Re: Help Authoring Software

[Jane Bergen <janeber -at- CYBERRAMP -dot- NET>]

At 12:52 PM 11/21/97 -0700, Adele Higgins wrote:
>Our company is currently using Help Magician Pro by a software company
>called Software Interphase.  We are finding it has some shortcomings.  Our
>environment is Windows 3.1 and 95.  We tried Forehelp before Help Magician
>and weren't completely happy with them either.  Does anyone have any
>suggestions for good help authoring software, with a solid company and
>customer support department?

Adele, it might be helpful to everyone if you would list what you mean by
"shortcomings" and tell us what you are looking for so that we could make
better suggestions. For example, are you willing to use an authoring tool
based on Microsoft Word (such as RoboHelp or Doc-to-Help)? Or do you need
something that is self-contained (such as the ForeHelp you mentioned)? Are
you planning to single-source your help files and printed documentation?
What kind of helpfiles are you building: context-sensitive? heavy on
graphics? single or multiple help file system? Do you plan to have only one
person writing or is this a multiple-writer project? Would calling a tech
support number be out-of-the-country for you (and expensive..I don't know
where you are)?

Perhaps you need to define your objectives (or perhaps you already have),
then look at the sales literature (including web sites) of the various
vendors. Some web sites offer evaluation copy downloading. Most of the
people on this list have their favorites, but those favorites are not
one-size-fits-all.

Hope this gives you something to work with,

Jane Bergen

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Jane Bergen, Technical Writer
AnswerSoft, Inc.    Richardson, TX
(972) 997-8355
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com (work)
janeber -at- cyberramp -dot- net (home)
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