Re: "webhelp" and java

[Eric Ray <ejr -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

At 11:17 AM 5/24/99 -0700, Mary Choy wrote:
>The client insisted I make the help app in HTML, not in the standard
>Robohelp Classic.

Can't help specifically with this problem, but another solution that
seems to have some potential is ForeFront's InterHelp
(www.ff.com). The software (ForeHelp) is easy to use
and offers some pretty good functionality. The TOC
and search Java applets are nice and powerful, and offer
better performance than most of the alternatives I've
seen (and fewer bug gripes than Webhelp seems to
have).

ForeFront's tech support is mediocre at best, though. You
don't spend any time in voicemail queues and talk
to a real person immediately, which is a big plus, but the
downside is that you end up talking with tech support reps
who don't know the difference between a .cab file and a
.zip file and a .jar file (which is incredible for someone supporting
Java applets). Actually getting answers is somewhere between
a game of 20 questions and finding out from a preschooler
what happened at preschool (Did you find an answer to
the question? Yes. What was it? You need updated software.
Where do I get it? From our Web site. What's the URL?
www.ff.com. Can you give me a specific URL or am I
supposed to just browse until I stumble onto it? etc.)

Carry on this exchange via email for additional entertainment.

Eric




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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_

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