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.
#34235
Searching Help: Don’t Even Go There
Web site user assistance that consistently exceeds customer’s expectations can catapult your company to legendary status and create brand equity you can measure in billions of dollars. However, making Help a strategic asset for your company is an arduous task. To shed light on this important topic, I have teamed up with Tricia Clement, a renowned cognitive psychologist and Web site user assistance expert. In this month’s Search Matters column, we’ll deliver actionable insights about Web site user assistance.
Nudelman, Greg and Tricia Clement. UXmatters (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Search
#34357
Using Master Pages in RoboHelp 8
Master Pages, a new concept introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 8, intends to provide flexibility in controlling the layout of topics, where in an author may separate the actual content from the layout of the output and may do it from a single place. In Adobe RoboHelp 8, a user may use Master Page as a Layout and Styling canvas where one may put basic HTML elements to be used for Layout purposes.
Adobe (2009). Articles>Documentation>Software>Adobe RoboHelp
#34371
Two Stories About How to Write Help
The mindset in which most technical communicators write help is sometimes fundamentally flawed. Consider the following two stories and the different approaches and mindsets each writer takes toward the project.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Writing>Technical Writing>Help
#34420
WinHelp, WebHelp, AIR... Help!
Online formats can be confusing—consider "WebHelp" vs. "Web Help." This session describes XML, XHTML, HTML Help, WebHelp, DotNet Help, AIR, and others—and how to select the appropriate one.
Perlin, Neil E. STC Proceedings (2009). Presentations>Documentation>Help
#34506
Usability in Context-Sensitive Help: Re-Imagining the Ordinary to Provide More Business Value 
Context-sensitive help is a practical way to cut down on customer support expenses and add more value to documentation. By providing more complex, context-sensitive help, the usability of the help increases while call center phone calls decrease.
Putkey, Theresa. Intercom (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability
#34507
Makes the case for embedded help as one of the most effective ways to integrate help within an interface. Although it can be difficult, Bleiel illustrates a way to “elegantly implement and map embedded help.”
Bleiel, Nicoletta A. Intercom (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Usability
#34513
Microblogging and Writing Error Messages
You can definitely apply some of the concepts of microblogging to crafting error messages. Like a good tweet or a http://www.identi.ca or a jaiku, a good error message must: be concise; contain useful information, for both the person reading it and technical support; and be easy to read and understand.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Blogging
#34545
Do we need to have an external help system? Why not embed help right into the application? Why not take this a step or two further? Instead of having a separate help system, integrate more useful, more robust, and context-sensitive help into the user interface.
Nesbitt, Scott. DMN Communications (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Technical Writing
#34577
The Myth of Simplicity and Complexity in Help Authoring
Although simplicity is a noble ideal, and something like “simplify complexity” could be the mission statement of any technical writer, simplicity is in fact a complex undertaking. The interplay between simplicity and complexity is what technical writing is all about.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2008). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#34714
How Embedded User Assistance Impacts Documentation
Embedded user assistance is only part of a complete documentation plan. It does not replace the need for other types of content. For example, embedded user assistance is not a good delivery mechanism for comprehensive concepts and detailed discussions of a topic with strategy and best practice guidelines. However, with a strong design, embedded user assistance can support the immediate needs of the user and provide a valuable, contextual link that steers the user into the other parts of the documentation as needed.
Mueller, Paul. Answers for All (2009). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#34809
If you're moving to Flare from another help authoring tool, you'll find that Flare's stylesheet editor is very powerful but different than other stylesheet editors that you may have used. And if Flare is your first help authoring tool, you may find the stylesheet editor overpowering at first. To help you get over that initial hump, Hyper/Word Services offers a stylesheet for Flare that will help you learn to use the stylesheet editor, and that may apply to actual projects.
HyperWord (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Madcap Flare
#34889
Discovering Relationship Tables
Lately I’ve been creating context-sensitive help for an online application. As part of my strategy, I’ve been trying to follow Theresa Putkey’s advice in “Usability in Context-Sensitive Help.” In her article, Theresa recommends providing more than just the steps for a specific task in the context-sensitive help window. Instead, she says to show more contextual links, including answers to why, when, and who questions, because too frequently the user who searches for help may have needs outside the specific task you describe.
