Yes, it's an unhelpful debacle. The Microsoft Help Compiler Kit (or similar name) is fine for making CHM files - it manages links, directory structure, indexing. FrontPage has also disappeared from my machines, so I tend to write html in Word and save as bare HTML (an option on Save As..). It's small.
Just checking - I would start at http://www.helpmvp.com/docs-1/helpbasics I think Helpware give some advice on be best way to make your compiled HTML help from scratch, and everything you want is accessible as a link or a download from there. A couple of years ago, there was a very keen Microsoft person with responsibility for Help 3 - she got moved elsewhere a year or so ago. There's probably book full of stories explaining why Microsoft help hasn't progressed since CHM. As I said, CHM and PDF are my fallbacks. _____ Ian Thomas Victoria Park, Western Australia _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Greg Keogh Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 5:04 PM To: 'ozDotNet' Subject: RE: Help authoring Oh drats! It's as bad as my expectations. We seem to be in help limbo. I have so many SDKs installed that if I put another one in just to fiddle with some new beta help format I think my hard drive will collapse into a black hole. And lord knows how much more of my time another kit will waste. >From reading the links I think I'll just stick with safe but boring CHM files for now, until someone announces a trusted direction with nice tools and industry wide support. Sadly, I don't own any modern tools for generating help, so how on earth am I going to generate CHM files? I used to use FrontPage to make the HTML files and then glue them together with the humble HTML Help Workshop. FrontPage is gone! What do I write HTML help documents in now? Visual Studio? Expression web? I get this feeling Something is rotten or directionless in help land. Greg _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3225 - Release Date: 10/28/10
