Resources - comparing HATS

[Mary Arrotti]

When I transitioned to working primarily as a Help developer - I spent a lot of time on research - reading various books, articles, looking at every Help system I could. It's been a while though & unfortunately I can't provide you with any resources. Hopefully, others can help out with that.
   
  I do understand that it's pretty overwhelming to look at the Help comparisons & reviews. The thing to understand is that it doesn't matter what all can be done with the tools but to focus on what *you* need to accomplish. If you haven't done this yet - you might want to spend time discussing this with the developers and product group. 
   
  When I changed Help tools, one of my requirements was support for double-byte characters. That knocked a few tools out of the running. So (as an example), you might want to check if there is a need or future need to translate to Asian languages. That's just one example but it's definitely worth defining exactly what's needed & what might be needed in future. You might also want to see if there's anything unique in terms of integration or the output of the Help. Also, if you will be passing on the Help - what type of person will be updating it? What's their skillset & how easy will it be for them to learn the tool? 
   
  In some instances, Help development and its requirements can be very complex. Some of us end up doing things that are uncommon or unique so there isn't always advice or info available. 

Tim Mantyla <TimMantyla at nustep.com> wrote:
  More to the point: Do you know any more good resources, lists, sites? (Quick look-up places) 

       
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