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.
>I don't think it's fair to blame the authors for this. WinHelp really only
>allows you one level of indexing, which turns the procedure from indexing to
>keywording. What is fair to expect WinHelp authors to know is the art of
>keywording. Anyone who's worked in a library or with keyworded abstracts knows
>that indexing and keywording are different skills and must be approached with a
>little different thought process.
It still stinks. WinHelp is a "toy" application, inadequate for serious
work, and companies around the world have decided to embrace it as
the be-all, end-all documentation solution. If you have an index,
you get keywords for free, because they're right there in the top-level
index entries. If you just have keywords, you're hosed.
Not only that, but most Windows applications have a very short keyword
list. Annoying. Unprofessional.
>Also, it's often a bad idea to put lengthy procedures in online help anyway,
>for the reasons Robert cites below.
Actually, I've had the best luck with extremely lengthy on-line procedures.
Specifically, Interleaf's several-hundred-page manual set works great
as an on-line document. The table of contents and the index are both
fully hyperlinked, and the main body of the document
has all of its many cross-references hyperlinked as well.
I found this extremely easy to use, since normal library skills (such
as looking up things in the index) were preserved, and content was not
hidden, but still existed in an ordinary page/chapter/section format.
Additionally, you could print out the whole manual (or a subset) with
a single operation -- something that is typically verboten with WinHelp.
Given that my best experiences with on-line help have been with manuals
that have not been restructured AT ALL, I'm wondering what's so all-fired
wonderful about restructuring manuals for on-line use? It can't be to
make them smaller, since space on a CD-ROM is free. It can't be to make
them easier to use, since, in my experience, it makes them harder to use.
Is it simply that people are spending so much time working with a
third-rate product like WinHelp, that they've taken their eye off the
ball?
(Incidentally, you can convert Interleaf documents to hypertext documents
by running them through Interleaf's WorldView filter. Shazam! Or, you
can turn them into HTML documents by passing them through the Cyberleaf
filter. TOC, index, cross-references automatically turn into hyperlinks.
Just push the button. Well, almost. Of course, they aren't compatible
with WinHelp.)
Has anyone seen Windows 95 help? The people at Microsoft are slow
learners, but I'm wondering if they're started to figure out some of
the basics.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon * Writer * robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (408) 321-8771
4271 North First Street, #106 * San Jose * California * 95134-1215
"Life is like an analogy."
