Building a Help System (HTML Files)

[Susan Steen]

Hello,

 

Currently at my company, we deliver PDF files for all of your product
documentation. The PDF files are distributed to our customer base
through zip files or our Downloads site.

 

The goal is to do the following: 

*	Eliminate the PDF files and convert our Word documents into HTML
files
*	Build an online Help system using HTML files
*	Integrate the HTML online Help into our java-based application
*	Use a freeware product to convert our Word documents to HTML
files
*	Use a freeware product to create and compile the HTML files
*	Output the files in the same format as RoboHelp or Webworks with
the traditional book/page structure
*	If possible, include Index and Search capabilities

 

Questions:

To begin, can anyone recommend the following?

*	Utilities or applications (free, of course) that can convert a
user guide of 100+ pages into individual HTML files
*	Freeware applications that compile HTML help and output as a
.chm file
*	Integration tips on how to integrate the HTML files or .chm file
into a Java-based application. As a starting point, we want to deploy
the entire Help system in the application---Context sensitive help will
be phase 2 or phase 3 of this initiative.

 

Any recommendations are much appreciated!

Thx again,

Susan