TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Victoria brings up project bloat as a problem. Indeed, I have a project now that rejected RoboHelp for that reason... I have to craft my own help system. I use FrameMaker -> Doxygen, which makes very light-weight deliverables. I think light-weight will increasingly be an issue. Not only is it important for *storing* help on a hand-held app, but also for serving it up. They might be better than the old phone-modem days, but they still are phones after all.
Rob asks how to make 3-frame help without HATs. Well, Maker -> Doxygen works ok for me. It can make search, but that requires PHP on an HTTP server. There are open source JavaScript search libs out there... I suppose I could use one of those for search on a file:// system. I don't get bread crumbs, but Doxygen may support that... I'm just not sure. Anyway, the point is that you *can* make HTML that is a Web Help system without the levels of indirection and complexity and project bloat that most HATs introduce. Personally, I believe all that complexity there to keep other people from copying the techniques.
Rob also asks if there's a search alternative that is HTML-only. Well, you need a form that takes your search string and executes the search. Generally, to process a form you need scripting either on the server or the client side. So that would be JavaScript, PHP, Perl, or what have you.
But I'll go out on a limb and declare that file:// help systems are a dying breed. Everybody wants to go social with their help systems, and that requires server-side action. Also, the day is coming when the "applications" you use will all be clients to servers. Why would the help ever be on the client side?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days. http://www.doctohelp.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
