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George asked for an alternative method for creating HTML Help rather than
using RoboHelp.
My coworker and I went to an excellent presentation Scott Boggan did last
year in Boston (and he's repeated more recently) on using HomeSite to author
HTML Help. It can be done, and if I were creating HTML Help from scratch,
I'd either use HomeSite alone, or use it in conjunction with ForeHelp.
HomeSite is a great tool; Scott's presentation is great too. Well worth the
price (maybe around $200--but don't quote me on that--plus airfare, etc., of
course). Personally, I think that ForeHelp is a better tool (and ForeFront
provides better support) than RoboHelp/eHelp, if you definitely want/need a
HAT.
Currently, we use Frame and WebWorks Publisher to output WinHelp, and have
just switched to outputting HTML Help. I recommend this solution, too, IF
you are creating content in Frame for other purposes (print/PDF/what have
you), though it is a bit time-consuming and expensive to implement.
My two cents! Good luck, George. And if you'd like to know more about
Scott's class, just e-mail me off-list, and I'd be glad to tell you more
about it. To check for his next class, you might try WinWriters
(www.winwriters.com) to see if he'll be doing it as a pre- or
post-conference session at one of their upcoming conferences.
Lydia
__________________
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com
