Re: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link)
> > The quality of your documentation? Or the quality of your
> > implementation? There's a big difference between the two, and there
> > isn't a glaring gap in quality of implementation between HLP and CHM.
>
> The gap in quality of implementation between HLP and CHM is that HLP allows
> me to easily create popup windows that can contain formatted text with
> embedded links and it also allows me to create topic windows that have
> non-scrolling regions that I believe are a benefit to the user.
So you're looking for transition of old functionality and not
investigating new design considerations?
Absolutely... they took away functionality that I consider to be very useful to the user and as far as I can tell, didn't implement any "new design considerations" that added any value for the user.
> > They'll use Vista Help. ;-)
>
> Well, I'm certainly not going to embrace this mythical format until I've had
> a chance to actually see it.
Hmmm. Well, it's certainly not mythical, because I've seen it many
times over the past 2 years.
And how soon will it be before someone other than Microsoft can create it???
> > Provided it's legal to do so. We haven't seen the legalese behind the
> > WinHelp viewer download yet.
>
> I'd venture a guess that when Vista is released there'll be a great hue and
> cry about the need for the WinHelp engine.
I believe that was the whole point of announcing waning support of
WinHelp in advance. Sometimes you have to give the heads-up and leave
it to the 3rd party folks to deal with the mess of not complying.
Otherwise you're spending too much energy in maintenance and not
enough on moving forward.
> formatted popups with embedded links and non-scrolling regions
I won't deny you that this functionality is hard to implement or is
not possible to implement in other help formats, but have you explored
other design considerations?
What exactly are these "other design considerations" you keep talking about and how do they add value for the user?? So far the only "other design considerations" I've encountered are the loss of functionality inherent in the earlier product and an inability to run due to security flaws <grin>. What exactly do these other formats give me that provides a superior user experience to a well-developed WinHelp approach??
> > I'm not sure Ralph Walden would entirely agree with you there.
>
> Can you suggest any other reason Microsoft might have had for HTML Help? I
> can't imagine you or anyone else would seriously suggest that it's superior
> in any way to WinHelp.
Something new (at the time) to embrace the emergence of HTML in a
business environment? Just a hunch.
And again, my guess is that Microsoft's embrace of the emergence of HTML in a business environment is mostly related to their desire to win the browser war.
> Sure there are other help formats but as of right now, I think the only
> serious contenders are WinHelp, HTML Help and the (currently vaporware)
> Vista Help.
Then I think you're short-changing yourself.
I may be short-changing myself but so far I haven't read anything about a help format that offers any new functionality that justifies leaving the old format... I'd certainly be amenable to reading about it but I try to keep my ear to the ground and so far haven't heard anything that gives me a chubby. Point me to something... I'd love to know about it. Help 2.0 seemed promising but I can't for the life of me figure out why they discarded it. Any ideas??
Bear in mind that I've had my manager spend somewhere around a kilobuck to buy me a RoboHelp license and I'd really rather not p*ss away that investment unless I can see that there'd be good ROI in throwing it away and adopting a new tool.
> The holes are in attempting to present a compelling argument to make a
> switch, not in presenting an argument NOT to switch. If it ain't broke, no
> need to fix it and the only argument anyone seems to be making that WinHelp
> is broke is that Microsoft says it's deprecated... but it may not be as
> deprecated as folks would like it to be.
Compelling argument to switch? WinHelp no longer meets Microsoft
standards. It may not be broke, but it doesn't fit the context of
current and planned future Windows computing standards. This is not me
saying this; it's well-documented by Microsoft.
I've read the same announcement as you and I can't for the life of me figure out how that's possible... I'll take their word for it but it just doesn't make sense to me. Now, I'm not by any stretch of the imagination a security expert, but the only mechanism I can see for them to justify that position would be if there were a security flaw in WinHelp and I'm not aware of any exploits out there in the wild that take advantage of a security flaw in WinHelp. Seems kinda like one of those "we're going to do this and we've gotta come up with an excuse for it... give 'em the old generic 'doesn't meet standards' pablum" deals to me.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
--
Bill Swallow
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
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I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link): From: Mike Starr
Re: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link): From: Bill Swallow
Re: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link): From: Mike Starr
Re: I'm sticking with WinHelp (was Re: WinHelp on Vista - a useful link): From: Bill Swallow
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