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Home > Training: HTML-based help: Developing HTML-based help
Developing HTML-Based Help: Designs, Trends, and Strategies
Course duration: 2 days
Class details: Not hands on (but lots of interactive discussion and examples)
Cost: Contact us for pricing
Availability: Onsite; occasionally available as a public course
Much of the information that's available for HTML-based help development focuses on design choices and authoring tool specifics: a nod, no doubt, to the practical and often harried nature of our jobs. This course carries these ideas a little further, by focusing on the relationship between the technical and strategic requirements of HTML-based help development and the design choices we must make, particularly when developing cross-platform, cross-browser online help systems.
In this two-day course, we'll look at such ideas as:
- In-depth technical analyses of the HTML-based help development systems from Microsoft, Sun, and other vendors, such as eHelp and ForeFront
- A detailed review of design and architectural models for HTML-based help
- The types of designs that really work online, both in desktop and Web-based settings (with emphasis on cross-browser situations)
- A look at the aspects of Web technologies - such as Dynamic HTML, ActiveX, Java, scripting, and stylesheets - that can affect the implementation of your help system
This content of this course isn't specific to particular authoring tools or help development environments, although we will discuss specifics of tools and development environments as appropriate.
Note: Outlines are subject to change without notice but will cover the same content.
Course outline
Part 1. About This Course
- What does this course cover?
- A few assumptions about you
- A short overview of hypertext design
Part 2. An Introduction to HTML-Based Help
- What is HTML-based help, really?
- Properties of an HTML-based help system
- Technical requirements of systems that use HTML-based help
- A short review of terminology
Part 3. Design models for HTML-based Help
- Choosing a design model
- Choosing between software-centric and content-centric designs
- A look at common models
- The tripane model
- The scripted model
- The website model
- The embedded model
- Evaluation of models for cross-platform, cross-browser help systems
Part 4. Choosing a Help Development Environment
- Requirements for choosing a help development environment
- Comparison of HTML-based help development systems
- Microsoft HTML Help
- Microsoft Help 2.0
- Sun JavaHelp
- Oracle Help for Java
- WebHelp, InterHelp, and similar solutions
- Customized HTML-based help solutions
- A look at special requirements of cross-browser, cross-platform help
Part 5. Choosing the Architecture
- A summary of issues
- Condition 1 - Help system architecture
- A little architecture theory
- Standalone
- Layered
- Context-sensitive
- Modular
- Condition 2 - Technical considerations
- Technical requirements
- Software-centric versus HTML-centric control
- Deployed components
- Condition 3 - Development system requirements
- What type of application?
- Operating system requirements
- Level of integration
- Product architecture
- Browser requirements
- Special requirements of weblications
- Which requirements does your authoring tool meet?
Part 6. How Sexy Can HTML-Based Help Be?
- The feasiblity of using Web technologies in a cross-browser environment
- A look at browser trends
- Common cross-browser development concerns
- Style sheets
- Downloading and speed issues
- Dynamic HTML
- Multimedia
- Scripting
- Embedding
- Software components
- The impact of XML technologies
- How do these trends affect invention
Part 7. Managing HTML-based Help Systems
- The single-sourcing trend
- Developing dynamic style guides
- Developing project templates
- Developing topic templates
- Developing scripts
- Testing reminders
Part 8. The Status of HTML-Based Help Designs
- Some thoughts on HTMl-based interfaces
- What's happening with help on the desktop?
- What's happening with help on the Web?
- The dilemmas of access and speed
- The "hunt and peck" focus
- The problem of "dead-end" help
- Web-based online help examples
- Implementation restrictions for cross-platform, cross-browser help
Part 9. Designing topics
- The goals of topic design
- Multi-topic designs: pros and cons
- Implications for content development
- Single-topic designs: pros and cons
- Some common design models
- Technical issues that affect topic design
- Developing information types
- Technical issues that affect topic design
Part 10. Designing Navigation
- The goals of navigation design
- Providing user access: help and online documentation examples
- Developing document navigation
- Table of contents
- Index
- Full-text search
- Natural language query
- Browsing
- Designing links to support "clickthrough"
- The concept of "clickthrough"
- Controlling hotspot appearance
- Assessing hotspot quality
- Working with bookmarks
- Developing local and remote links
- Linking to other file formats
- Technical issues that affect link design
- Developing browsing and sign-posting
- Technical issues that affect navigational design
Part 11. Developing Graphics
- The goals of graphics design
- The expense of graphics
- Graphics as user interface elements
- Tips and tricks on graphics handling
- Developing image maps
- Increasing performance
- Technical issues that affect graphics design
Part 12. Developing Real Estate
- The goals of real-estate design
- Managing real estate with windows
- Using traditional windowing designs
- Understanding nontraditional designs
- Using popup windows
- Using multiple windows
- Managing real estate with frames and tables
- Developing embedded help
- The goals of embedding on the web
- Design strategies
- Authoring and implementation issues
- Technical issues that affect real estate design
Part 13. Developing Context-Sensitive Help and Product Interaction
- The goals of context-sensitivity in a web setting
- A look at field-level help
- A look at window-level help
- Traditional versus emerging designs
- Improving usability
- Developing embedded assistance
- Attributes of web technologies that support integration and interaction
- Examples of product interaction in web-based help
- Technical issues that affect context-sensitivity and product interaction
Part 14. A Summary of Authoring Foundations and Quandaries
- Common authoring solutions
- That zero-client installation requirements
- Other issues to consider
- The Catch-22
- What would I do?
- My preferences
- Attributes of web technologies that support integration and interaction
- Examples of product interaction in web-based help
- Technical issues that affect context-sensitivity and product interaction
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