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Subject:Testing of Online Help Links From:"hope.d.cascio" <hope -dot- d -dot- cascio -at- ARTHURANDERSEN -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 11 Feb 1998 08:35:37 -0600
Our testing is spread out among the developers, the technical writers, and the
testers. Believe it or not, I test context-sensitive Help links by opening
dialogs and menus and pressing F1! I use the Bughunter utility that comes with
WinHelp Office, and if I can fix the problem by changing a map number or string
name, I do. Before we get that far, I also respond to errors that come up in
compilation, and use the Microsoft Help Workshop testing utilities. Because we
use an Alink macro for our related topic links, rather than "green jumps,"
these have to be tested manually, too. There is a utility in WHO for creating
a report of keywords that is also very handy.
Hope Cascio, Knowledge Transfer Developer
Arthur Andersen Technology Solutions
--Original message--
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 11:48:47 -0700
From: Robyn Faulkner <rfaulkne -at- BTC -dot- ADAPTEC -dot- COM>
Subject: Testing of Online Help Links
I'm interested to hear what processes other companies use to test the
context-sensitive links in online helps systems. The last help I created
(in RoboHELP 4.0) had about 600 links to the application. This was the
largest application and help file developed at our company to date and
thus we do not have any processes in place to test the links. Another
problem is that while everyone agrees the help and the links need to be
tested, no one is taking on this responsibility. The testing groups
don't have the bandwidth to add this piece to their testing pile and
they tell me there is no way to automate this testing. Do others have
similar experiences? How do you handle it?
I've read through all of my online documentation reference material and
cannot find anything about testing.
Ideas and suggestions are encouraged and welcomed.
