Re: Online Help question

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>wrote:

>
> Hi All,
>
>
>
> I have a couple of questions and I am not quite sure how to ask them, so I
> hope I make sense!
>
>
>
> Ok Here goes....
>
>
>
> I started a job as the first technical writer at a company a few weeks ago;
> by the way thanks for all the tips! :)
>
>
>
> Anyhow...they are looking at starting an Online Help system, or at least a
> series of FAQs that can be searched. I suggested using RoboHelp or FLARE for
> producing the content, I have experience with RoboHelp and Help and Manual
> but not FLARE. Is FLARE better than either RoboHelp or Help and Manual? I
> know it seems to be the most popular lately, but is it really any better?
>
>
>
> Also, I have produced the content for Online Help and then passed it off to
> developers, so when they asked me in the meeting what happens with the
> content after I produced it, my only reply was "I do not know..I send it to
> developers!" I kind of need a better answer if I am actually going to get
> this system..and it is really needed! Does anyone on here know of a great
> answer for what steps Online Help goes through from producing it in an HAT
> to actually being able to access it when you click a Help button?
>

Hi Melissa,

I have only used RoboHelp, so that's the workflow I know.

As others have said, it depends on what kind of Help system the software is
using. Typically, if you click "help" on a main menu, you get the start page
of the help system (typically the table of contents). If you have
context-sensitive help, clicking the question mark on the dialog box
typically opens a specific page in the help system that is tagged to that
screen or field (however granular your help system is designed to be).
That's done with the mapID files that have been developed either by you or
by the developers and shared between you both.

When you are done writing and generating your help file(s) (either a CHM or
HTML or whatever), that generated file structure is handed over to the
developers who add it to their "make" file when they compile (or build) the
executable software.

HTH,
Wendy


>
>
>
> Hope that made a little sense..just came out of a two and a half hour
> meeting on it and my brain is fried! :)
>
>
>
> Thanks so much,
>
>
>
> Melissa
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Use Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word, or HTML and
> produce desktop, Web, or print deliverables. Just write (or import)
> and Doc-To-Help does the rest. Free trial: http://www.doctohelp.com
>
>
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Use Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word, or HTML and 
produce desktop, Web, or print deliverables. Just write (or import) 
and Doc-To-Help does the rest. Free trial: http://www.doctohelp.com


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