Apple's Help Viewer
Apple's Help Viewer
- Subject: Apple's Help Viewer
- From: Jerry Krinock <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 13:41:45 -0700
I have used some very nice applications that open their help in the default
web browser instead of Apple's Help Viewer. I'm working on a rewrite of my
app and I think I am going to use the default web browser also. Before I do
so, I'd like to ask if anyone knows of some benefits of Apple's Help Viewer
which I have overlooked.
Thanks,
Jerry Krinock
Here is what I think:
WHY APPLE HELP VIEWER IS BAD FOR THE USER:
1. I believe it is confusing to new users (it was confusing to me) when I
click "Help" in an application and a different application (Help Viewer)
comes to the front. The user was not expecting this. On the other hand,
when switching to the default web browser, users recognize it, know what is
going on and how to use it.
2. I have seen Help Viewer take 30 seconds or more to load on a G3.
3. Help Viewer is buggy. For example, if the user already has Help Viewer
open and was previously viewing Help from App A, then selects "Help" in App
B, sometimes Help Viewer simply brings the window showing App A's help to
the front, but does not load the Help for App B. I have seen this happen
between other apps, not just mine, in 10.3.
4. Help Viewer is basically a light-weight web browser with many features
removed, and some different commands. Sometimes it makes sense to use a
smaller tool for a smaller job. But not when the bigger tool is something
that all users have, usually already launched, and know how to use.
WHY APPLE HELP VIEWER IS BAD FOR THE DEVELOPER:
1. When developing (editing and testing) Help for my application, you have
to:
(a) Insert two cryptic entries in Info.plist
(b) Place all your html help files in the Resources
folder pointed to by one of the entries in (a)
(c) Your "root" help must have a cryptic <meta NAME...> tag
in its head, and must have extension .html
2. If any of the pieces in the above chain are missing or mis-spelled, you
don't get any error messages. It "just doesn't work".
3. Assuming that you've already got the launch path of your app for other
purposes, opening help in the default browser takes one (1) line of code:
[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURL:[NSURL...
but opening a page in Help Viewer takes six (6) lines of messy code:
#include <Carbon/Carbon.h>
CFBundleRef myApplicationBundle = NULL;
CFStringRef myBookName = NULL;
myApplicationBundle = CFBundleGetMainBundle();
myBookName =
(CFStringRef)CFBundleGetValueForInfoDictionaryKey(myApplicationBundle,
CFSTR("CFBundleHelpBookName"));
if (CFGetTypeID(myBookName) == CFStringGetTypeID()) AHGotoPage (myBookName,
CFSTR("MyHelp.html"), NULL);
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