Re: Getting experience with expensive tools?

[dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net]

Regarding the question of open source tools for help,
you can generate Java Help and HTML Help from DocBook
content. But, like the DITA Open Toolkit, that capability,
while useful, is not really a HAT.

If you would like more information on generating help from
DocBook, I recommend Bob Stayton's excellent book, "DocBook
XSL: The Complete Guide." Here is a pointer to the section
in his book on generating HTML Help:

http://www.sagehill.net/docbookxsl/HtmlHelp.html

Jirka Kosek, who wrote some of the stylesheets for this,
also has a reference that I think is still ok, though it
is a few years old.  Here is that reference:

http://www.kosek.cz/xml/dboscon/dbhelp/frames.html

Best Regards,
Richard Hamilton
Managing Writers: A Real World Guide to Managing Documentation
http://xmlpress.net/managingwriters.html

> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca> wrote:
>> Becky Edmondson wondered: <<Anyone have any creative ideas on how to
>> get experience with expensive tools like Flare and Robohelp, when you
>
>> <<Maybe I should be looking at opensource HATs? I can't find anything
>> other than industrial-strength stuff like DITA.>>
>
> I am not aware of any open-source HATs. There are open-source tools
> like the DITA Open Toolkit that produce help formats. And there are
> free or cheap HATs, but they're not open source.
>
> I wrote a couple of blog posts about the latter category a while back:
> http://www.janetswisher.com/?itemid=135
> http://www.janetswisher.com/?itemid=150
>

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