Re: [HATT] Help As Part Of The Programming Language?

["Jeremy H. Griffith" <jeremy@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 22 Aug 2002 14:01:27 +0200, Harro de Jong <harrod@applicare.com> 
wrote:

>Why would you want to build a Help viewer when programs are already
>available (Web browsers) that do most of what you want? 
>From what I read in the project specs, you're planning to build a dedicated
>viewer. 

The problem here is that existing browsers, as installed on users'
systems, differ from one another in small but critical details.
This means that every Help author has to become an expert on all
the possible variations, and produce Help that works with any of
them.  This burden is increasing, not easing, with time.

>WebWorks Help shows that a Help system can run inside an ordinary browser.
>If the project took this approach, you'd just need to create the code for
>the navigation pane and context sensitivity. 

And a few more things... like search.  But if you read a bit farther,
you'll see that we *do* plan to use an existing browser, one that is
already open-source.  Most likely this would be Gecko, the engine
built as part of the Mozilla project and used in NS 6.x.  But we're
open to other possibilities, such as contributed code from existing
commercial implementations.  Tool vendors can save a *lot* of money,
and get to ship an improved product, by having such code maintained 
for them in an open-source environment.  ;-)  That frees up resources
that could be used to add new requested features, or simply to enhance
the likelihood of corporate survival in these troubled economic times.

The intent is to let Help authors get back to focussing on their
content, not on the delivery system.  And to let the tool vendors
focus on *their* added value in authoring, rather than re-inventing
a viewer that should really come with the OS in the first place.
It's a win-win for all concerned.

-- Jeremy H. Griffith, at Omni Systems Inc.
  (jeremy@omsys.com)  http://www.omsys.com/

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