By Opal Gamble
As you probably know, October's general meeting focused on online help: how to create it, the pros and cons of the tools, the evil process of single sourcing, and general tips.
There were lots of questions and theories thrown around, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to write an extended link list for answers to some of the big questions:
In my opinion, knowing the HTML and whatever other markup languages you plan on using to author your online help is vital. Take time to get to know the code, because no WYSIWYG editor is infallible. At some point, you're going to discover a coding mistake that your editor missed - and it's up to you to figure it out.
Carrie suggested www.htmlgoodies.com at the meeting. HTML Goodies has a great set of tutorials if you're learning HTML, or provides a good reference if you just need to check your facts.
If you hate reading online (the irony!), you can order the HTML Goodies series from Amazon or Chapters.
There are lots of tutorials online or in print, so if HTML Goodies isn't your style, you have lots of alternatives. For example:
While you're learning the ropes, check your fledgling code for mistakes with the World Wide Web Consortium's validation service (http://validator.w3.org). When you've got your code all up to spec, feel free to mock certain companies (*cough*eHelp*cough*) that charge you thousands of dollars to produce code that doesn't validate.
One more thing to consider: Cascading Style Sheets. You need to understand how the CSS works, how it affects your project, and how to manipulate it to conform to your company's branding guidelines. Here are a few resources:
There are lots of products out there that will do the job for writing online help. Choosing the right one for your project and team is a problem that requires you to consider:
Answering these questions should help you choose which product is best for you.
This is the name that gets thrown around the most. eHelp, makers of the RoboHelp suite of products, have won industry awards and claim to be the industry standard (although, you'll notice that most product websites make this claim). RoboHelp for HTML integrates with other WYSIWYG HTML editors and produces a variety of online help solutions.
eHelp charges for technical support, but there is a free, user-to-user forum that answers a majority of the problems that you might encounter. (http://ehelp.com/products/robohelp/)
If you're thinking of creating online help by single-sourcing from existing FrameMaker documents, WebWorks (shipped with FrameMaker) or the Save As functionality will help you.
Believe it or not, Adobe's online help is pretty handy when you're trying to figure out the mysteries of single sourcing, but if you need a book, try Adobe's Classroom in a Book series.
As an alternative to buying a product specifically for online help, you could author your online help in FrameMaker and just output to HTML. (http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/main.html)
An economical choice, HelpBreeze allows you to create online help (HTML Help, WinHelp, JavaHelp, or plain HTML) as well as produce print documents.
Created in 1993 by SolutionSoft, HelpBreeze offers a standalone WYSIWYG editor, or integration with Microsoft Word, depending on the solution you prefer. (http://www.solutionsoft.com/hlpbrz.htm)
As of January 10, 2002, ForeFront (creators of ForeHelp) does not exist. They sold ForeHelp and other products to ComponentOne, who appears to be continuing support on the product.
According to the website, ForeHelp's technology is being added into Doc-to-Help.
Doc-to-Help integrates with Microsoft Word to create print documentation, HTML Help, HTML, WinHelp, and JavaHelp. (http://www.forehelp.com/ and http://www.componentone.com/cmd.boa?product=DTH6)
If you're going to write online help the do-it-yourself way (with or without using RoboHelp for added functionality), any html editor will do. Here are a few you might want to consider:
Even Notepad will do the trick. Really, if you're comfortable enough to go this route, you probably have a favorite HTML editor already.
Although "how to I write online help?" doesn't seem like a difficult question, the main problem in defining how to write online help lies in technicalities about your product and your intended audience. A few quick tips from me, since online resources are scarce or unreliable:
For more authoritative advice, try authors such as JoAnne Hackos, Janice Reddish, William Horton, and Claire Harrison.
As a final note, despite obvious interest about online issues in our chapter, the Online SIG is currently without portfolio manager. Last year's Online SIG site (http://online-sig.sio2.ca/) is still available at for conversation and questions. Anyone who is willing to take on the portfolio should contact our Volunteer Coordinator, Lori, for details.