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Last week, I reported that I'll soon begin migrating a few help
projects that already exist in WinHelp form (created in RoboHelp 9.x)
into HTML Help. One important criterion is that we want to work as much
as possible in Word because that's my client's word processor of choice
and because Word lets us handle review and revision quite elegantly
using revision tracking. I asked for opinions and advice, and promised
to summarize. Here's what I found:
The RoboHelp docs claim that it's easy to import an existing WinHelp
project (created and maintained in Word plus RoboHelp) into RoboHTML,
minus whatever features (e.g., nonscrolling regions) aren't supported
in HTML Help. This does indeed work, but is likely to require
significant amounts of cleanup in RoboHTML; the amount of additional
work is likely be manageable given the relatively small scope of my
project, but would become prohibitively time-consuming for larger
projects.
WebWorks Publisher for Word is probably the ideal solution because it
maintains all source material in Word, thereby facilitating review and
revision. That may not be an option, though, both because of the cost
and because we already own a RoboHelp/HTML license. Moreover, it's
apparently a bit slow on older hardware because of the way it updates
the project by scanning external material for changes. Again, probably
not a big deal for small projects such as the one I'll be creating.
Thanks to all who provided advice and suggestions. (If I didn't thank
you personally, it means that your message never arrived. Try again at
my alternate e-mail address (see below).
--Geoff Hart ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)
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Call 1-800-358-9370 or visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
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