RE: Help vision?

["Katherine Hinchey" <khinchey -at- houston -dot- rr -dot- com>]

I've been increasingly interested in Longhorn ... and less interested in
HTML, as a result. The language behind Longhorn help is MAML -- which is
XML-based.

I think that within the next few years, there will be more changes to
user assistance than we have seen in a long time. I think that tech
writers will:
- use XML to provide content and single-source documentation
- play an important role in developing a good interface, as our role
changes from "tech writing" to "user assistance"
- adopt structured writing, for the new form that help is taking, and
also to meet increasing translation needs

Currently, I'm brushing up my XML skills. 

Andy, what do you think is the future of help? Have you seen the
write-ups on the Microsoft site
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/htmlhe
lp/html/hwmscIntroducingWindowsLonghornHelp.asp) and the WritersUA site
(http://www.winwriters.com/articles/longhorn/index.html)? Did you notice
that WinWriters changed their name to WritersUA?  :)

Katherine

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-212409 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-212409 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Geoff
Hart
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:43 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Help vision?


Andy McAleer wondered: <<Are technical writers actively researching the
impact of Microsoft's 
vision for help, as documented for the next release of their operating 
system, codenamed Longhorn?>>

Geoff replied: The smart ones are. (I don't do much online help these
days, so I'm not 
smart. <g>) Personally, I think it's long past time we did away with 
proprietary compiled help formats and stuck with W3C-standard HTML. 
This provides maximum utility, maximum longevity, and minimum 
dependence on proprietary authoring tools or proprietary operating 
system quirks that change from year to year.





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