Johnson, Tom H. I'd Rather Be Writing (2009). Articles>Documentation>Online>Help
#35188
Creating Accessible Tabular Data Tables: A Help Authoring Guide
This Fast Track tutorial demonstrates and employs web standards and accessibility methods for tabular data table creation. It is presented free of charge to the community as a help authoring, technical writing and web design guide.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Help
#35189
This Fast Track tutorial demonstrates how to create automatic line numbering in a code block.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Documentation>CSS>Help
#35190
Calling Accessible Context-Sensitive Help with Unobtrusive DOM/JavaScript: A Help Authoring Guide
This Fast Track tutorial demonstrates two methods to call Context-Sensitive Help in a Web Form. We'll discover how Unobtrusive DOM/JavaScript achieves the desired result in calling Context-Sensitive help, and demonstrate how to keep the Structure, Presentation, and Behavior layers of a web page completely separate from one another ensuring good practice with current web standards and accessibility rules.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Help
#35191
There are times when we need to build a navigation tree stucture to accomodate a small document collection. There is no need to have this nav list expand or contract, so employing a Behavior layer (unobtrusive DOM/JavaScript) is not appropriate.
Palinkas, Frank M. helpware.net (2009). Articles>Web Design>CSS>Help
#35203
Simplicity Trumps Complexity….Mostly!
One of the tips for creating a help project is to keeps things simple. This applies as much to the content as it does to the manner in which it is produced. The tool used to produce it has a big bearing on how simple the documentation process is of course but sometimes you just have to bend the rules.
McAndrew, Colum. RoboColum(n), The (2009). Articles>Documentation>Help>Minimalism
#35210
As help systems continue to evolve, whatever name they are called, we will increasingly have to face responsibility for their content, and bring their expertise to what we write. The new systems provide us with all the required tools that tell us the problems with their content. It is up to us to leverage that information to provide better content, and act as ambassadors for products that we write. If writers can go a step ahead, and use their help information to sell products, and reduce the burden on customer support, we would have truly arrived.
Kurnool, Preran. Indus (2009). Articles>Web Design>Documentation>Help
#35265
What to Know When Switching from RoboHelp to Flare
I recently switched from RoboHelp 7 to Flare 5. I’m not the person to ask about the merits of one over the other because I don’t have enough experience with Flare yet. Because I’m coming to version 5 with my knowledge being only that which my colleagues have told or shown me, I hope to make life easier for anyone moving from RH to Flare or at least trying Flare out.
Minson, Benjamin. Communications from DMN (2009). Articles>Documentation>Adobe RoboHelp>Madcap Flare
#35322
A Comparison of Three Visual Help Authoring Tools
What Are These Tools? Screen recorders that let you: record a series of screens as frames in a movie – like chaining together screen shots; annotate the frames with text captions, high-lights, and other effects for enhanced learning and explanation; add testing – informally through “dead-end” quizzes or formally using eLearning; publish the result.
Perlin, Neil E. SlideShare (2007). Presentations>Documentation>Software>Help
#35338
Analyzing Your Deliverables: Developing the Optimal Documentation Library
Web 2.0 includes: wikis, podcasts, blogs, widgets/gadgets, social networks … and combinations of all the above. Not everyone contributes equally – Creators (18%), Critics (25%), Spectators (48%). But all are important.
Bleiel, Nicky. SlideShare (2007). Presentations>Content Management>Documentation>Help
#35339
Choosing a Help Authoring Tool
Help authoring tools (HATs) are specialized editors and converters to create online technical documentation. Today, many help authoring tools also provide features for single source publishing, which means that you can generate several output formats and versions from one shared text source. While most tools manage to produce different online formats like browser-based help and compiled help very well, only few tools can also produce printed user manuals (or PDF) of professional quality. Big differences also exist between the tools when it comes to translating your projects into foreign languages.
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. Articles>Documentation>Software>Help
#35342
Market overview of recommendable tools for creating screen captures (screenshots, screen dumps). Screen captures are required within all forms of software documentation, such as user manuals, online help files, interactive demos and tutorials, but also for web sites and brochures.
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. Resources>Software>Help>Screen Captures
#35343
Market overview of recommendable tools for creating software demos (so-called screencasts). Software demos are not only used for marketing purposes on web sites, but also as standalone tutorials or embedded within online help files and other sorts of software documentation.
#35344
Auswahl eines Help Authoring Tools
Checkliste der wichtigsten Kriterien für die Auswahl eines Tools zum Erstellen von Software-Dokumentation (Handbücher, Online-Hilfen) - sog. Help Authoring Tools, kurz HAT. Viele Help Authoring Tools können Benutzerhandbücher und Online-Hilfen aus einer gemeinsamen Textquelle heraus generieren (sog. Single Source Publishing).
Achtelig, Marc. indoition engineering. (German) Articles>TC>Software>Help
