Re: Is RoboHelp dead?

["Char James-Tanny" <charjtf -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Hi, Rob :-)

> I'm taking a User Manuals class as a part of my PhD program and
> someone mentioned the other day that RoboHelp was "dead," I think
> implying that it's either no longer the best tool to create help or
> that the product is no longer being updated.

RoboHelp is NOT dead. Adobe released version 6 earlier this year and
version 7 is now in beta.

> With that in mind, I ask:
>
> Is RoboHelp still the de-facto standard in creating Help files for
> both Web and Print? What's today's "tool of choice"?

Today's "tool of choice" is the one that best meets your needs.

> I hear a lot of rumblings in the academy about open-source tools
> supplanting commercial alternatives and wonder whether this is true in
> practice.

I don't think I've heard of any open source HATs. But right now, there
are more HATs to choose from than ever before...see
http://www.mshelpwiki.com/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=AvailableTools for
an almost-complete list.

And see http://hat-matrix.com to compare HATs by feature. (Disclaimer:
I designed the HAT Matrix and am responsible to trying to keep it
up-to-date.)

Char James-Tanny ~ JTF Associates, Inc. ~ http://www.helpstuff.com
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