Learning RoboHELP (Summary-Long)

[Debra Pesach-Kibbutz Hannaton <hannaton -at- ACTCOM -dot- CO -dot- IL>]

[Cross-posted to Techwr-l and Tech-Shoret]

As promised, here is the (very abbreviated and very edited) summary of
the replies about getting started with RoboHELP. Thanks to all
the people who wrote and helped.

--Debbie

This summary includes the following sections:
References
Context sensitivity
Ideas for projects
Tips

REFERENCES (books and links):
Cheryl Locket Zubak, "A 'Real World' Look at Windows Help
Authoring Tools" (self-published through Work Write-
www.workwrite.com)

Mary Deaton and Cheryl Locket Zubak, "Designing Windows 95
Help: A Guide to Creating Online Documents," QUE, 1996
ISBN 0-7897-0362-9

William Horton, "Designing and Writing Online Documentation"
sensible stuff and easy to read.

John Renish's book list (available on the Tech-Whirl home page)
-it lists books, URLs etc in alphabetical order - quite a few on Help.

Microsoft's Windows 95 Help Authoring Kit

Farkas/Boggan?Welinske "Developing Online Help for Windows 95"
(which the Deaton/Zuback book recommends as an intro).

For HTML, "The Official Microsoft HTML Help Authoring Kit"

Listserv for RoboHELP. Http://www.blue-sky.com/TechSupp/discuss.htm
(This might be only for RoboHELP owners, but you can always try--also
anyone has access to the archives).

2 new books by a guy named Kevin Siegel, RoboHelp 6.0, and RoboHTML.

IDEAS FOR TRIAL PROJECTS:
Produce online doc as opposed to Help (doc as a help file with
jumps between sections etc. Use your resume.)

Online tutorial - done it for hardware/software (using screenshots,
photos etc). Not as good as using proper tutorial software but it works.

Online index to your books, record collection, any hobby that
interests you, etc.

Putting charts of information online--a challenge in Help systems
because the window is usually fairly small and only takes up part
of the screen. Use complicated recipes that consist of three or
four smaller recipes. You would have to break everything down into
small topics, you would have to write procedures, and you couldn't
put everything into one topic. You could have a general overview and
then link to different recipes, which would also have links. The
possibilities are endless. If cooking or baking doesn't interest
you, try something that has to do with sports, music, art, or
whatever subject you really enjoy. If you use a topic that is of
great interest to you, you will be more enthusiastic and end up
with a better product.

CONTEXT SENSITIVITY:
There's an app called What's This Help Composer (I think you can
also download a trial version of it from the BlueSky website).

Using WTHC, you can take ANY .exe file on your system (that is,
any Windows 32--bit application), and it will build a context-
sensitive help file for that application. It looks at every field
and button in each dialog box and generates dummy descriptions for
each one along with a context-ID number. (Suggestion: pick a
relatively small app to begin with! I initially tried it out
on WordPad.) The version I have also has a sample with a tutorial.

You can then create the language for the c-s help on each field and
button, compile the help using WTHC, and run the application (the
.exe file) with the embedded c-s help. It's actually quite neat. The
c-s help file can be a separate file, or it can be incorporated into
a more comprehensive full-help project.

[Caveat: While the process of writing What's This help for someone
else's program is easy, it is not so easy to display the topics.
The application calling the What's This help must make a call to
RoboHelp's csh.dll in order for the help What's This help to display.
So, while you may get experience using the RoboHelp tool without
programmer intervention, you won't get to see your topics in action
until you have a program that makes the call to the dll].

[Next caveat: It was not possible to create context sensitive help
fields in a Visual Basic application using RoboHelp's "What's This
Help Composer." It could not display all of the forms. Very disappointing,
it looked like it would save (the programmer actually) some time. I got the
impression from tech support that I works well in other languages, just not VB].

TIPS:
Stick to one basic font for heads and text.  Studies have shown a
sans-serif (Arial or Helvetica, if you want a recommendation) are
optimal for screen presentation.

Experiment a little, but 10 or 11 pt body text works well.

Keep colors to a minimum.  In other words, don't use colored text
for emphasis.  And keep in mind the proportions of color-blindness
among the general population.

Use 2nd person, active voice.

Keep paragraphs short; I try for a max of three sentences.

Provide navigation jumps between main topics.  In other words, help
your user nav back to spawning screens by providing a jump.

Use lower-case words for the index--it looks lots better online. Only
use initial-caps for product or company names.

*********************************
Debra Panitz-Pesach
KIBBUTZ HANNATON
D.N. Hamovil  17960   ISRAEL

E-mail:  hannaton -at- actcom -dot- co -dot- il
Fax:     (972) (4) 986-4771
Tel:     (972) (4) 986-4985
*********************************


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