have a project with one table of contents (TOC) but multiple targets (e.g., a knowledge check and a quiz target), you can use conditions to build a specific target. You can put a condition on the topics that comprise the knowledge check, and another condition on the quiz topics—in the Content Explorer. Then associate the conditions to the appropriate target for output.
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If you have a project with one TOC but multiple targets (e.g., a knowledge check and a quiz target), you can apply conditions to TOC entries. When a specific target is built to include or exclude the conditioned entries, then those topics are included or excluded, respectively, for navigation in the output.
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If you have different terms to use for various output devices or screen sizes, you can use conditions to make content responsive (e.g., "click" for web, and "tap" for a mobile or tablet).
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If you are creating a course and want to include internal notes (e.g., instructor/trainer notes, observation notes, design notes), you can use conditions to exclude those notes from the output.
Source Control—Sharing Across a Team
If you have multiple individuals working on the same Flare project, the best way to make sure everyone is in sync and the content remains consistent is to use a source control solution. This way, everyone is working on the same source files, rather than maintaining different sources. Flare has built-in integration with multiple vendors: Git, Perforce Helix Core, Subversion, and Team Foundation Server (Azure DevOps).
Global Project Linking—Sharing Across Projects
Sometimes it's necessary to have multiple Flare projects across a team or separate departments. This does not mean, however, that you cannot share content between projects. By using Global Project Linking, you can pull any files from one project into another. This allows you to maintain information in one place but share and reuse it in many other projects.
