Seeking opinions about windows online help utilities

[Ilana Levenson <tmc!ilana -at- UUNET -dot- UU -dot- NET>]

I am beginning the task of creating online help for windows
applications.  I  have read the various windows documentation about
how to manually create help files using Word For Windows as the tool,
so I know how to code my files to have all the standard Windows Help
features.

I bought a book (Developing Online Help for Windows) which came with
a template for use with Word For Windows. This template has many
useful macros which easily allow me to code my help file.  (As I
understand it, the template I have has _most_ of the capabilities
which are available through the Windows Help Authoring Utility.)

Now that I have learned how to do this, and I have a template which
eases the tedious help file coding process, I am STILL wondering
about the capabilities of the Windows Online Help utilities which are
available.


For example:

RoboHelp
Doc-To-Help
others??

What kind of experiences have other people had with these utilities?

Are they useful?

Do they save time?

Do they create good help files? (I'm always wary of automation in
relation to documentation.)

I am also intersted in any other comments people have about starting
the task of writing Windows Help files.

Thanks very much in advance!!

-ilana

ilana -at- monitor -dot- com