XYplorer Beta Club

bergfex wrote:

admin wrote:The sad truth is that H&M is not even able to parse my Help sources (let alone the HLP file) correctly (the free MS Help Compiler from 1997 has no problems with it!). I've spent hours with trying everything imaginable but it simply does not work. I'm really slightly depressed now, because I planned to publish XY 7.50 with a brandnew help (CHM, PDF, HTML) -- but it looks like my bad experience with Help software continues. I will probably have to write my own help software... arggh.

Unfortunately it seems to be no trivial task to convert one format into another. Have you already tried some of the tips at this website?

Yes, I know it. I'm still studying the possibilities...

admin wrote:Question to all Vista users here: what help format is commonly used by applications under Vista? Is it Microsoft Help 2.0 (.HXS) or is HMTL Help (.CHM) more common?

Still need an answer to this...

I encounter CHM very frequently indeed

ivan wrote:I encounter CHM very frequently indeed

Do you like it? (I personally never could bring myself to like CHM.)

admin wrote:Do you like it? (I personally never could bring myself to like CHM.)

Not particularly, but I do encounter it a lot. If you ask me then you should go for either PDF or HXS if you can.

ivan wrote:

admin wrote:Do you like it? (I personally never could bring myself to like CHM.)

Not particularly, but I do encounter it a lot. If you ask me then you should go for either PDF or HXS if you can.

See new poll: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2781

I researched about HXS and it looks like it only works for .Net applications which XY is not (luckily!).

admin wrote:See new poll: http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2781

I researched about HXS and it looks like it only works for .Net applications which XY is not (luckily!).

My votes have been cast. Then I guess PDF it is. I just can't help think that CHM is so "Windows 98"

admin wrote:

ivan wrote:I encounter CHM very frequently indeed

Do you like it? (I personally never could bring myself to like CHM.)

Just for fun, I did a search for CHM's on my W2K sys...found 382 of them! Found a bunch in the iTunes folders, and also ZoneAlarm and SyncBack use it...I prefer it to PDF as it's: 1) self-contained 2)doesn't require a separate viewing pgm 3) has built-in contents/index/search abilities which in some cases may not be as good as PDF, but in other cases, is superior due to tree structure 4) has option (if defined in file) to define favorites

State of affairs:

It wasn't my first research on Help tools but the result was the same as ever: they don't work. Man landed on the moon, but even 40 years later it's not possible to automatically convert HLP to CHM, even if you provide all the sources and are ready to shell out 100s of dollars to get the job done. It might be the proof of the old Latin saying: "Software is not the solution, it's the problem!"

Anyway, I'll check back in 2009. For the time being we will continue with WinHelp.

admin wrote:Anyway, I'll check back in 2009. For the time being we will continue with WinHelp.

Sounds reasonable. I prefer CHM, but old WinHelp's not bad (just looking a bit out of date these days). One thing I'd strongly recommend, is don't move to help that's only available if you're online. (I assume that's what the "Wiki" option in the poll meant).

Also, I'm not sure what PDFHelp was, but a printable manual (in something like PDF) is a nice extra. Frankly, though, I can't imagine it's worth maintaining a manual as well as the help - I'd rather you spent your time coding

The help's pretty good already, though, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Paul.

Can't CHM include a print.css file? (I'm talking out my arse here as I have no clue about CHM, only that it stands for compiled HTML, so I figured you could include CSS files in it no?) If it can, then you only need to develop the print style sheet once and then it should print pretty damn well anyway

lukescammell wrote:Can't CHM include a print.css file? (I'm talking out my arse here as I have no clue about CHM, only that it stands for compiled HTML, so I figured you could include CSS files in it no?) If it can, then you only need to develop the print style sheet once and then it should print pretty damn well anyway

You can include CSS, that much I know. But since I cannot produce a good CHM file in the first place...

admin wrote:Question to all Vista users here: what help format is commonly used by applications under Vista? Is it Microsoft Help 2.0 (.HXS) or is HMTL Help (.CHM) more common?

That's a good question. Like so many things in Vista (default fonts, menus, toolbars...), there seems to be no standard at all. But the most common seems to be CHM. Windows itself seems to be using a customized version of CHM.

I chose PDF in the poll simply because I know it would work anywhere. But I do like CHM because it's more compact than opening something like Reader just to view a help file. I would have chosen CHM if I was certain that's actually what Vista is using....

Anyway, you might be interested to know that Vista cannot even open the old HLP files at all. Fortunately Vista provided a convenient link to a download on the Microsoft site which will let you open these files. Still a bit of a hassle though. You might want to consider speeding up your efforts to release a new help file

Can you include JS in CHM?

Rhywun wrote:

admin wrote:Question to all Vista users here: what help format is commonly used by applications under Vista? Is it Microsoft Help 2.0 (.HXS) or is HMTL Help (.CHM) more common?

That's a good question. Like so many things in Vista (default fonts, menus, toolbars...), there seems to be no standard at all. But the most common seems to be CHM. Windows itself seems to be using a customized version of CHM.

I chose PDF in the poll simply because I know it would work anywhere. But I do like CHM because it's more compact than opening something like Reader just to view a help file. I would have chosen CHM if I was certain that's actually what Vista is using....

Anyway, you might be interested to know that Vista cannot even open the old HLP files at all. Fortunately Vista provided a convenient link to a download on the Microsoft site which will let you open these files. Still a bit of a hassle though. You might want to consider speeding up your efforts to release a new help file

I limited my search for help authoring software to products below 1000 US$, and had no success: They all failed to deliver a perfect product. I know that it's important to offer a compatible help. I will start a new research in the beginning of 2009, and might even settle for a non-perfect product then...