RoboHelp 7 and Customer Feedback

[Robert Courtney <bobsc1 -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

I'm looking at a way to get customer feedback on a webhelp system I'm 
developing. I have read the RoboHelp help file and have found I can make 
a form in a topic and request feedback. The feedback is then captured on 
a server with a DB. That's doable for me. There has to be a better way 
to get customer feedback on the help system.

There is an option for RoboHelp to use their software server and db to 
capture help and track statistics.

I have also been looking at Madcap just out of curiosity to see what 
they offer. Not that I am jumping to Madcap anytime soon or ever.

Any ideas and help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Robert Courtney
Technical Writer
PDSI – Principal Decision Systems International
O: (800) 850-7374 ext 1283
F: (714) 703-3000
E: robertcourtney -at- pdsi-software -dot- com
www.pdsi-software.com


On 1/14/2010 10:38 AM, McLauchlan, Kevin wrote:
>
>
> First, Missy Smith said:
>    
>> My new employer wants to make our help system available to our
>> customer to download. What files are needed to create a
>> "portable" help system? Is this still WebHelp?
>>      
> ... then she came along with...
>
>    
>>   Okay, I just came back from my boss' office. She showed me a
>> zip file that they distribute and the customer downloads. The
>> only files it contains is all html files and a folder with
>> images. That's it. She stabs her finger at the monitor and
>> says, "That's what I want."
>>      
> Hmm.  Sounds fishy to me.
>
> JUST html and images...
> No CSS?
> No XML or other glue?
>
> There's a reason that RoboHelp and Flare (and others?) WebHelp
> contains a BUNCH more files than just straight html and some
> images.
>
> Those additional files (in a few sub-directories) are what
> makes it _help_ instead of just a collection of html pages.
>
> Things like the Search facility and the ToC, and Index and
> Browse Sequences, etc. are implemented via those other files,
> in addition to the straight html.  Without them, you've got
> some reading material, but you don't have a working, useful
> Help system.
>
> For each of our products, my WebHelp has
>
> /top-directory_named_for_product
>    /Content
>      /somedirnamepeculiartomyproduct
>      /anotherdirname
>      /andanotherdirname
>      /andyetanotherdir
>      /Resources
>         /Images
>    /Data
>      /SkinNewWindow
>      /Skin(mycompanyname)
>    /Skin
>      /Images
>   -startpage.htm
>   -startpage.js
>   -startpage.mcwebhelp
>   -startpage.xml
>   -startpage_CSH.htm
>   -startpage_Left.htm
>
> That gets delivered to the customer in one of three ways:
>
>   - on the software CD/DVD
>   - on a standalone Docs CD that comes along with the software
>   - in a downloadable tarball or zip archive of<see above>.
>
> The customer has the option of running the help directly from
> the CD, or copying the complete structure to their PC hard disk
> and running it from there. (Or they can toss it on a file server,
> but in this form it's not meant to be served by a webserver engine.)
>
> Does what your boss showed you include the functions of a
> usable help system?  Or does the user just open each one by
> filename with their browser, then close it?
>
> The advantage of WebHelp is that it works pretty-much the same
> on Linux or Solaris as it does on Windows.
>
>   - Kevin
>
>
>
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Are you looking for one documentation tool that does it all? Author, 
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