The state of Help today - Part 8
By Justin Darley. Contact us if you would like a PDF version of this article.
So which format is right for you?
I hope the above is a useful synopsis of some of the major developments in Help over the last few years. As you can see, quite a few different formats have come into being over the last decade or so. It is both interesting and problematic that most of the Help formats above are still very much with us. I will admit that I haven't seen a WinHelp 3.1 system written after 1997, but Help files are still being written using WinHelp 4 (I last taught a course on doing so in March of this year). One reason for this tenacity is that software developers can be unwilling to alter the context- sensitive calls in their application to interface with a different online Help format.
This persistence of Help formats combined with the lack of a single standard format for Web-based Help leaves us to choose between 10 or more formats in which we could present our online Help. So how do you choose?
It would take a whole article to list all of the pros and cons of each of these different versions of Help, but there are some fairly simple pointers, which should get you looking in the right places:
1. I would be loathe to suggest that anyone starting a Help system from scratch used WinHelp. Aside from several improvements in functionality provided by most other Help formats, to start writing in WinHelp now is an investment in an outdated technology. The technical skills gained are not as transferrable as the Web-based skills behind other Help formats, some Help authoring tools have already (tacitly or openly) moved away from supporting WinHelp and it is becoming difficult to find information to help with any problems you may have. To my mind these considerations are at least as important as the differences in capabilities between the systems.
Having said that - WinHelp is a good Help format, particularly when implemented as WinHelp 2000 using the eHelp modifications. If you currently have a WinHelp system and:
- Your developers are not willing to change the context-sensitive calls, or
- You lack the time or resources to undertake a conversion to a new format
then sticking with WinHelp is far from the end of the world.
2. There are 2 or 3 factors dictating the choice between Microsoft HTML Help or a cross-browser, cross-platform solution. If:
- Your users may not be using Windows
- You need to provide the Help over the Web
then compiled Microsoft HTML Help is, essentially, not an option. You will need to consider one of the several cross-browser, cross- platform solutions. If these two points are not an issue for you, then you are at liberty to use Microsoft HTML Help. You may well find that doing so will limit some possible complications.
However, even if you are providing locally installed Help to Windows users, you may still want to look into a Web-based solution. You may find them more flexible, at least in terms of look and feel.
3. If you have decided on a Web-based solution, the difficult decision is: which one! Listed below are some of the points you need to consider:
- Which Help authoring tool do you want to use? As many of the Web-based solutions are tool-specific this is a fundamental decision.
- Do your users have any technology or security restrictions? Some organisations restrict the use of JavaScript and Java. These technologies are often used to implement navigation in Web-based systems. If your users, for example, cannot download Java applets (usually for reasons of security), you need to be sure to pick a solution that doesn't rely on Java.
- Which browser do your users use? 'Cross-browser' doesn't necessarily mean 'works on all browsers'. More often, it means that certain named bowsers are supported. You need to ensure that your users' browser is on the list.
- Unless your application is coded in Java, I would advise against either of the two Java-based options: they are more limited in functionality than some of the alternatives, and visually less attractive.
- The State of Help today Part 7 < > The State of Help today Part 9