> A CHM file is essentially a compressed website with the CHM reader > providing indexing and searching capabilities. The CHM reader is, to a > point, IE. Anything IE can do then a CHM can do (ok, don't go over > board on this, it is only a help file). > > The Extended CHM had additional javascript code to allow the user > notes to be integrated at runtime (2 CHMs, Manual and User Notes). The > old style build process for the ExCHM converted the usernotes into > separate HTML files per manual page. > > The ExCHM also supported skinning by using different JS/CSS files > controlled by a small windows GUI application. > > The process of getting the user notes into the main page involved some > rather nifty javascript which essentially grabbed the notes HTML and > dropped it into a container (though in hindsight, maybe an iframe > would have been a better option here). The CHM indexing and searching > could search both the usernotes and the main manual. > > As a consequence, the main document was adjusted at runtime to > accommodate the usernotes. This had an unfortunate side effect of > losing any highlights added by the CHM reader. > i haven't get into the detail how php extended chm was implemented, but i doulbt that ie specified js/dom code is required by skining. there're a lot of chm under linux and you don't have IE/js
and yes, chm with index/seraching(indexed/ranked) is much more handy than other stupid doc format e.g.: with gnu info, u can search, but no one want to search a doc like a whole x.y Mbytes text files (no ranking) that you jump from one match word to next silbing match word
