Paper Manual to Online Help - where to start?

[suzy -dot- davis -at- doi -dot- vic -dot- gov -dot- au]

Hello

The time has finally come when I have had to venture into the online help
arena.  A couple of years ago I wrote for a client two user manuals (with
diagrams, screen cuts, formatted text, aka the usual), functional spec,
administration guide and an operations guide.  The documents are all
200-600 pages each.  I am now back to update them,  and have been asked to
put them online (which I don't have much experience with - at all, but
fortunately they are ok with that).

I happened to be working on another contract at the time doing some vba
development where a technical writer had just researched a few of the
online help tools and decided on using RoboHelp for the requirement they
had.  I have yet to do a final evaluation, but from what I have seen, it
looks like I can pretty much convert my documentation chapters into online
help chapters with very little extra work.

My client is looking for a solution that won't cost as much (I think), or
is preferably free, and is now sending me chm files (which following a
quick search of google and your archives I now know is a compiled help file
which can be generated in a variety of ways including RoboHelp).

Has anyone got some simple suggestions?  I am looking for a simple solution
which will require little rework.  The manuals are already in an easy to
read procedural format, and the user's don't need context sensitive help,
just an online reference to the book they have had on their desktop.  The
other thing is that it has to be fairly easy to update.

There are approximately 20 users.

Am I saving myself from unnecessary grief by committing to RoboHelp? Or am
I missing out on a tool better suited to the task and which will cost my
client less money?

thanks in advance
Suzy

Suzy Davis
suzy -dot- davis -at- doi -dot- vic -dot- gov -dot- au
Technical Writer/VBA Developer
Create Space Pty Ltd
www.createspace.com.au



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