Re: Linux users' expectations of online help

[Sean Wheller <seanwhe -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

Jean,

The response you received is, for the most part, true
with a Linux audience. Linux users are accustomed
using MAN, INFO, or Web Pages.

There is no HAT for Linux, there is however XML. Don't
stop, I know you think it is formidable, but please
read on. 

Most Open Source projects use Docbook XML as the
standard document type for creating product and
project support materials. This can be transformed
into any format, including the Windows formats.

Linux Desktops like KDE and GNOME have widgets that
are used to provide access to help documents. For
example if I am running SuSE with a KDE Desktop I will
have the SuSE HelpCenter (on GNOME this tool is called
ScrollKeeper). This is essentially a customized
Konqueror Browser. Two pane, left Contents, Search and
Glossary. Right, the text or pages selected.

The outline includes a bunch of help documents
arranged in a tree view. Project developers can choose
to integrate their help with the Help Center or not.
Some do and some don't. Mostly you will find Linux
Documents and the Desktop (Application) Documents.
Some may be HTML, others INFO, others MAN and yet
others PDF.

Then there is the Java School. Most of them do not add
there help to the Help Center. They could if the
wanted as the JavaHelp is mainly HTML compiled into a
jar file, instead they run the JavaHelp.

The reason why you do not see any HAT for Linux is
primarily because of Docbook. While it may seem
formidable, it is the standard for most OO projects.

So on Linux, the HAT, is actually an XML Publishing
Tool chain. The chain includes the editor, say EMACS,
VI, Kate or a commercial editor like Oxygen or XXE. An
XML parser like Xerces. A FO processor like Xalan or
Saxon.

The model is simple. Store your content in Docbook XML
or Simplified Docbook. Validate it. Input the XML
document with an XSL style sheet to the processor and
it compiles your help in the format supported by the
XSL. So if you want chm, just input an xsl designed to
output chm. If you want HTML,...

Depending on the tools you use, formats such as PS and
PDF may require two steps. XML > XSL-FO > PDF.

Windows users are usually shocked when they change to
Linux, but then Linux requires a different type of
thinking. In general, Linux users are accustomed to
reading very technical materials. They generally get
help in email lists, IRC channels, Web Sites and Wiki.
There help needs are less than that of Windows users.
As you pointed out, users that move to Linux are
currently not very well accommodated. The average
Windows user must have patience if the want help like
Windows. But then the average Windows users does not
use the command prompt and even if you do have a GUI
Desktop like KDE, the command prompt is a fundamental
part of any Linux users tools.

For developers and writers, standards based docbook is
the best option. Remember that OO projects are
developed by 100's sometimes 1000's of individuals
that contribute there time and expertise. Sources must
be standard and accessible. When contributing to the
documentation of an OO project you will in most cases
get your copy of the document sources from a CVS. CVS
is like Visual Source Safe. All developers, including
authors, update there local and commit there changes
back to the CVS.

Consider that all these people may use different tools
to author. So there must be a standard format that has
no lock-in to a specific tool. Something like if you
want to share a ForeHelp project with a person that
has RoboHelp. They cannot without either having the
same tool or a conversion process. With XML, if I like
Oxygen while you may like Emacs it is not a problem.
You can open my files and I yours. We can collaborate
via the CVS, with thousands of other authors. Each can
use the XML Editor of their choice, without impacting
me or you.

This to me is one of the first essentials to a
Single-Source system. Next is that fact that the
content is stored in a format that is independent from
the presentation layer. This allows transformation,
via XSL, to virtually any format.

In many aspects, OO projects and systems like Docbook
are showing us the way of the future. Perhaps the HAT
is dead. Perhaps the time has come to rethink how we
do help authoring.

Since moving to Docbook XML, I have not used a Word
Processor, a DTP and a HAT. I just use an XML Editor.
I write my documents in XML and write XSL's to do
things with the XML.

Hope this helps. Should you want to know more, just
let me know. I would however, be interested to
understand your interest and perhaps obtain a summary
of messages you receive.

Sean Wheller



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