RoboHelp is a Help authoring tool (HAT) created by the eHelp Corporation and now owned by Adobe Systems. The software is used by technical writers to create computer help files (documentation) in various formats.
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Using What You Have to Write Help 
Writing online Help carries an unwarranted mystique. Fancy tools, research, and a cooperative development team help a technical writer produce online Help content. What if you have only the software and an assignment? You can use what you have. This approach will help you be a more marketable writer. You will be a more versatile writer, and a better production team member. You can use this easy method to write and organize online Help topics with minimal resources. We hope to take away the mystique.
Anderson, Douglas and Jason R. Huntington. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Writing>Documentation>Help
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Using Word to Create Windows Help
One way to create Windows help is by using Word for Windows. To begin, you must become familiar with the help concepts of topics and hyperlinks. Then, you create these components: projectile, header file, and source files. Source files are created using Word for Windows. Next create the actual help file by compiling the elements you have created. Finally, view and debug the results.
Van Sant, Carol J. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Documentation>Help>Online
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Using XML for Document Authoring and Management
An introduction to XML (Extensible Markup Language) and how technical writers can use it to create and manage their documentation.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2004). Articles>Documentation>Help>DocBook
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Voters Learn the Importance of Usability
It has been an exciting few months, what with the usability flaws in the 'butterfly ballot' in Florida possibly changing the course of history. The good news is that the controversy put usability into the public conversation with news articles, press releases, and even new research articles. It was an opportunity to explain 'what we do' to friends, relatives, and associates. Some of the lessons from the 2000 Presidential election are the basics of Usability 101.
Quesenbery, Whitney. Usability Interface (2001). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability
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Warp Speed: Creating Online Information for OS/2
Information Presentation Facility (IPF) is the tagging language you use to tag, compile, and debug online information in an OS/2 environment. This workshop This part of the workshop looks at using error log files to examines how to use IPF, provides code samples, and points participants to reference material.
Coe, Marlana A. and Leigh Waller. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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Wash Your Hands After Reading This Manual
The next time you complain about the usability of your computer, think of this: despite patently suboptimal design, Windows computers are really no more difficult to use than your washroom, and the washrooms have been around for an awful lot longer. The bottom line--you should pardon my choice of words--is that despite manifest flaws in both technologies, each lets you accomplish surprising quantities of work. And technical writers take heed: this appalling gap in end-user documentation could just be the next million-selling 'for Dummies' book.
Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2001). Articles>Computing>Help
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Thanks to all of you who responded to my recent questions about WebHelp and HTML Help. I've put together an informal summary of my findings, but please feel free to make comments or add to it.
MacLemale, Laura A. TECHWR-L (2000). Articles>Documentation>Help
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Defines embedded help as user assistance that is part of the behavior and real estate of the user interface of a software application. Discusses three types: the right embedded help pane, process-embedded help, and instructional embedding.
Zubak, Cheryl Lockett. Intercom (2000). Articles>Documentation>Help
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RoboHelp is an authoring tool sold by eHelp Corporation (formerly Blue Sky Software). In an easy 'WYSIWYG' format, it allows you to organize information and create pathways and interactive links so a user can find desired or necessary information (and the user can do so in a non-linear intuitive way that is helpful to learning).
UMBC (2000). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp
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MAML is part of a new approach to help in Windows Vista. This approach is both more integrated with the software and more focused on user tasks. MAML provides a structre in which you can write user assistance information, which can then be presented to the user in a variety of locations.
Tech Write Tips (2006). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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What Technical Communicators Need to Know About Artificial Inteligence and Expert Systems
Controversies characterize the study of artificial intelligence and expert systems. The varying opinions range from differences in defining these terms to arguments about their actual effectiveness when applied to practical problems. Technical communicators need to understand the different views on artificial intelligence, the types of expert systems currently available, and what the future impact of expert systems will be on technical communication in general, As a type of artificial intelligence, expert computer systems provide a technological solution to the problem of communicating specialized information and knowledge within business, technological, and scientific organizations. The computer can not only be a place to store large bodies of information, but it can also be programmed to interact with users as they attempt to apply this stored knowledge to specific problem-solving situations.
