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Does anyone have a vision, however sketchy, of the future of online help? I'm particularly interested in answering the following questions, but don't let them limit you. I'm trying to build up a picture of what help will look like in the next few years, and how we, as technical writers, will have to respond.
I'm thinking particularly of my own circumstances: As part of a big software house, I'm creating user assistance for applications that are accessed by many users in large enterprises.
Those questions:
1. Are big software houses going to continue to post more of their help topics online (thereby making updated help always available to users)? Obviously, the web's used to publish standalone documents, but how popular is it for serving help topics in real time? Is this a trend that's likely to coninue?
2. Do the promises of such server-based help actually bear fruit? I mean, is the information you get from posting help on servers really useful. (In theory, you can tell which topics are most often accessed.) Do companies really make use of this form of user feedback?
3. Following on from 2, how easy is it to use Macromedia's server-based help authoring tools and processes? I'm thinking of RoboEngine and any other required tools.
4. Does RoboEngine have a future if Macromedia are no longer committed to a lifecyle plan for this product? (I think I've got that right.)
5. Are technical writers actively researching the impact of Microsoft's vision for help, as documented for the next release of their operating system, codenamed Longhorn? Maybe you are researching other visions. Care to share?
6. What will Longhorn mean for technical writers? Would a fair summary be that -- if Longhorn help catches on -- we'll be working closer with developers to integrate user assistance in the UI, and we'll also be editing XML (presumably using some new tool to make life easier)?
7. Is help going to be replaced by some other way of communicating with users?
I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone with views on this subject.
Andy McAleer
Citrix Systems UK Ltd.
Gerrards Cross
United Kingdom
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