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It will definitely be interesting to see what other approaches are being
implemented. I'm currently using Robohelp HTML 2000 to implement an
uncompiled web help project, since CHM files call a download dialog. Makes
version control in a pain in the neck (because Robohelp replaces every html
file in the webhelp directory every time you compile), but is the only way
to avoid the download dialog appearing everytime the help button is clicked.
Blue Sky doesn't seem to get the idea of creating easy-to-use help files for
applications stored on a server, and called into a browser--we can't be
loading the extra DLLs for over 2,000 workstations--that was the whole point
of going to browser-based applications.
The number of topics per page of the app depends on the complexity of the
function being documented, most require 2 to 3, and none are
context-sensitive. The help pages do not contain the browser toolbars, as
our QA staff and beta users found it confusing to be looking at the same
toolbar in the application as appeared in the help file. We do give them
back/next buttons inside the content frame, where browse sequences have been
completed. This help, like a windows-based help system, contains as thorough
an index as I can produce, and a table of contents.
We'll be exploring page-level (replacing "window-level") context-sensitive
for our next release, but not in the current release, as it requires
numerous calls to be written by our developers who are as short on time as I
am. We will also be exploring some field-level assistance, a la Turbo Tax
for the Web, where formatting instructions pop up when the cursor arrives on
the field "type MM/DD/YYYY" for instance)but again not until the next
release.
Has anyone been able to implement more advanced user help within the browser
interface? If so, I'd love to get some general information on how you did
it.
"Try not to have a good time...this is supposed to be educational. " -
Charles Schulz
-----Original Message-----
From: Lois Patterson [mailto:lois -at- dowco -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2000 1:42 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Help for Web-based applications - ideas?
From what I can see, traditional context-sensitive Winhelp-type solutions do
not seem very practical on the Web (and they would be quite difficult to
implement). I have yet to see any Web applications that involve field-level
help.
[snip]
However, a lot of what one might call web applications have no such help.
Amazon, for example, has a Help icon at the upper right, which leads to the
same list of helpful links no matter where you are in the site. Many web
sites have little or no online help. Clearly, the situation should be
different for a commercial software product which just happens to have a web
interface, but how?
I'd be curious to hear what other writers are doing for web-based software
products.
