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I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link)
Subject:I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link) From:"Mike Starr" <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Sep 2006 07:59:57 -0500
What I'm having trouble with is exactly that... the push to get away from
WinHelp. Right now the only option for desktop applications is HTML Help and
as far as I'm concerned, it's so seriously flawed that I'm avoiding it like
the plague. WinHelp "just works"... it does everything I need and does it
quite nicely. If I were to switch to HTML Help, I'd be degrading the quality
of my documentation and wouldn't be able to guarantee that users would be
able to see it properly. IIRC, even now, many Microsoft products still embed
WinHelp calls because HTML Help doesn't do all of the things they need it to
do. So what are they going to do for those applications post-Vista?? I'm not
sure they're going to budget for a conversion project for every one of 'em.
I'll bet you dollars to doughnuts that the installation packages for those
applications will include either an installation of the WinHelp engine or a
forced download and installation of it.
If I have to kluge to add a download of the WinHelp engine to the
installation package, that's only one kluge... if I switched to HTML Help,
I'd have to compromise many of my standards and adopt multiple kluges
(formatted popups with embedded links and non-scrolling regions).
Let's face it... Microsoft deprecated WinHelp and switched to HTML Help as
one of its justifications for embedding HTML rendering into the operating
system when they went all out to kick Netscape's keister. What they came up
with is a sad excuse for a documentation product but they did manage to kill
Netscape.
I haven't found any way that HTML Help adds value to my documentation
projects over WinHelp. I'm sticking with WinHelp.
Mike
--
Mike Starr WriteStarr Information Services
Technical Writer - Online Help Developer - Website developer
Graphic Designer - Desktop Publisher - MS Office Expert
Phone: (262) 694-1028 - Tollfree: (877) 892-1028 - Fax:(262) 697-6334
Email: mike -at- writestarr -dot- com - Web: http://www.writestarr.com
----- Original Message -----
Message: 22
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 12:53:25 -0400
From: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
Subject: Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link
The push is to get away from WinHelp. What you convert *to* is
entirely up to you.
On 9/20/06, Dan Goldstein <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com> wrote:
So why the push to convert to something flawed and static? If you're
going to invest in a major Help system conversion, why not upgrade
to...?
--
Bill Swallow
HATT List Owner
WWP-Users List Owner
Senior Member STC, TechValley Chapter http://techcommdood.blogspot.com
avid homebrewer and proud beer snob
"I see your OOO message and raise you a clue."
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