Web-based help systems

[Brian Martin <martin -at- SODALIA -dot- IT>]

Hi gang:

I'm interested in your feeback on Web-based help systems.

First some background:

Our group is considering development of a HTML + JAVA applet software
product with a Web-based help system and no printed documentation except
for the installation and maintenance manual. (Note: For performance
reasons, JAVA-based help is not possible at this time.) We would like to
include the following generic elements:

- Widget help
- Activity help
- Glossary
- Indexes

Each HTML file would be appropriately interlinked to provide
cross-references for users. We plan to create a help design document, an
HTML template, and a style guide as part of the process. At this point,
I'm not sure what tool we'll be using.

I have the following questions:

What are the risks of going without print documentation?
What is the current best tool for HTML-based help?
What considerations can you offer that would influence the system?

Much of our previous printed user guides used decision tables to thread
users through the right steps. Should each decision be a small html file
or can we maintain procedures as files with decision tables using
internal links to steps within the same file?

That's the shape of it.

I appreciate your thoughts.