The state of Help today - Part 1
By Justin Darley. Contact us if you would like a PDF version of this article.
The state of Windows Help today
In common with most areas of computing, online Help technology does not stand still.
This article aims to take stock of the current situation, to look at how we got here and to glance tentatively in to the future. Help formats tend to be long-lived, consequently as new formats are developed the number of formats to choose between gets ever larger. The last section of this article provides some pointers for Help authors attempting to choose the right format for their documentation.
History of Help formats
Before we start to look at Help as it currently stands, and at where it may go from here, it makes sense to take a brief look at the history of Help and of the Help formats that have been and gone (or more accurately often not gone) over the last decade or so.
It will, I'm sure, come as no surprise to read that Microsoft® has been, until recently, far and away the most influential body in designing and implementing Help formats. However, as Cheri Lockett Zubak pointed out in her Microsoft Help Update session at the 2003 WinWriters Online Help Conference, Microsoft does not develop Help technologies for the Help community at large (Martin 2003). This is well worth bearing in mind when considering Microsoft's Help strategy and the formats that result from it. We will return to this point later. This trend has changed somewhat with the advent of the Web and it's fair to say that in this arena at least Microsoft is no longer setting the pace.
The following sections are not exhaustive. Help did exist (I'm reliably informed) before Microsoft threw its hat into the ring. Earlier products from Microsoft and products from other vendors did include some form of Help. However the following are all Help formats:
- That I have some knowledge or experience of
- That most Windows® users will have seen or heard of.
Next: The State of Help today Part 2
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