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Subject:Integrated DTP and WinHelp generation? From:James Owens <ad354 -at- FREENET -dot- CARLETON -dot- CA> Date:Mon, 16 Dec 1996 14:24:20 GMT
Having finally gotten my feet wet in online help, I foresee that the extra
work, when added to my usual duties, is likely to swamp me. Please give me
the benefit of your advice.
At the moment I am maintaining two parallel documents, one in Ventura
DOS/GEM and the other in RTFGEN. It was easy enough to create one from
the other -- a few well-planned search-and-replace operations and some
polishing are all that is needed -- but the bother of _editing_ everything
twice is beginning to tell on me.
I have heard that it is possible to generate and maintain help files as a
subset of printed manuals, using tools that incorporate a kind of "include
file" technology (and presumably universal cross-referencing.) Is this
accurate?
Assuming that things can be done this way, does it make for good online
help? My concern is that the online medium differs so much from paper
that it seems to call for at least partly independent design. Can these
tools make allowance for the different approaches required by different
media?
--
James Owens ad354 -at- Freenet -dot- carleton -dot- ca
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
