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Subject:Re: Review--JavaHelp Jumpstart Conference -Reply From:Eric Ray <ejr -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 10 May 1999 13:26:56 -0600
Forwarded on request.
>From: "Bill Sullivan" <bsullivan -at- powerware -dot- com>
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU, ejr -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM
>Subject: Re: Review--JavaHelp Jumpstart Conference -Reply
>
>I did not attend the JavaHelp Jumpstart Conference, but I have read posts by Mark, Eric, and David with interest. I downloaded JH1 about 10 days ago and have been taking an HTML Help program that I wrote and fitting it to the JH1 mold. So far, I like what I see. It's an elegant interface, but also a work in progress. Here are some detailed comments:
>
>1. I think Sun made a marketing mistake when they included a chapter in their documentation headed "Limitations and Bugs." They should have introduced this body of information as a list of requirements. You want to to this, you do this. It's not a bug, it's a feature. Remember?
>
>2. The lack of a printing capability seems to be indigenous to Java. It should not be a bugaboo, however. Pdf files for printing are a likely option. It is also possible to open a JH1 HTML file in a browser and print it from there.
>
>3. I have been fussing with the index, and I have been trying to learn how to work with it. Has anyone else looked closely at this? In Sun's demo app, most index entries lead to procedures. That isn't how I index a help program. I am still thinking about the JH1 index and what I want an index to do. Right now, without going into details, I think it's a little bumpy.
>
>4. I haven't bought a HAT yet. I have been building my own files for mapping the toc and index in Notepad, editing the ones Sun provided. Yesterday I used their hsviewer1_1.bat utility to troubleshoot an hs file that wouldn't work for me. Setting it up took a little doing (undocumented features!) but I was happy with the result. I think this is a program a tech writer (with a little patience) can live with. Winhelp when it first came along wasn't superslick either. JH can only get better.
>
>Bill Sullivan -- I also do OS/2 help-;(
>Powerware Corporation
>San Diego, California
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray RayComm, Inc. http://www.raycomm.com/ ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
*Award-winning author of several popular computer books
*Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
*Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
