Re: online help for java applet?

[Chuck <writer -at- BEST -dot- COM>]

Conside Oracle Help for Java, free from their web site.

I had wanted JavaHelp to be *it* for Java applications and applets, but
after seeing what the JavaHelp team produced when I was at the Jumpstart
Conference for JavaHelp Technology this spring, it was clear the
JavaHelp just is Not Ready for Prime Time--and it's not just a matter of
not being able to print.

Oracle Help for Java isn't supported by as many outside vending tool as
JavaHelp (yet), but I think one or two already do, and more could come
on board. Oracle Help is quite a bit more robust that JavaHelp
currently, and should be a good solution.

About a year and a half ago, I wrote an article for the Online Help
Journal evaluating Java-based Help technologies. Oracle Help was the
best of breed then, and it still seems to be now.

"Kaplan, Elise" wrote:
>
> We are developing a graphical front-end to our software product.  The GUI
> front-end is a java applet that runs in a browser window.  Here in the doc
> group, we have been working on producing HTMLhelp to support the GUI.
> Today, however, we learned that the java applet can't link to an individual
> file within the .chm, only the default location in the .chm itself.  We
> really need some context-sensitivity than this--our application includes
> 3300 screens.
>
> The tech who has been working on the issue suggested javahelp, but I don't
> think this delivery will be acceptable because javahelp currently does not
> support printing.  Our users definitely need the ability to print selected
> information as a reference.
>
> I've been thinking of investigating webhelp, as I've heard good things about
> it.  Anybody have any other suggestions?  We will be using Frame, and will
> also be using Frame's conditional text to produce a PDF online reference for
> our customers who are using the greenscreen front-end.  Our documentation
> set is about 10,000 pages.
>

--
"[Programmers] cannot successfully be asked to design for users
because...inevitably, they will make judgments based on the
difficult of coding and not on the user's real needs."
        - Alan Cooper
        "About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design"

Chuck Martin
writer"at"best.com    www.writeforyou.com


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