Customizable Help

[Mike Starr]

Depends on what tool you're using. It could be fairly simple and 
straight-forward if you're using RoboHelp, Flare or AuthorIT and it might be 
equally simple with other tools I'm not familiar with. You should be able to 
specify different blocks of text with conditional text and output the 
customized help you require.

Best regards

Mike
--
Mike Starr                            WriteStarr Information Services
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----- Original Message -----
From: "David Loveless" <daveloveless at gmail.com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com>
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 10:27 AM
Subject: Customizable Help

> Here's the situation:
>
> The company I work for develops enterprise software. Because of the
> nature of our product, I need to provide each of the company's clients
> with customized help. Typically, this is as simple as adding or
> removing single lines of information. For example, some clients want
> their employees to go step A, then B, then C. Others just want steps A
> and C plus D. Most other customizations are simple edits to the skin.
> Each help system is relatively small and simple, but the potential
> growth in clients is enormous.
>
> After analyzing everything, I think I can get away with writing a
> universal help that includes all the available steps and then
> basically picking and choosing the information I want to include. What
> I would like to do is develop the universal help to a point where I
> could, simply by asking several well-formed questions, determine the
> help they want and need and then just "request" that information from
> a database of all possible information.
>
> The image I have in my mind is almost a questionnaire where I could go
> down the list and basically mark in or out for the "customized"
> portions of the help, click build, and get a generic help that would
> then be reviewed for accuracy.
>
> My problem:
>
> I've never done anything remotely like this. I barely even know where
> to start except to say that I have a finished product in mind. Has
> anyone done anything like this? Are there any specific programs that
> could create this type of help? Any suggested plans of attack or
> strategies?
>
> I currently have MadCap Flare as my HAT, but the higher ups are
> willing to spring for whatever will accomplish the job. Writing Help
> is a relatively new experience for me, but I do have some experience
> under my belt. I'm more than willing to learn and try something new.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dave
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