Re: Documentation Design Suggestions Needed

[voxwoman <voxwoman -at- gmail -dot- com>]

I don't know if roboHelp will let you do this, but could you put conditional
switches inside the help pages that display N-Mod or L--Mod based on the
CSS? In other words, you have different CSS files for N-Mod and L-Mod that
will display the appropriate sections in the HTML. I'm not sure how you
would know to call each particular one, however.

-Wendy

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 3:25 PM, Deborah Hemstreet <
dvora -at- tech-challenged -dot- com> wrote:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> I am working on a project that is somewhat of a brain twister. There is
> legacy documentation and new documentation. All of it exists only in the
> form of Online Help and is distributed this way via the Internet to
> customers. The customers are rather high-level end-users setting up a very
> complex software that is utilized by their end-users.
>
> This documentation is only for the administrator level. Let's call the
> product: Brain Twister, or BT for short.
>
> The product is having a new module added that is going to replace it. Lets
> call it the Legacy Module (L-Mod) and New Module (N-Mod). While N-Mod will
> eventually replace L-Mod for all customers, this is going to be done in
> stages. All new customers will only ever get and see N-Mod.
>
> The problem presented to me: The online Help is available for all admin
> levels of BT. What is the best way to distribute the online HELP given the
> following constraints:
>   1. Very low budget - this needs to be quick and dirty, but as
> professional as possible
>   2. Documentation must be available at ALL times for L-Mod and N-Mod until
> N-Mod is released to ALL customers (probably 1-2 years)
>
> My Development Issues
>
>   1. Tool: RoboHelp v8
>   2. Deliverable: FlashHelp
>   3. Currently everything exists in ONE project; same key words exist for
> both L-Mod and N-Mod.
>
> My Proposal
>   1. Have a full L-Mod help and an additional N-Mod Help accessed
> separately
>
> My Problem:  N-Mod help links to L-Mod help where relevant since the SW is
> basically two integrated packages, and I only found out about the
> distribution problem well into the project.
>
> My Questions:
> Are there are other thoughts for how to do this? Is there an easy way to
> split up the Help and somehow link back to the OTHER Help, back and forth?
> How would YOU handle key words that bring up two different topics with two
> different ways of doing the SAME thing, depending on if the user has L-Mod
> or N-Mod installed?
>
> Re usability- this is a huge issue (think, Red button for OK) - we cannot
> change the world and I cannot even try to. Just want to give my client
> something that works within their limitations that is as USEABLE and LOW
> COST as possible.
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts and suggestions...
>
> Deborah
> http://www.tech-challenged.com
>
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author,
> build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
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>
> Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Easy to use
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> http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
build, test, and publish your Help files with just one easy-to-use tool.
Try the latest Doc-To-Help 2009 v3 risk-free for 30-days at:
http://www.doctohelp.com/ 

Help & Manual 5: The all-in-one help authoring tool. Easy to use 
but still has all the power you need. Get results fast in an intuitive 
authoring environment that works like a familiar word processor.
http://www.helpandmanual.com/

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