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RE: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a usefullink)
Subject:RE: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a usefullink) From:"sbuckley" <sbuckley -at- onlinewriter -dot- com> To:"'Bill Swallow'" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>, "'Mike Starr'" <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Sep 2006 12:18:05 -0700
What I hear over and over again is that there are many help formats to chose
from. What are the basic standards these formats are based on? For
example, what are the standards set by someone like WWW3 who listens to the
technical communication industry and provides standards adopted by big
companies? What are the standards that have some basis in scientific
research on readability and overall use of online documentation?
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbuckley=onlinewriter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbuckley=onlinewriter -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Bill Swallow
Sent: Thursday, September 21, 2006 7:27 AM
To: Mike Starr
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a
usefullink)
> Right now the only option for desktop applications is HTML Help
Who told you that? There are a plethora of Help formats for desktop
applications.
> and as far as I'm concerned, it's so seriously flawed that I'm avoiding it
like
> the plague.
I'd really like to hear of these serious flaws.
> 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.
The quality of your documentation? Or the quality of your
implementation? There's a big difference between the two, and there
isn't a glaring gap in quality of implementation between HLP and CHM.
> 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??
They'll use Vista Help. ;-)
> 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.
Are you talking Microsoft applications? I'll bet dollars to doughnuts
that MS Office applications and other business/developer tools made by
Microsoft will harness the latest and greatest in Help delivery from
Microsoft, as always.
> If I have to kluge to add a download of the WinHelp engine to the
> installation package, that's only one kluge...
Provided it's legal to do so. We haven't seen the legalese behind the
WinHelp viewer download yet.
> 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).
Such as?
> 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'm not sure Ralph Walden would entirely agree with you there.
> I haven't found any way that HTML Help adds value to my documentation
> projects over WinHelp. I'm sticking with WinHelp.
That I'll give you - there's no added value in going with CHM *at this
point in time*. But, as I'd hinted at earlier, there are a plethora of
Help formats out there that you can use. I'm not going to list them ad
nauseum, as many of them are discussed every day on this and other
tech writing lists.
I personally don't care whether people switch or not. I'm switching,
mainly to ease documentation maintenance moving forward. Had nothing
to do with Vista, really, as we started migrating back in 2002. But if
you're trying to present a compelling argument to the list on why not
to switch, I think you need to fill some holes.
--
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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WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
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