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Subject:Re: Web Authoring Tool From:"Atkinson, Phil" <Phil -dot- Atkinson -at- BRAID -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Wed, 17 Feb 1999 14:14:06 -0000
My opinion:
You shouldn't confuse an on-line manual with on-line help. HTML help is
on-line help in HTML format - it isn't an on-line manual. The very term
manual suggests hard-copy material and is by its very definition a different
style and format to on-line help. If you wish to provide your users with a
manual, I would recommend Acrobat or some similar format that provides the
user with a reliable printing facility. If you want to provide your user
with on-line help over the internet, HTML help is an obvious (but not the
only) choice - the Corel Ventura option sounds interesting but I've never
seen or used it myself.
- Phil
------------------------------------ * ------------------------------------
Phil Atkinson - Documentation Manager - Braid Systems Limited
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brierley, Sean [SMTP:Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 1:35 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: Re: Web Authoring Tool
>
> Hallo:
>
> I understand you are looking for a web authoring tool to create manuals
> for
> the web. I know of a couple of ways to do that. One is to make HTML help.
> Tools such as WebWorks Publisher, which works with FrameMaker and
> RoboHelp,
> which works with MS Word, will create the HTML help. I suppose the HTML
> help
> could be called manuals on the web. Another alternative is to use
> FrameMaker's HTML converter, though it is crude and I'd shy away from it,
> if
> I were you. Then, you could create an Adobe Acrobat PDF file from
> FrameMaker. This is my preferred way of creating an on-line book. Finally,
> you could use Corel Ventura to create an on-line HTML book using a Java
> applet called Barista. The user needs to be able to run the applet to use
> the book, but aside from that the Barista HTML seems to work pretty well.
>
> So, do you really need an HTML authoring tool to make a manual for the
> web?
> Well, you can use Notepad, in Windows, to edit HTML that is created by
> FrameMaker, WebWorks Publisher, or RoboHTML. Other than that, I'd expect
> creating HTML help to be the quickest way to get an existing book into the
> HTML format. Certainly, there are several web authoring tools that would
> let
> you create web-site-like books. These would let you create a unique look
> and
> feel to your documentation, versus the typical on-line HTML help. Consider
> MS FrontPage, SoftQuad's HoTMetaL Pro, and Macromedia's Dreamweaver as
> HTML
> authoring tools for the PC. There are many other such tools.
>
> My choice for on-line distribution of manuals is the Adobe Acrobat PDF
> format. If I were to create HTML manuals, I'd probably use the HTML help
> format for uniformity and speed of creation. Only if the manual needed to
> be
> particularly creative, artistic, and unique would I consider a ground-up
> HTML/Javascript approach using an HTML authoring package.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Sean
> sean -at- quodata -dot- com
>
>
