Online Help, Online Documentation

[Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG>]

Hello Bill,


* Antwort auf eine Nachricht von bsullivan -at- SMTPLINK -dot- DELTECPOWER -dot- COM an All am 1

bb> we want to improve our online help
bb> and documentation beyond what we have been doing. In the past,
bb> our
bb> help has been cross-platform -- Windows, OS/2, Unix, Macintosh
bb> text, hotspots, no graphics, an index, nothing really fancy.

bb> Should we stick with WinHelp modified for OS/2, Unix and
bb> Macintosh?

Winhelp in its present form is a dead end. Microsoft will change to HTML. See
 their Web site. Winhelp is especially problematic in a cross-platform
 environment because the Winhelp format is propriary.

bb> Should we go to HTML or Java-based help?

This sounds quite interesting, especially for your cross-platform activities.

bb> What
bb> about talking help?  Video?  Wizards, coaches, tutorials?

You could include much of that into HTML - at least with some Java help. Get a
 PC Magazine CD-ROM to see how they do it.

bb> In the area of online documentation, the way to go the last
bb> time we looked was .pdf. Is this still true?

That depends :-)

If you wish to keep control over the appearence of your pages PDF offeres much
 more than HTML.


Greetings from Germany,
Alexander

--
Alexander von Obert, Urbanstr. 2, 90480 Nuernberg, Germany
Free-lance Technical Writer (electronics, software)
Voice +49-911-403903, Fax +49-911-403904, BBS +49-911-403905 (FIDO 2:2490/1719)

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