Online Help: You Think It's Documentation but Your Company Thinks It's Software  

As help systems become more complex, integrating text with multimedia, scripting languages, search engines, etc., the line between documentation development and software development blurs. Some companies, especially those that have to adhere to federal or ISO-regulated procedures, are starting to look at online help as a product with its own development needs. This shift is changing the online help from documentation into software, subjecting it to the same controls and processes. This paper looks at how one company is handling this transition.

Rupel, Roberta A. and Peggy Schillinger. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help