Online help vs. CHM help
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
In my project I have used CHM. Its more flexible to use CHM.
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
The biggest problem I have with help for any product is: generally it's cr@p. Online or local, it is generally written by the lowest monkey on the tree, and covers how to use the product from a developers perspective. Nothing is more annoying than (say) trying to find out out to create a transparent background for an image, and being referred to the "layers" control dialog. It doesn't matter which route your client takes: just get him to get a professional technical author to write the help from a user point of view, concentrating on how to do the task, rather than how to use the dialog boxes.
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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In my project I have used CHM. Its more flexible to use CHM.
Please explain how having to distribute new versions to account for errors/typos or changes in the product is more 'flexible'. Please do not misunderstand, I also think that there are advantages to .chm files I just think that you have chosen a bad feature to justify your view.
Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.” I wouldn't let CG touch my Abacus! When you're wrestling a gorilla, you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is.
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The biggest problem I have with help for any product is: generally it's cr@p. Online or local, it is generally written by the lowest monkey on the tree, and covers how to use the product from a developers perspective. Nothing is more annoying than (say) trying to find out out to create a transparent background for an image, and being referred to the "layers" control dialog. It doesn't matter which route your client takes: just get him to get a professional technical author to write the help from a user point of view, concentrating on how to do the task, rather than how to use the dialog boxes.
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
We have a technical author on staff to write our documentation. I am aware enough of my shortcomings as an author to know that the task of writing documentation is best left to a dedicated person. Sadly, I am going to have to recruit a new one because Alison has just resigned to move to a contract that's paying her £1,000 a day to write documents; I'm obviously in the wrong job,
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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We have a technical author on staff to write our documentation. I am aware enough of my shortcomings as an author to know that the task of writing documentation is best left to a dedicated person. Sadly, I am going to have to recruit a new one because Alison has just resigned to move to a contract that's paying her £1,000 a day to write documents; I'm obviously in the wrong job,
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
So am I! :omg:
Real men don't use instructions. They are only the manufacturers opinion on how to put the thing together. Manfred R. Bihy: "Looks as if OP is learning resistant."
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
Storing Information online is more convenient and easily updatable. Users can be shown tutorials, offers, new products on web. Moreover, It is at ease of click with no downloading, which is usually blocked in most corporate networks. So, Choice of Web as Help Page is better. :)
// ♫ 99 little bugs in the code, // 99 bugs in the code // We fix a bug, compile it again // 101 little bugs in the code ♫
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
If your product can only be used online then online help is the way to go, it will give you better maintainability and you can avoid individual deployment issues. You need to make sure all users are on a acceptable bandwidth to use the online help. If your product can be used in offline mode then I would say follow the MSDN way where a user can opt for offline help. In any case using a pre-compiled CHM or HTML help will be my last option.
WJFK (Write Just for Kicks)
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
I prefer to use a CHM or HLP file personally. I've too many experiences with trying to use software in which the help option links to some website whose link is broken. Also you never know whether the pages on there represent the version of the software you are using and might have reasons to not want to run the latest version. I think there are issues with CHMs in later versions of Windows though, I seem to remember MS blocking them at some point and some workaround you have to do to allow them again.
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
I would provide both: - an initial chm file - online help, which you can compile to a chm file that you provide as a download from the web site, so that the sync between latest chm version and online version is guaranteed. A lot of people still like to work offline, and some search functionalities are still easier to use and quicker offline
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We have a technical author on staff to write our documentation. I am aware enough of my shortcomings as an author to know that the task of writing documentation is best left to a dedicated person. Sadly, I am going to have to recruit a new one because Alison has just resigned to move to a contract that's paying her £1,000 a day to write documents; I'm obviously in the wrong job,
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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In my project I have used CHM. Its more flexible to use CHM.
Prasanta_Prince wrote:
In my project I have used CHM. Its more flexible to use CHM.
What do you mean? What can you do with CHM that you can't do with online help?
Best wishes, Hans
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
Then go for the best option: CHM files available to be downloaded in the web site just to be sure that the information will be available in the computer it will be needed only by installing it... some times there is not an internet connection there... AND Online help system. To get access to the newest and more accurate information. :thumbsup:
[www.tamelectromecanica.com] Robots, CNC and PLC machines for grinding and polishing.
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Prasanta_Prince wrote:
In my project I have used CHM. Its more flexible to use CHM.
What do you mean? What can you do with CHM that you can't do with online help?
Best wishes, Hans
Personally I find them easier to search, and there's a standard way of doing table of contents and things. The "What's This?" is also a nice feature though I don't think MS supports it anymore (I haven't seen it on any applications for years anyway).
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We have a technical author on staff to write our documentation. I am aware enough of my shortcomings as an author to know that the task of writing documentation is best left to a dedicated person. Sadly, I am going to have to recruit a new one because Alison has just resigned to move to a contract that's paying her £1,000 a day to write documents; I'm obviously in the wrong job,
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
You have the lovely Miss P or is this another Alison?
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. or "Drink. Get drunk. Fall over." - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often *students*, for heaven's sake. -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
Honestly, I consider good ol' HLP files superior to all subsequent help formats. As years passed, I embraced many technologies, but CHM help files and Visual Studio Help VIewer weren't among them. (Microsoft's documentation, i.e., the content, is not that bad itself, but it used to be better as well.) Why make things more complicated than they need to be? Hosting the documentation online is an interesting possibility, but that depends on whether it best fits the needs of his clients.
Eduardo León
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You have the lovely Miss P or is this another Alison?
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done. or "Drink. Get drunk. Fall over." - P O'H OK, I will win to day or my name isn't Ethel Crudacre! - DD Ethel Crudacre Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often *students*, for heaven's sake. -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
This is another Alison.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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Pete O'Hanlon wrote:
£1,000 a d
Is this for Inside Bespoke Software, or a desktop app for the masses?
Software Kinetics - The home of good software
Inside bespoke.
Forgive your enemies - it messes with their heads
My blog | My articles | MoXAML PowerToys | Mole 2010 - debugging made easier - my favourite utility
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
As already noted, quality is the key, not format. A well-written manual on clay tablets will beat the majority of online help out there. The content focus of online help has shifted in the last decade: Users expect to explore your solftware, and will look for the manual only when they are stuck, more interested in "How to solve X" types rather than understanding your software.
IMO the main downside of CHM is that browser navigation is constantly improving, and users adopt well, whereas the CHM viewer is stuck in the '90. The most significant difference is probably in full text search. Updating Help online is a two-edged sword, as you should preserve existing URL's and content for previous versions. That's no problem only for some software. CHM also offers additional features such as QuickHelp, which may come handy if you want to localize documentation. Still, I prefer a local help as long as it works (i.e. unlike MSDN). Even with a good connection, latency is slightly higher.
FILETIME to time_t
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My client asked me for a recommendation about whether his new product should use online help (hosted on his web site), or a traditional CHM help file. Obviously online help can be updated more easily, with no downloads involved. And sometimes CHM help files have to be "unblocked" before they can be viewed. Aside from these things, does anyone have any experience with online help for a product? Any problems with it?
Best wishes, Hans
If this is a desktop app, what if the user doesn't have an internet connection? No connection, no help. Believe it or not, this is the usual case in my environment. Given that both use HTML as a source, it shouldn't be that hard to make both available.
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