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Subject:Re: On-line help for Mac From:"Matthew B. Hicks" <matt -at- UNIDATA -dot- UCAR -dot- EDU> Date:Tue, 14 May 1996 09:08:12 -0600
On Mon, 13 May 1996, Dianne Walsh wrote:
*>I'm new to this list and maybe this has been discussed before, but . . . my
*>company is developing a new product that will be sold to PC and Mac users.
*>It is a testing tool to be used by Forte programmers. Our office is all-PC,
*>Windows 3.1.1, and I am currently using Word 6.0 and RoboHelp to develop
*>help files for other projects. Today, the question arose as to what we
*>should do about our potential Mac customers. I can save Word files as Word
*>for Mac files and that will take care of any hardcopy documentation we need
*>to produce, but now comes the hard part--the on-line help. I noticed that
*>RoboHelp files can be saved in Word for Mac, but does that mean they'll
*>actually run on a Mac? I have my doubts, but I thought maybe some of you
*>have run into this same situation. Is the only real solution to tell my boss
*>to buy me a Mac?
This response is not going to be as helpful as I wish I could be, but I
recently read somewhere (and I can't seem to find the source anymore)
about a program for converting WinHelp to AppleGuide files. The same
message also mentioned that the reverse operation can be performed. (I
haven't been able to get into the server today, but Guide Translator
<http://www.guideworks.com/Translator.html> will convert Apple Guide files
to WinHelp; I have no idea what kind of job it does.)
Of course, translating WinHelp to AppleGuide wouldn't provide you with all
the benefits of developing AppleGuide files from scratch (coach marks,
scripted "Do it for me" buttons, and so on) but it would be better than
nothing.
I think that you should at least have a Mac in the shop to check your Mac
help on. You may also find that the translation software only runs on a
Mac. Anyway, the stuff is out there.
+ - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - + - +
-Matt Hicks matt -at- unidata -dot- ucar -dot- edu
"This planet just stepped over the line, assemble the giant robot!"
-Dick Solomon, "3rd Rock from the Sun"
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