Online help software.* RoboHelp (tool) RoboHELP - A Microsoft Windows Help authoring tool from Blue Sky Software. Used with Microsoft Word to create Help files for inclusion in a Windows application or for stand alone use. X4, software, 2003, eHelp Corporation (company) eHelp Corporation - A vendor of Microsoft Windows application development tools such as RoboHELP and RoboDemo. EHelp were formerly (around 1997) Blue Sky Software. eHelp Home. Address: 7777 Fay Avenue, Suite 201, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA. (800-358-9370, www.ehelp.com), $899. User guide. EHelp Corporation (now merged with Macromedia (Macromedia, Inc., San Francisco, CA, www.macromedia.com) A software company specializing in multimedia authoring tools that was acquired by Adobe Systems, Inc. in mid-2005. It was founded in 1992 by the merger of Authorware, Inc., which was founded in 1984, and MacroMind-Paracomp. ) seems to have cornered the market on creating and managing online help systems that save time and money as well as enhance end user productivity and satisfaction. RoboHelp Office is the only authoring tool that makes it easy for help authors, technical writers, and developers to create online help for web-based and desktop applications. The RoboHelp Office authoring environment is so flexible that it provides everything you need to enter and format text and design links; insert images, multimedia, and navigational elements; and apply special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. . It shows different ways to manage and organize a project so you can concentrate on structuring, writing, testing, and delivering the final product to the end user. You should have a concrete plan for your documentation, however. The software will not rescue you from disorganization disorganization /dis·or·gan·iza·tion/ (-or?gan-i-za´shun) the process of destruction of any organic tissue; any profound change in the tissues of an organ or structure which causes the loss of most or all of its proper characters. Which output? Along with the project management features and consistent ways to assemble, check, and repair help systems, RoboHelp comes with two authoring tools: RoboHelp for Word and RoboHelp HTML HTML in full HyperText Markup Language Markup language derived from SGML that is used to prepare hypertext documents. Relatively easy for nonprogrammers to master, HTML is the language used for documents on the World Wide Web. . With these two tools you can create an array of different outputs for a single project, including WinHelp, FlashHelp, HTML Help, and hardcopy. The output feature is impressive. Often, help authors must think carefully about the type of output they will create because of the many types of browsers and platforms in use in organizations. In RoboHelp Office you can create output files that run on a variety of different viewers and platforms, support particular features, and display a range of interfaces. For example let's say that the help platform you are working on is web-based, and end users employ a variety of browsers. With RoboHelp, you would select WebHelp, a cross platform, browserindependent output. Or, if you want to merge files or projects on a web server and run a report on those files or project (maybe you want to see how much your end users view a certain help topic), you choose WebHelp Pro, a server-based output. One more point concerning output: If you need direction on how to select output, you can take the short tour in the RoboHelp Starter Authoring environments RoboHelp's authoring environments, RoboHelp HTML and RoboHelp Word, share similar functionality. Which tool you choose depends on the authoring environment you prefer and the features you want to deliver to your help system. Here is a look at the essential features of each: * RoboHelp HTML provides an abundance Abundance See also Fertility. Amalthea’s horn horn of Zeus’s nurse-goat which became a cornucopia. [Gk. Myth.: Walsh Classical, 19] cornucopia conical receptacle which symbolizes abundance. [Rom. Myth. of ways to organize and manage your project. You can use any popular HTML editor A low-level Web site authoring tool that is essentially a text editor, specialized for writing HTML code. It assists the HTML author by cataloging all HTML tags and common structures in menus and by being able to catch certain syntax errors. such as Dreamweaver, FrontPage, and HomeSite or utilize RoboHelp HTML's powerful built-in WISWYG Editor. * The RoboHelp HTML flexible environment provides everything you need to author and format text, design links, apply special effects, and add many other features such as popups, indexes, table of contents, and custom folders. * RoboHelp for Word uses the Microsoft Word A full-featured word processing program for Windows and the Macintosh from Microsoft. Included in the Microsoft application suite, it is a sophisticated program with rudimentary desktop publishing capabilities that has become the most widely used word processing application on the market. as its host editor so you can revise your help