Hi Alfred,
I hope this message gets thru as I've posted a few to this list
lately that I've not seen come back to me or even located on the
administration pages!
Just some thoughts: I would ask first what is it that you really
want to provide? I've seen Wiki-like programs which users are asked to keep
updated and then when a certain amount of new material has been added, it is
turned into a windows HLP file that can be downloaded. But this isn't going
to be of much help for your customers who have no Web access or who can only
access it once in a great while. Also, the point of a help file, no matter
the format, is to provide help, NOT to ask for help!
The wiki idea is okay if first you have a full and complete help
file available with the program to answer your customer's questions and help
solve their problems up front. Then as mentioned above, you can generate
additions or updates to it either based upon your own findings or those of
your customers who can provide additions. But you certainly can't provide
help properly by simply putting up a Wiki and asking your users to do the
work for you! <g>
And if one is going to go thru the trouble of building a good help
file to begin with, you might consider the idea that instead of opening it
up to public alterations as a Wiki does, that instead you ask for comments
and/or feedback via e-mail directly from within the help file and/or from
your Web site. Then YOU are the one who has full control over what new
information is added to it, because as we all know, it's quite easy for
users to come up with the wrong idea or to interpret things differently than
you might want them to! You must be able to look over any possible
alterations BEFORE they are posted to ensure their quality and accuracy!
Finally, it seemed apparent to me from your initial message on this
subject that you were really looking for an easier way to provide
help...that you were not quite thrilled about having to deal with hlp or chm
files in the first place. If I read this correctly you might consider
simply adding a Help topic to your web site within the section on a
particular application, done in plain old html! This would not only allow
you to update it at anytime easily and quickly, notating such additions or
changes on your "what's new" page, but also would allow those who wanted to
the opportunity to download those sections they might wish to keep locally!
And of course this would also suffice as the help file that you could
include with the original program! You can even build links into your
application that when run locally will look for a cached copy of the html
help file on the system and then also, if the user has dedicated access,
will go out and auto-download updates from your site when available!
The point is you have many choices available to you, so it's
important to first be sure you know exactly what you want to provide and why
as well as ascertaining what you can easily deal with at your end!
from Robert Meek dba Tangentals Design
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On Behalf Of Andre van Zuydam
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 7:00 AM
To: Delphi-Talk Discussion List
Subject: Re: Another Topic : Open to All to participate
Thanks Alfred
Thats an excellent idea! So part of my package builder could be creating a
chm from the wikipedia htmlfiles.
I'm going to do some testing on this to see what works well.
This subject is not closed however - any added comments are welcome.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alfred Vink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'Delphi-Talk Discussion List'" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:56 PM
Subject: RE: Another Topic : Open to All to participate
>
> >From the html files made by the wikipedia system you could periodically
> create a new .chm file.
> This way people could update the help file without updateing the full
> application.
>
> Don't know how the wikipedia system works, maybe it's a MySQL database
which
> dynamically generates pages, which complicates things a bit but still
should
> be possible.
>
> Creating CHM is easily done with the free HTML Help Workshop from MS.
>
> Alfred
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> Van: Andre van Zuydam [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Verzonden: zaterdag 10 december 2005 12:32
> Aan: Delphi-Talk Discussion List
> Onderwerp: Re: Another Topic : Open to All to participate
>
> Thanks for the reponse Alfred - I do believe it was a wikipedia type help
> system I had in mind. What do I do about the people who have no internet
> access? In my country South Africa a lot of people have little or no
> internet access. Is it possible to ship a wikipedia like help file as
part
> of an installation?
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alfred Vink" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "'Delphi-Talk Discussion List'" <[email protected]>
> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 1:00 PM
> Subject: RE: Another Topic : Open to All to participate
>
>
> >
> > As you are suggesting a kind of wikipedia like help system, I would
> > make
> it
> > just that.
> > Host the help files on your website by means of a wikipedia-like script.
> > User can update/correct the help files on your website.
> >
> > In this case I would keep the help files seperate from your application.
> >
> > Refer to the online help files from your application.
> >
> > Alfred
> >
> >
> > -----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
> > Van: Andre van Zuydam [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Verzonden: zaterdag 10 december 2005 11:44
> > Aan: Delphi-Talk Discussion List
> > Onderwerp: Another Topic : Open to All to participate
> >
> > Topic : Providing Help in a Delphi Application
> >
> > My previous software applications I've written have never got so
> complicated
> > as to need a help file for the user, but now since I want to package
> > some
> of
> > my newer software I want to implement help systems in the software.
> > Traditionally this is done by creating hlp files or now the newer CHM
> files.
> > Being a single developer I do not have a whole department to write the
> help
> > files for the user. I have done help for previous applications but I
> > find it terribly cumbersome.
> >
> > I had an idea based on websites I've seen to provide a simple help
> > file
> for
> > the user and then let the user expand on the help file when they get
> > stuck with certain situations. Does anyone have any suggestions about
> > how to tackle this issue of putting a help system in a programme?
> >
> > Yours sincerely
> >
> > Andre van Zuydam
> > Spiceware Software
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> >
> >
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> >
>
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