Help in chm format

[clauderenaud]

Hi all,


I'm very new on this forum and have one wish to submit about the fabulous XYplorer product which just replaced my Total Commander software on my system...
What about having the XYplorer online help in the chm format ?
I ask this because I'm a blind man and my screen reader, the software I use to work with windows, feels more confortable with html pages than regular help file... Navigating in that kind of pages is easier for me in that way...

[admin]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

[clauderenaud]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

Apparently for vista, MS has released a fix to support the old hlp format...(google will tell you more than me)

When I programmed, several years ago, I found a help decompiler to convert .hlp file in rtf format, used helpscribble from http://www.helpscribble.Com, a commercial product to compile those rtf in various other formats (webhelp,, chm ...).
But if you have the sources, you just have to use the helpworkshop from ms to compile them...

Take a look at the website mentionned above and you'll find tips and tricks to do this ...

[clauderenaud]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

I just found a simplest way to do so and most important, free !!!
Just take a look at HelpNDoc at http://www.ibe-software.com/index.php

[admin]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

I just found a simplest way to do so and most important, free !!!
Just take a look at HelpNDoc at http://www.ibe-software.com/index.php

Looks good (as so many do, from the outside), but have you tried it? I've been bitten once too much by free help authoring software -- I'm not going to try any without personal experienced recommendation.

[admin]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

I just found a simplest way to do so and most important, free !!!
Just take a look at HelpNDoc at http://www.ibe-software.com/index.php

Looks good (as so many do, from the outside), but have you tried it? I've been bitten once too much by free help authoring software -- I'm not going to try any without personal experienced recommendation.

Correction: it costs 45 Euros (for commercial use, which mine would certainly be), so it might be not that bad...

[jacky]

Correction: it costs 45 Euros (for commercial use, which mine would certainly be), so it might be not that bad...

I have no idea what this soft is worth, I never tried it, but I just wanna say, cause it made me smile a little

there must be some strong psychological force at work that keeps people happy while working with an (often) inferior tool ("shitty but free").

there's also a psychological force at work that seems to make you think that, since you need to pay for it, it's a good/better tool. That's just as false as to say every free soft is inferior (Note: I'm not saying that's what you implied there) Beleive me whe I say I have seem many many really shitty soft that were payware, and sometimes incredibly expensive, too!

But again, never tried this one, might be worth every penny

[admin]

Correction: it costs 45 Euros (for commercial use, which mine would certainly be), so it might be not that bad...

I have no idea what this soft is worth, I never tried it, but I just wanna say, cause it made me smile a little

there must be some strong psychological force at work that keeps people happy while working with an (often) inferior tool ("shitty but free").

there's also a psychological force at work that seems to make you think that, since you need to pay for it, it's a good/better tool. That's just as false as to say every free soft is inferior (Note: I'm not saying that's what you implied there) Beleive me whe I say I have seem many many really shitty soft that were payware, and sometimes incredibly expensive, too!

But again, never tried this one, might be worth every penny

Ja ja, I knew you would jump on this I know that there's incredibly good freeware (firefox...) and incredibly bad payware (did I bash MS Word today already?) -- but in the field of help tools, in my personal and painful experience, the world is still old-school: free = worthless. Repeat: my own experience.

And, yes, I know that the best things in life are for free. Hey, I play rock guitar when Windows is in hibernation mode!

[clauderenaud]

I don't like the CHM format very much, it's slow and clumsy, at least to me. I'm just used to HLP.
However, the days of HLP are ending... Vista does not even support the HLP format anymore.
So, IF it would be easy, I would switch to CHM today. However, I did various researches over 2 years or so, and never found a tool that could convert HLP to CHM in a convincing manner. I got the impression that the whole Help-Tool is a heap of crap, unless you pay a LOT of money.

So, maybe you have a tip for me? And welcome to XY!!

I just found a simplest way to do so and most important, free !!!
Just take a look at HelpNDoc at http://www.ibe-software.com/index.php

Looks good (as so many do, from the outside), but have you tried it? I've been bitten once too much by free help authoring software -- I'm not going to try any without personal experienced recommendation.

No, no tested.
I only used the commercial product mentionned above...