Re: HELP SYSTEM FOR BROWSER-BASED APPLICATIONS

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Hmmm..that's just what I'm doing. Unfortunately, it's nothing
I can point you at on the Web, but I'll be happy to describe what
I'm doing. Random quick thoughts follow.

I set up the overall structure of the Help system, including identifying
a page for each screen in the app that will get help.
I provided the developers with the file name (and server-relative
path) that their files should link to, and included some JavaScript to control
the way the new window pops up (no toolbars, etc.). They make
the links from their code, and I cruise from there.

I'm hand-coding everything and using very "pure" HTML, so
it's mostly portable and can be formatted with stylesheets.
(4.0 class browsers are required for the app, so that's no
problem.)

Also, the content will be readily reusable in Java Help or other
systems later.

It won't be keyword searchable, but will be indexed and thoroughly
cross-referenced.

I tend to be a help minimalist--I want quick, fast, to-the-point
help pages, and don't care to monkey with bells and whistles that
don't help convey information quickly and well. When you consider
the inherent lag in Internet-based apps, nothing but the basics
is the only way to go, in my opinion.

To get all of the tooltip, etc., in, you'll have to have serious
support from the developers and be requiring 4.0 browsers.

Yell with questions,
Eric


At 12:08 PM 1/4/99 -0700, Richard Cook wrote:
>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.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray    RayComm, Inc.
http://www.raycomm.com/      ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com

*Award-winning author of several popular computer books
*Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
*Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_


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