RE: Survey Summary--Help Authoring Tool Research

Subject: RE: Survey Summary--Help Authoring Tool Research
From: "Lydia Wong" <lydiaw -at- fpoint -dot- com>
To: "Genevieve Burt" <gb_techwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2000 16:44:58 -0500

Genevieve wrote (in part):

> ==My Decision==
> I'm still testing the demos, but based on my research,
> my choice is now between AuthorIt and RoboHelp. Why?
<snip>
>RoboHelp because: since it's
> what most of you are using, help should be easier to
> come by if I need it.

I wrote Genevieve (and she suggested I share with the list) the following:

I don't remember seeing your survey question--sorry I didn't get to respond.

I just wanted to chime in with my two cents, if it's not too late. I've used
most of the tools you list in your summary, except AuthorIt and Doc-To-Help
(though I've seen a number of demonstrations of the latter).

I'm writing to urge you to reconsider purchasing ForeHelp. (No, I don't work
for them, own their stock, or anything like that!) It's just that I (IMHO)
think ForeHelp is a much better tool than RoboHelp. Admittedly, I haven't
used the latest versions of RoboHelp, and I'll grant you that more people
use it, but I still think ForeHelp is too good not to consider.

If you're not sure, you can get an evaluation copy of ForeHelp from
ForeFront. You just pay the shipping, and you get a fully functional version
to try for 30 days (unlike their demo, which is too limited, in my opinion).
If you like it, you keep it and pay for it. If you don't like it, send it
back. They don't advertise this, but they do offer it. (I know because we
did this.)

I'm not the only one who has the opinion that RoboHelp is so heavily
marketed that it gets purchased more, but for the wrong reasons. In
addition, the cost of RoboHelp is very expensive, while ForeHelp is much
more reasonable.

Well, you'll have to be your own judge. Maybe your company isn't concerned
about the cost, or you just feel that RoboHelp is the best bet, due to how
often it's used. I just thought I'd send in one more vote for ForeHelp.

Good luck!

-------------------
Lydia Wong
Technical Writer
FarPoint Technologies, Inc.
www.fpoint.com <http://www.fpoint.com>





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