9/21/2023 0 Comments Quothelpndoc![]() ![]() ▪ Multiple output formats : You can generate different output formats from the same source: CHM, HTML (WebHelp), PDF, Word, EPUB, etc. HelpNDoc supports single source publishing at all levels: If required, the system also generates header files or equivalent files for various programming languages to enable context-sensitive help calls. ▪ Qt Help (a special format for the Qt framework) Hyperlinks to other topics or to external websites or files can be created with the help of a convenient dialog. via the ribbon or from the project library, and you can format the text by applying preset paragraph and character styles. Here you can edit the text, add tables, images, etc. Editing contentīasic editing essentially works like in any modern WYSIWYG editor. The menu has a typical Microsoft-inspired ribbon with a customizable quick access toolbar. ▪ Keywords : Here you can assign and manage the keywords for the alphabetical index.Īll window areas can be undocked, freely positioned, and docked again at any position as required. ▪ Topic properties : Here you can edit various properties of the open topic. These object can be used as often as needed. ▪ Library : Here you can select and manage all objects that are available in the project, such as images, videos, text variables, snippets, HTML code modules, etc. ![]() The main area of the program window is the editor. Quality is important to me, I may not always succeed, but I’ll always hold the highest standards in play.As with most help authoring tools, by default there is a content tree on the left side of the program window to manage the document structure. ![]() MAYBE I’m clueless about how good some of these automated programs are, but first I’m not paying the money, and second I’m absolutely convinced that good PDF print layout is ONLY accomplished by hand. I’ve been doing this for 5 years now and I’m extremely pleased on how well by docs LOOK, and how well they synchronize. You said you don’t like doc’ing - I get that, but really it’s so helpful for your work. The maxim: if you can’t explain it, you shouldn’t program it. And VERY IMPORTANTLY, one of the great things documentation does for the programmer is clears your mind and forces you to do things in your program THE CLIENTS WAY, not YOUR WAY. Once you get in the flow it’s very natrual and easy. I made this sound complicated, but it’s not. So there is some sharing, although it’s important for me to check the PDF so a graphic replacement that is a bigger size doesn’t look screwy or throw off the layout flow. With inDesign I can always keep in mind how I want larger or added areas to naturally flow, and when to page break appropriately so it’s natural to the reader.īTW, the HTML and the PDF do share graphic files, so any changes in those automatically update the PDF. I do the HTML first and make sure I copy-paste over to inDesign afterwards. That takes discipline, but isn’t that what programmers are supposed to have? So I always - no matter what - open up Dreamweaver and inDesign when I am editing the docs. And I want my PDF’s to look great, so I do this extra work, but it’s worth it.Īs far as maintenance goes, I have to ALWAYS make sure I synchronize the PDF to the HTML. Layout things on a page is so much different that laying it out on HTML, you want things to wrap differently around graphics and you want page breaks to be natural and not broken. That way I’m not going back and forth on the initial pass. Like I said, I have to transfer by hand everything from the HTML, but I make sure initially I do the PDF LAST, when I’m very confident in the HTML. I’ve used Pagemaker since the 1980’s so it’s real easy for me to use. So far so good, everything is platform-specific and industry-standard so no one should be surprised.įor the PDF I use Adobe’s inDesign, the best IMHO layout program around. Also, in my apps, I link to my company’s web site which has this same HTML code-base but it may be more updated than what their current HelpFile/HelpViewer is. For Mac I simply move it into the app bundle and HelpViewer displays it and it looks great. On Windows I use the standard old HTML Workshop from Microsoft to make the CHM Help File (standard). I am not convinced any of these automated solutions, even the expensive ones, have the intelligence (if it’s even possible) to make a decent-looking PDF document based on what has to be HTML for the other Help methods. Documentation should look good to impress your customers/clients. This is something all the automated solutions downplay. Although it is NOT single-code-based, I find it very effective and best of all makes everything look like I want it to. ![]()
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