List of changes

Some of the enhancements you can make to an HTML Help file are useful, and some are not. The following are my recommendations of HTML Help changes in order of priority.

1. Cascading style sheets.You wouldn't write a printed document without a template, would you? Cascading style sheets (CSS) provide the same functionality for HTML documents. Help authoring tools can convert existing styles in a WinHelp project into a CSS, but you will want to make some changes. For example, the paragraph formats you used in the WinHelp RTF files might have been mapped by the help authoring tool into standard HTML tags (such as P for body text). You should review the CSS generated by the help authoring tool to see how it implements the styles you had used in WinHelp. You will also want to change styles to fix paragraph spacing (which might not look good in HTML) and change fonts. For example, you might want to switch from a Windows-standard font, like MS Sans Serif, to a more widely used HTML font, like Verdana (the font used in this document).
2. JavaScript or ActiveX controls to replace functionality lost when you went to HTML Help. As mentioned in Step 3, custom DLLs and certain WinHelp macros cannot be converted for use in HTML Help. You will need to either develop new scripts to replace the functionality, or look for scripts or ActiveX controls that will do the tasks for you.
3. Changes to graphic files. Instead of BMP and WMF, HTML Help uses the HTML standard: GIF and JPG. Both RoboHelp and ForeHelp convert your existing graphic files to GIF or JPG and SHG files to client- or server-side image maps. With HTML-standard graphics, you have additional capabilities that you might consider using. For example, would an animated GIF better show a procedure? Do you have problems selecting rectangular areas to make hot links in a SHG file? With HTML image maps, you can select oval- or irregular-shaped areas.
4. Selective content. Several features in HTML Help enable you adjust the presentation of information to apply to different types of users:

• Information types enable users to select information that pertains to them. When you mark text or topics with information types, the information can be shown or hidden depending on whether the user selects to view that information type. For example, you can set up an "Administrator" information type for information that pertains to administrative users. If a user selects another information type, you can set the Administrator information to disappear.

• Dynamic HTML (DHTML) enables you to show and hide information based on users action at that topic. For example, a user can click on text to reveal additional text. (See Step 1 for an example.) You might consider using DHTML in place of popup definitions so that the definition appears in the body of the text, instead of a separate popup.

5. Forms. You can use HTML forms to enable users to provide input. For example, you can put a registration form within the help, enable users to select which tasks they want to do with the software and put together a tour based on their requests, or put password protection on confidential topics. Help authoring tools will enable you to put the form in a help topic, but you will need a developer to write a CGI script to process the results of the form.
6. Shockwave clips, streaming video and audio, active server pages, automated MP3 downloads, and other cool effects. Sure, we aspire to be highly paid web designers. (We probably aspire to be as young as most of those designers, too.) However, we need to remember that the purpose of online help is to give users the information they need and get them back to their work quickly. Such eye candy might wow marketing people and possibly win us STC awards. If they do not contribute to the user's understanding of the product, save the effort and expense and leave them out.