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| What
software do you use for developing online help? |
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We primarily
use RoboHelp as our development platform. We use PaintShop
Pro for editing help images because the image tools in RoboHelp
are pretty weak.
| What
information do you need? |
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If Tekrite
is not creating the content for you and you just want to convert
an existing document to a help format, all we really need
is the source files in whatever format they are in (MS Word,
Framemaker, PDF, HTML, etc.). We will also need any image
files that are not embedded in the document.
| What
is "context sensitive" help? |
|
Context
sensitive help is a help feature that allows a software user
to access a relevant help topic directly from the application.
Context sensitive help is usually activated by clicking a
Help button located on a dialog box. The help topic that displays
describes the options on that dialog box. For example, when
the Widget dialog box is open in your program and you click
the Help button, a help window opens and displays a topic
describing all the fields on the Widget dialog box. Very user
friendly. Tekrite does not do application programming. The
help buttons must exist on the dialog boxes before we can
tie the help to it. Context sensitive help can also be tied
to the [F1] key.
| Do
we have to do anything to our code to add a help system? |
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It depends.
If you are not using context sensitive help, all you need
is a help call to the main help file whenever the user selects
Contents from the Help menu. If you want to implement context
sensitive help, a unique help ID must be assigned to each
dialog box definition in the source code. If the ID's are
not already there, you will need to generate them; we cannot
do this for you. Alternatively, we could make up ID's and
assign them to the help topics, then send you that list. But
then you have to insert each ID in the appropriate dialog
box' code. From our experience, it is always easier for the
client to put the IDs in the code first.
| What
is meant by "popup" help? |
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Popup help
is a special type of hyperlink. Usually, you click on a hyperlink
and it brings you to a whole new page of content in the help
system. Popup links are different. When you click on a popup
link, a small box of text displays just above the hyperlink,
on top of the current help window. Popups are great when you
want to add an extra bit of information to a topic, such as
the definition of a term, without having to leave the topic
page.
| What
is "What's This?" help? |
|
"What's
This?" help is just another type of context sensitive help.
Programs that have "What's This?" help will have a small help
icon displayed next to the Close icon in the upper right corner
of every window and dialog box. When you click on this icon,
the pointer changes to a question mark, and you can click
on any item in the dialog box to see a pop-up description
of it.
| As
a professional developer, what do you think the best help
format is? |
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All projects
are different and what suits one system won't suit the next.
Basically, we'll advise you of what we consider to be the
best help option for your specific project, but at the end
of the day, the decision is yours. Personally,
I think the best overall format for laying out text and implementing
advanced features is probably WinHelp 2000. HTML help is nice
when you need cross-platform support or you want your information
to be accessed using the web, but it is burdened by the formatting
limitations of HTML. Since WinHelp is based on RTF files,
the text formatting tends to be more robust.
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