Re: [OT] Help Viewer blows
Re: [OT] Help Viewer blows
- Subject: Re: [OT] Help Viewer blows
- From: Robert Palmer Jr <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 10:04:26 -0400
You can provide a table of contents, I've seen it in numerous
application's Apple Help files. Additionally, one of the things
someone else lamented was that Apple Help wouldn't direct you through a
process. That again is not entirely true. I have seen help pages that
contain links that do certain tasks when clicked - I believe that the
link is just running an AppleScript.
So, I think the bottom line is that some of these complaints fall back
on the developers. If they want to write plain HTML and then pump it
through the index generator, they can create a simple Help file with
search capabilities. However if the developer takes the time, they can
add a table of contents. If they have written their application to be
AppleScriptable, they should be able to trigger any scriptable
functionality in their app from the help document.
While I don't completely like the Apple Help, I think some of the blame
falls squarely on the shoulders of developers for not taking advantages
of the features available - "because it's too much work". Good
documentation is hard to find because most developers put it off till
the last minute and don't make the effort to create good docs. Good
docs can be as time consuming as the code itself.
Robert Palmer, Jr
email@hidden
On Thursday, October 24, 2002, at 07:46 PM, Jonathan Hendry wrote:
I really, really, really dislike the 'ask a question' approach. I want
a full table
of contents, and a decent human-readable index of terms covered, in
addition
to the automated search.
--
Jonathan W. Hendry NeXTSTEP/OpenStep/Cocoa
email@hidden programmer in Connecticut
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