Java-based help, HTML-based help (LONG)

[Ruth Glaser <ruthg -at- GORETEK -dot- COM>]

Thanks to everyone who commented on my message, "Desparately Seeking
Java-based help." The resulting exchange was informative and spawned 
many questions.

Bill Bledsoe shed some light on HTML-based help. Others suggested web
sites to visit for both java-based and HTML-based help information.

Here are URL's for those of you interested in more information. (Some of these
have already been suggested, but I thought it'd be nice to have them all in
one place.)

http://java.sun.com/products/JavaManagement/documents/help_guide/html/help_devguide_title.html
The Java Management API Online Help Developers Guide. "The JMAPI Help 
System is a Java- and HTML-based help system that provides global and 
context-sensitive help for applications built from the Java Management API 
classes. The JMAPI Help System consists of a dedicated browser for viewing 
help pages and an authoring environment for creating the help pages."

http://w3.nai.net/~rvdi/jhelp/jhelp.html
jHelp homepage. "jHelp is essentially a parser and formatter that displays help 
files coded in HTML2. It can be displayed as a pop-up frame, or embedded as 
a panel within a container object. It is very easy to use."

http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/author/htmlhelp/home.htm
Microsoft's introduction to HTML Help. "Microsoft® HTML Help is designed 
for displaying online documentation. Its audience is authors who create online 
Help for a software program, or who are creating a multimedia title or a site on 
the World Wide Web."

http://home.netscape.com/eng/help/
Netscape's introduction to NetHelp (their HTML-based help solution). "NetHelp 
is an open standards-based platform for creating and viewing HTML-based online 
help. Using Netscape Navigator 3.0 or later, NetHelp provides a context-sensitive 
online help solution for any web-based application or native Macintosh, Unix, or
Windows program."

http://www.weisner.com/harkontheweb/index.html
Ben Weisner & Associate's Help Author's Resource Kit (TM). Contains information
about HTML-based help. Volume 2 is coming soon. Also lists and describes 
resources.

http://www.workwrite.com/msintr.htm
The WorkWrite site, including an interview on HTML Help with Microsoft's Ralph 
Walden. This site contains many, many links to other resources.

http://www.infospheres.caltech.edu/resources/java.html
Java resources. Many links to find more information about Java in general.

I would love to continue the conversation about documenting platform and browser
independent java systems. If you have any experiences in this arena, I encourage
you to post them to the list.

Ruth T. Glaser
rglaser -at- nxtrend -dot- com

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