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Subject:alias files (was Re: Hosted Help - server specs?) From:Kathleen Johnson <Kathleen -dot- Johnson -at- visionsolutions -dot- com> To:Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>, Technical Writing <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 5 Dec 2013 08:41:48 -0500
"I strongly recommend using alias files rather than letting developers hard-code calls to specific pages."
Why? We just had a discussion on this yesterday. Alias files seems so cryptic and high maintenance. If you have a standard naming convention between the application and the help files, it seems easier and lower maintenance to just call a specific page.
Kathleen Johnson | Advisory Technical Writer | Vision Solutions | +1 (317) 813-1116 | Kathleen -dot- Johnson -at- visionsolutions -dot- com
Double-Take | iTERA | MIMIX | www.visionsolutions.com
The contents of this e-mail (and any attachments) are privileged and confidential. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited(+).
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+kathleen -dot- johnson=visionsolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+kathleen -dot- johnson=visionsolutions -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Robert Lauriston
Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2013 8:14 PM
To: Julie Stickler; Technical Writing
Subject: Re: Hosted Help - server specs?
There's no architecture, really. Web help is just HTML and JavaScript.
You dump the files in a directory. You don't need anything but Apache or some other standard web server. Send the IT manager some sample output. Here's the information on making the help calls:
I strongly recommend using alias files rather than letting developers hard-code calls to specific pages.
If you want to limit the help to registered users (what's the marketing case for not letting prospective customers see it?) then just put the help files in the application, or if for some reason you want to use a separate server, use the same authentication method you use for access to the application. If the help is password-protected, then I don't think you can use Google Analytics.
On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 2:10 PM, Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> The subject line says "server specs" because our IT manager replied to
> my initial inquiry with "We may have to build a new server for it. It
> all depends on how this thing is architected." I've usually had to
> maintain help that was already coded into the product, so being asked
> "how this is going to be architected" rather baffled me. The
> application makes a call to the Help URL (Welcome.html or some such).
> The call might include some sort of token or password if we're locking
> down the Help to registered users only. What else am I missing here?
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 3:53 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>wrote:
>
>> The subject line says "server specs." Hosting web help generally
>> requires relatively little additional horsepower from a web server
>> that's already handling a SaaS application.
>>
>> You might look into replacing Flare's default web help search with
>> something more robust, such as Google or a Google Appliance.
>>
>> You'll probably want to use Google Analytics or something similar for
>> metrics.
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 4, 2013 at 11:43 AM, Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com>
>> wrote:
>> >>Web help is not very resource-intensive as web applications go.
>> >
>> > Not sure what you mean by this?
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Julie Stickler
>http://heratech.wordpress.com/
> Blogging about Agile and technical writing
>
>
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