topics in a familiar environment. Use RoboHelp for Word to organize and manage your source files, see a visual illustration of your topic links, and quickly develop a table of contents, browse (1) To view the contents of a file or a group of files. Browser programs generally let you view data by scrolling through the documents or databases. In a database program, the browse mode often lets you edit the data. See Web browser. sequences, make an index, and more. EHelp has chosen authoring tools wisely because HTML and Microsoft Word are two of the most popular software packages on today's marketplace. Their widespread use means that new users of RoboHelp can start authoring without being entirely familiar with the software. Both tools use a similar interface design; this makes it easy to move between the two tools without having to learn new features. RoboHelp's import utility allows you to bring an existing project into RoboHelp Office. For instance, let's say that you have a prior project created in Microsoft Word. All you have to do is select the project name, and RoboHelp will automatically load and set up tools and menu structures in the Word header (1) In a disk or tape file, a set of data that resides permanently at the beginning. It may be used for identification only (type of file, date of last update, etc.), or it may describe the structural layout of the contents, as is common with many document and database formats. . The RoboHelp tool bar appears in the header of Word. It is dockable and can be moved anywhere on the screen. The result is considerable time savings. Learning the software RoboHelp has several different helpful resources if you are new to the product or help authoring in general: Online help: The online Help provided with the software gives detailed information on using every feature in the program. Help Community: A great place to find online technical support, product and industry information is eHelp's Help community. Learn product tips, get peer-to-peer assistance in forums, and find answers in the product knowledge base. Visit www.helpcommunity.ehelp.com, or in RoboHelp, select Help menu, then select Help Community Web Site. Windows-level help: In every dialog or window, you can press the F1 key or click Help to get the information about the component you are using. Tutorial An instructional book or program that takes the user through a prescribed sequence of steps in order to learn a product. Contrast with documentation, which, although instructional, tends to group features and functions by category. See tutorials in this publication. : Chapter 3 of the manual is a comprehensive tutorial on how to create a help project. The same tutorial is also available online in the RoboHelp Starter window: select the Help menu and then RoboHelp tutorial I personally prefer the online tutorial. It is an enjoyable and simple way to learn how to use RoboHelp. It gives you the foundation for using the basic features, along with hands-on experience using the additional features that enhance the design and usability How easy something is to use. Both software and Web sites can be tested for usability. Considering how difficult applications are to use and Web sites are to navigate, one would wish that more designers took this seriously. See user interface and usability lab. of your projects. The tutorial takes one to two hours depending on your level of knowledge. As you complete each lesson, you will learn how to develop a project for displaying online information in a browser browser Software that allows a computer user to find and view information on the Internet. The first text-based browser for the World Wide Web became available in 1991; Web use expanded rapidly after the release in 1993 of a browser called Mosaic, which used with a table of contents, index, and other features. Recommendation I could talk for hours on the flexibility, ease of use, and the functionality of the RoboHelp Office software. However, I will sum up in a few sentences. It is ideal for technical writers, help authors, and developers who create professional online help projects that improve the usability of web-based and Windows applications A program that is written to run under Microsoft's Windows operating system. Such applications typically run under all 32-bit versions of Windows, but earlier applications might also run under the 16-bit versions (Windows 3.x) as well. See Windows. . It is a great value for large organizations that specialize spe·cial·ize v. 1. To limit one's profession to a particular specialty or subject area for study, research, or treatment. 2. To adapt to a particular function or environment. in creating online documentation. However, a small organization or an individual may find it difficult at best to justify the $899 price. RoboHelp X4 product rating Presentation Outsanding Production quality Outsanding Ease of use Outsanding Value of purpose Outsanding Value for the money Very good Documentation/Help Outsanding Overall rating Outsanding |
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