Shirk, Henrietta Nickels. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>TC>Online>Help
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Where is the Instruction in Online Help? Designing it Right the First Time
One of the ironic things about online help systems is that they are very often not helpful and even increase the user's frustration and stress level. A consequence of this increased frustration sometimes results in the rejection of the software. One solution is to increase the effectiveness of online help systems by designing them from an instructional design perspective. Some of the things we can provide users include: imperative, task-focused procedures; graphic feedback; access to redundant instructions; links to tutorial practice; philosophical and conceptual explanations for “why” they are completing specific tasks.
Pratt, Jean A. STC Proceedings (1997). Presentations>Documentation>Instructional Design>Help
#31990
Windows Software Help Files Formats
Are you still wondering which help file format to use for your Windows software? The selection depends on your software and on the information that is in your help files. Each help file format has its own unique features that may be useful in certain situations.
Crane, Dennis. Dr. Explain (2007). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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Here you will find a collection of WinHelp development aids and tutorials.
Becker, Josef. Helpmaster. Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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Miscellaneous software for converting WinHelp files into other formats.
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Here you will find a selection of tools that enhance WinHelp, collected since 1995 and made publicly available on this pages.
Becker, Josef. Helpmaster. Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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Word-to-RoboHelp Conversion Tips and Tricks 
Whether you’re converting an existing Microsoft Word document to a WinHelp format using RoboHelp, or to an HTML-based Help format using RoboHelp HTML, RoboHelp Office 9 lets you add a Word document to your Help project with a single mouse click. But don’t do it, at least not until you’ve reviewed, tweaked, and massaged the document to make the most of the new medium for your documentation and to avoid problems that commonly surface following conversion Here are some tips for an (almost) error-free conversion.
Carlson, Janice L. WilliamRice.com (2001). (Chinese) Design>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp
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Write Your Help Desk's Mission Statement to Raise Team Awareness 
One sure-fire way to improve help desk morale and raise awareness of your technical support team is to write a help desk mission statement. Get some tips on what to include and find some samples of other mission statements.
Davis, Jeff. TechRepublic (2003). Articles>Business Communication>Collaboration>Help
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Writing for Short Attention Span Theater
If everything on the desktop was proceeding as planned, nobody would ever press F1. But people do press F1--a lot-- and it’s our job to give them the information they need when they need it. This paper suggests design strategies, organizational strategies, and writing tips that can help make the information in your WinHelp files more accessible.
Gallagher, Susan W. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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I'll never be able to be a technical writer. How do those people do it?
Osherove, Roy. ISerializable (2003). Articles>Documentation>Technical Writing>Help
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Writing Microsoft Windows Help — Two Steps Past the Basics
With planning, an understanding of organizational devices such as expandable tables of contents, secondary help windows, and graphical navigational aids, you can make your help system easier to use, more attractive, and more useful.
Thomas, Morgan O. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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XML Architecture for Customized User Assistance
To create a specific deliverable, you collect all of the relevant topics and wrap information around them. A printed book, for instance, contains topics grouped into chapters along with front and back matter.
O'Keefe, Sarah S. WritersUA (2005). Articles>Information Design>Help>XML
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XML: the Future of Windows Help?
For a long time we've been told that XML Help is the future. So is it? In this article, David Rose examines the current state of the online help development industry and the direction it is heading.
Rose, David. Armada Online (2005). Articles>Documentation>Help>XML
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I would argue that 'Presentation Zen' contains ideas that are also relevant to technical communication.
Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2008). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
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Users Read Help Manuals Like an Encyclopedia, Not a Novel
Users turn to help to look for a specific question, just as someone consults an encyclopedia for a specific question. No one reads the entire encyclopedia/manual, nor is anyone expected to. Well-written encyclopedias allow users to find information through indexes, tables of contents, alphabetical organization, and search fields.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>User Centered Design>Help
