Re: Online doc tools -- evaluation copies available?

[Bruce WHITE <WHITE -at- MSN -dot- COM>]

Steve, Steve Osvold <shewi -at- EARTHLINK -dot- NET> wrote
>>I'm posting this for a friend; please reply to her at
>>shauglan -at- gps -dot- com or to the list. Thanks!

>>The technical writing department I'm in uses only the Windows help
>>compiler and a variety of Word for Windows macros to create online
>>help.

Does the company tell its salesmen to use the bus! :)
Perhaps for writing it is OK, but for editing others writing into WinHelp it
really pays to be able to do document conversion, global for a word to link,
have automatic search keys, fix table borders, indents, bullets and special
characters. [There are many more things that a *good* HAT does. The good ones
are Doc-2-Help, RoboHelp, ForeHelp and for some things Help Writer's
Assistant]

>>I'd like to take a look at and get some experience with other
>>tools, such as RoboHelp; does anyone have suggestions for how to do
>>that without purchasing the whole package myself?

Try this.
Most HATs (Help Authoring Tools) have Web sites that you can visit. Some have
downloads for demos.
The HAT I have been using for the last two years, HDK, has a Web site at:
http://www.virtualmedia.com.au
BTW, I settled on HDK after a person that I respected had compared all the
various HATs. Since then various reviews, including Windows Magazine, have
confirmed this view.

A quaint aspect of HDK is that the documentation is sometimes poorly laid out,
faulty, wrong or missing important bits. (They are talented programmers but
their audience is critical.)

.....Bruce.....
WinHelp IT Editing
white -at- msn -dot- com
Go WHITEbook on MSN

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