Help Authoring Tools Summary (LONG - Part 3)

["Marilyn Baldwin (mlbb -at- capgroup -dot- com)" <Marilyn_Baldwin -at- CAPGROUP -dot- COM>]

   ForeHelp has been terrific. Our company has been on it for almost two
   years. We evaluated many tools, narrowing down to Robohelp, ForeHelp,
   and HelpBreeze. It was pretty much consensus that ForeHelp was the best,
   fastest, easiest, and with the smallest learning curve. I've done the
   internal support, designed the internal templates. It does everything
   we've wanted.
                    - Doug Brook

   ForeHelp is a fantastic tool. Has been helping us produce superb help
   for a variety of clients over the past four years. Easy to use, well
   thought out.  Biggest drawbacks so far?  1) It keeps its topics in pure
   alphabetic order.  To get around this so that we can keep related topics
   together, we add a prefix to each topic name (e.g., Dialog:, Field:,
   Definition:)  2) RTF generated by the program could not be digested by
   RoboHelp in one instance.  (We were using ForeHelp; the client wanted to
   maintain the finished file in
   RoboHelp.)  I don't remember what the work-around was.
                    - Ann Fothergill-Brown

   I use Forehelp and love it.  You rarely see people writing about
   problems with it.  My theory is they don't have problems.  I develop
   help for Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and both for transfer to Unix to be
   compiled in Hyperhelp.  I also output an HTML version.  Forehelp handles
   all without difficulty.
                    - Jill Burgchardt

   I have used ForeHelp in the past and have found it to be a very user
   friendly tool for creating straightforward help files. I don't run lots
   of dlls or special graphics or anything, so it has worked great for me.
   We began using it because we were not a Word shop. ForeHelp imports rtf
   really well (though I haven't tried Frame's rtf yet - we're in the
   process of moving from Ami Pro to Frame).  You can also cut and paste to
   ForeHelp from existing docs if you want to share info that way. It uses
   a database for containing information and provides point and click tools
   for just about everything you want to do. I believe you can still
   download a demo version (fully featured, but limited number of topics)
   from http://www.ff.com.
                    - Mike Hiatt

   Although you haven't mentioned it, we use HDK.  I have found this to
   very easy to use & the supprt department is very helpful on the few
   occassions I've needed them.
                    - Suzanne Kuilder

   You might want to have a quick look at Virtual Media's HDK (Hypertext
   Development Kit). I've been using it for nearly 4 years now without too
   many problems (well it is software!).  Generally more orientated towards
   writers while ones like Robohelp seem to be more programmer orientated.
                    - Damien Branif

   If you haven't already, check into HelpBreeze from SolutionSoft in
   California. It's easy to learn and use, and has some nice features. I
   like it. (They also have HTML conversion software now.) They also have a
   downloadable demo that you might like to try.  No, I don't get any
   commission for this. :)  I just like their product.
                    - Judy Fraser

   I am a new help author: my first online help project was just sent to
   our first alpha customer. So, not too long ago, I went thru' the same
   search as you're doing.
     -- I downloaded every trail/eval version of a HAT that I could.
     -- I got the Zubak/Deacon book (Designing Windows 95 Help) and read
     the chapter on choosing a tool.
     -- I found every resource on the web that I could (there's an
     incredible amount!) and spent lots of time reading.
   My results...
     HAT's divide into 2 basic types: a MS Word add-on or a standalone (no
     Word involved). Since I'm a long-time Word user (10 years), I went the
     add-on route. I selected HelpBreeze, from Solutionsoft, for this
     reason: they provided a trial version and RoboHelp did not. (The
     RoboHelp policy is a money back guarantee. That doesn't work in a
     corporate environment, where making purchases requires justification,
     paperwork, signatures, and too much of my time!)
   I also chose HelpBreeze since their support of help-to-paper seemed
   better than any one else's, and I thought I might be doing that.
   I am very happy with HelpBreeze-I've had NO problems-but I'll say this:
     (a) I can't say that I've tested it "to the limits" because my help
     project is pretty basic.
     (b) The company appears to be dead, or at least hibernating.
   1. Unlike WexTech and Blue Sky, no one from Solutionsoft monitors this
    list (at least, no one from there ever answers any questions on the
    list).
   2. The web site has had no new information since I started looking at
    their site. They do have a version of HelpBreeze for Word97, which
    works just fine, so that's--what? a year or more old. No other new
    versions, no notice of upcoming new versions, nada.
   3. The web site makes mention of their an HTMLHelp product (an add-on to
    regular HelpBreeze), but it isn't. It just makes HTML files, without
    the integration into MS HTMLHelp (it doesn't make .chm files for
    example). At least, last time I looked at it.
   I can't say anything about their tech support, since I've never needed
   to call. That says something good about the product: it works well.
   I do wish their web site had more support: both BlueSky and WexTech have
   more resources, tips and actual answers. I often surf to those places to
   look for some answers!
   So there you have it! A completely qualified, weak endorsement of
   HelpBreeze!
   Here's another thought: if I could make the decision over, or could
   justify the $$ to switch, I'd move to ForeHelp: this is not a Word
   add-on, but a WYSIWYG HAT. I found near the end of the project that I
   was compiling constantly, so I could run the help and see exactly what
   the user would be seeing. I'd then adjust text, split topics,
   add/subtract graphics, etc, and compile again. For a new help author,
   being able to see what the user would see is a benefit.
   There you have it. I'd better get to work! Hope that helps.
                    - Jessica N. Lange

   RoboHELP 5.5. We've used it for 4 fairly complicated products and I've
   had minimal problems with it. I know there are many out there using it
   who have problems all the time. I just can't say that I'm one of them.
   It's been great. Learning it took about a month. I took a training
   class, but the instructor was not the best, so I've mostly taught
   myself. I highly recommend it.
                    - Dorothy Parnian

   We have been using RoboHelp for about a year.  RoboHelp is a powerful
   tool that is relatively easy to use, but we have experienced extensive
   problems saving RoboHelp files over a network.  We have lost a lot of
   work over this. When we switched from Windows 95 to NT, these problems
   went away for the most part, but then came back when we got the latest
   version of RoboHelp.  I don't know how common this is.  It may be
   something specific to our network setup.  We've called technical support
   multiple times and were never able to get a solution.  Their technical
   support, by the way, leaves a lot to be desired.
                    - Heather Stehney