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Subject:Re: doc to help theory From:"Bruce H. Johnson" <corpknow -at- EARTHLINK -dot- NET> Date:Sun, 2 Jun 1996 13:19:24 -0700
Virginia wrote:
>...I read on a CompuServe forum
>that a help file taking 5 minutes to compile with RoboHelp will take 8hours
>with Doc-to_Help. No thanks.
Remember, we have two different tools here. D2H is a great tool for
creating/maintaining _both_ a printed manual and a corresponding Help
file. The time involved in D2H is the conversion of the Word document
file to an RTF WinHelp source file. Yes, it does take time to do that,
but remember how long it takes to create the RTF source file by hand
(even with an authoring tool). If you were maintaining both a printed
manual and a Help file, the initial creation of both takes quite some
time. With D2H, for minor changes, you can change both the .DOC
(printed) manual and the .RTF (Help) and just recompile the Help.
For more major changes, adding topics, etc., I just change the .DOC and
re-convert.
Now, if you're maintaing only a Help file and need no (or an
occasional) printed manual, you're better off with something like
RoboHelp or one of the many WinHelp authoring tools. With these, you're
sitting "on top" of the WinHelp source code and have a lot of control
over it.
My company uses both D2H and RoboHelp; the choice depends entirely on
whether or not the client needs to maintain both printed manuals and
Help, or Help only.
--
Bruce H. Johnson
Corporate Knowledge, Inc. -- Your knowledge transfer specialists.
corpknow -at- earthlink -dot- net Los Angeles, California
#include <disclaimer.h> http://www.business1.com/cki/
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