Other online help solutions

Other pages on this site provide information about three of the most popular online help solutions currently offered by most software applications: HTML help, Webhelp and User Assistance. This page summarises some alternative help solutions you may have heard about.

Information is provided below about:

Vista help / Assistance Platform help

Assistance Platform help (AP Help 1.x) is the online help system developed by Microsoft for Windows Vista. Powered by a new help engine, HelpPane.exe, the Assistance Platform client displays help files with .H1S extension. Without realising it, many of you will have viewed help in this new format when using the Windows Vista Help and Support Center.

There are client and server parts to the help for offline mode (help held locally) and online mode (accessed via the Web), the latter component meaning that users have access to the very latest information. AP Help is a more integral part of Windows than was the case before, forming part of the GUI rather than being treated as a separate component. The overall result is 'user assistance' that is significantly better than that provided with previous versions of Windows.

So, if Vista AP Help is so good, why is not also being offered by applications designed to run under Vista. The answer is simple. To date (mid-2008), Microsoft have not released a public AP Help development kit (SDK), and the release of such an online help development kit has been put on indefinite hold. As such, it is not currently possible for Windows software developers to offer Assistance Platform help. No company is currently able to provide online help in the AP help format

XML Help

XML is the eXtensible Markup Language. Online help can be generated in XML format to provide re-use possibilities not available with other online help formats, for example the XML content can be fed into your online application.

Please note that here, we're talking about XML as a help delivery format, rather than standard or language in which your help source files are created and stored. Further information about using XML as an authoring solution using standards such as DITA, MAML and DocBook, will be added to this site shortly.

JavaHelp

Sun Microsystems' JavaHelp (.js) is a platform-independent HTML-based online help format designed specifically to work with Java applications. It runs on any platform and browser that supports the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), including the Windows, Mac, Linux and UNIX platforms.

JavaHelp runs in its own viewer interface, provided by the JRE. The interface includes basic Contents, Index and Search functionality.

Oracle Help

Oracle Help is Oracle Corporation's implementation of Sun Microsystems' JavaHelp standard. Like JavaHelp, Oracle Help provides HTML-based online help for Java applications.

Two formats are available: Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) and Oracle Help for Web (OHW).

OHJ runs on a variety of platforms (Windows, UNIX, Mac, Linux). It includes a contents, index and search facilities, as well as support for popup windows. The online help can be made context-sensitive, and the help window can be customized.

To download the Oracle Help viewer and see what OHJ looks like, go to http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/java/help/htdocs/utilsoft.htm.

WinHelp

WinHelp is the 'original' Windows online help format. Even though WinHelp has now been superceded, it is still used by some companies who have specific requirements such as:

Please note: The WinHelp engine, Winhlp32.exe, that is required to view online help in WinHelp format is not included with Windows Vista, and Microsoft strongly recommend against developiong new online help in the WinHelp format. However, Microsoft have developed a WinHelp engine for Windows Vista which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.

MS Help 2

Microsoft's original intention was that MS Help 2 would replace HTML Help (.chm format) as the standard online help format for the Windows platform. However in January 2003, Microsoft announced that the public release of MS Help 2 had been cancelled.

Despite the cancellation of MS Help 2 as a mainstream online help format, some applications still provide help in this format. The Help2 engine continues to be provided with several of Microsoft's developer-related products, including Visual Studio .NET, MSDN Library, Microsoft .NET Framework, Technet products and the Borland .NET IDEs.

MS Help 2 supports XML, meaning that items such as the contents, index and text search data are databases of searchable, browsable content.

Why did Microsoft cancel the public release of MS Help 2? To see the postings from Microsoft announcing first the postponement and then the cancellation of MS Help 2 as a mainstream help format, see the Helpware Group's MS Help 2.x Announcements.

DotNetHelp

A new Windows Help format, designed to replace the .chm format, that also supports .NET applications.

Apple Help (.HELP)

Apple Computer's proprietary help platform for version 8.5 and later of the Mac operating system.