Tool for XML -> Online Help

[John Root]

Hi Angela,

There are a number of possible pathways you might follow to provide the
solution you're looking for. You could generate HTML from your XML content
and post this as online help, or you could post your XML content and
transform this on the fly as requested by users. Both solutions have their
advantages and disadvantages.

Typically, to implement context sensitive online help, you'll need to
provide some type of mapping between PIDs and topic IDs or URLs. This can be
implemented in various ways. Using a custom help viewer simplifies the
issue, but even with a generic browser you can use server side search
functionality with unique keywords for each PID. Obviously, this is
dependent on implementing some sort of search functionality.

One solution worth looking at is MS Content Management Server (CMS) with
SharePoint Portal Services (SPS). CMS provides a high performance
transformation framework out of the box and SPS gives you a highly
customizable web interface and search functionality.

Be aware that any solution that goes beyond posting static HTML with a basic
nav frame is likely to involve a serious commitment of dev time. FWIW, Word
(and Office) online help was developed and is support by a substantial team.
OTOH, with the right skillset, it's possible to implement a similar type of
solution for a small team.

Hope this is helpful.

John


On 5/2/06 4:46 PM, "Angela Akridge" <angela.akridge at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I've never worked with setting up an Online Help system. I know how to write
> in raw html/sgml, but that's about the extent of my experience with Online
> Help. I'm familiar with single-source authoring (using Epic) to create
> customized documentation, but have NO experience designing a help system  I
> currently edit existing context-sensitive online help. I don't use an Online
> Help application (JavaHelp or RoboHelp). I simply have some hooks in the
> code that call some html files (nothing sophisticated).
> 
> I'd like to use the content that I produce in manuals to produce online help
> topics. If this means that the Online Help can no longer be context
> sensitive without a lot of infrastrucuture, then so be it (although a hybird
> would be ideal). My company is okay with dumping the manual into a clean
> collection of individual procedures (modules) if the design provides a
> search box. What tool will take my Frame xml output and generate a pretty
> look-and-feel for online help? I like MS Word's Online Help.
> 
> Thank yoiu,
> 
> --
> Angela Akridge
> angela.akridge at gmail.com
> 408/393-9249 (cell)
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