TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:HELP SYSTEM FOR BROWSER-BASED APPLICATIONS From:Richard Cook <Cook-Richard -at- CDSSOFTWARE -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 4 Jan 1999 12:08:50 -0700
Here I am going to design a help system for a set of applications we're
developing. The programs are written in Java and run inside HTML pages on a
web browser like Netscape. I am familiar with third-party products that
enable authors to produce HTML-based help, but I don't think I want to go
that route. What I would prefer is to build as much as possible into the GUI
(which we're doing), have things like pop-up tool tip information on
buttons, and have a Help button on each dialog box as it comes up that jumps
to a new page or starts a second browser session on the relevant Help page.
Anyone who has experience or ideas about this, or has seen a web-site or
other publicly available place that has a good system employing any of these
techniques, please reply.