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On Tuesday, 02-Jul-96 11:54 AM, Margaret Packman asked
>Does anybody know of any third-party RoboHelp/RoboHelp 95 books?
As has been noted, RoboHelp is a WinWord add-on, which is but one type of
WHAT [WinHelp Authoring Tool] software. For a current round-up of WHAT
programs for Win95, see June 25 issue of PC Mag [vol. 15 no. 12, pp 207-215].
Robo acquits itself well, as does HelpBreeze [my personal fave]. The discussion
of which WHAT to use [I couldn't resist!] continues, wherever help authors
gather...
Some believe that Winhelp created in a standalone WHAT is better [more stable?]
than that created by a WinWord add-on like Robo, HelpBreeze or others. I
haven't
seen any evidence to prove that position yet.
Since Robo is a proprietary pgm, and the market for it is smaller than for Word
or similar big sellers, 3rd-party authors/publishers haven't yet deemed it a
good
enough niche to target. There are chapters on Robo in some of the more
complete
books on Winhelp/online help and WHATs. Of course, any day now someone will
decide to write such a book ... until then, the sources for more info are Robo
themselves
Blue Sky Software, 800-677-4946], the often high-traffic Winhelp-list [it can
dump
scores, if not 100s of msgs on you daily!], and other sites of Winhelp/WHAT
focus.
Best way to learn, as ever, is to dive in, muck about, make mistakes. Or that's
what
I always tell myself when I look at the mess I've made while "familiarizing
myself"
with a new tool/technology...
BTW, the announced & rumored move by Microsoft to a compiled form of HTML or
some such as the new form of Winhelp files in the nebulous future has not made
all
these existing tools/programs obsolete, as there'll be many Win31 users for a
long long
time who won't move to Win95 or its next upgrade [Win1999?] soon, if ever.
Al Rubottom
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