If you have visited Adobe Labs lately, you may have read about the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR, which allows you to convert existing WebHelp files generated using Adobe RoboHelp to an Adobe AIR application. Help and knowledge bases delivered as Adobe AIR applications have a consistent look and feel across Windows, Macintosh, and Linux platforms.. This is more than a small incremental "feature," in fact, it's a whole new way of providing "help as an application" based on a fast-growing cross-platform technology called Adobe Integrated Runtime (Adobe AIR).

Before we jump into user assistance in the brave new world of Web 2.0, some history and perspective is important. This article reflects on the history of help and the changing needs of end users, describes what Web 2.0 techniques are and how they can provide better user assistance, and finally concludes with the benefits of a new format based on Adobe AIR that supports the new needs of end-users. In an article soon to follow, we explain how easy it is for an author to generate this new format with Adobe RoboHelp 7 and show benefits it will provide end users.

Requirements

• Download the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
• Read more about the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
• Video tutorial: Using the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR
• Discuss RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR in the Labs forums

History and evolution of help systems

Back down memory lane we remember the good old WinHelp days followed by Microsoft's HTML Help format and then WebHelp. With the release of Microsoft Vista, a new format emerged called the Assistance Platform (Vista Help). However, unlike the older formats, which were readily available to technical communicators, Vista Help was restricted to Microsoft applications. Meanwhile, WinHelp, MS HTML Help, and WebHelp have been the three most widely used formats for delivering User Assistance. Let's take a look at each of these formats and see how they evolved and the problems that each one of these addressed.

Throughout this history, as far back as 1990, RoboHelp has been a leader in developing help authoring tools to assist developers and technical communicators for all of these formats.

About Microsoft WinHelp

If you were using a PC back in 1988, you were probably using Microsoft's DOS-based QuickHelp system, which used text mode links to navigate from one topic to another. The first major revolution in help came in 1990 with the Windows 3 platform and Microsoft WinHelp (.HLP). Unlike printed documentation presented in linear form, WinHelp allowed the user to "jump" to a topic of interest no matter where it was in the hierarchy of information. The concept of linking was a real breakthrough that drastically improved the user's process of finding content.

WinHelp was based on the Rich Text Format (RTF) and used green underline text for links to help topics within a closed system. Several years later,Tim Berners-Lee would use blue underline text to indicate a links within his new World Wide Web. A big drawback for WinHelp 3 was the lack of a full text search engine. A next major breakthrough came with WinHelp 4.0 with Windows 95. For the first time, WinHelp included a Table of Contents, Index, and Search Tab. That was the good news. The bad news was that the Table of Contents, Index, and Search Tab panes were separate from the topic pane. This meant the user had to constantly re-open the Table of Contents to navigate to different areas.

To overcome native WinHelp's shortcomings, Adobe RoboHelp innovated extra features. For example, RoboHelp's WinHelp 2000 created a tri-pane window that connected the now familiar Contents/Index/Search pane to the Topics pane.

From the beginning, WinHelp supported video and sounds. There was an enhanced version of WinHelp called Microsoft Multimedia Viewer that was used for many of the first compact discs, like Microsoft Encarta.

Along the way, RoboHelp provided its authors many extra features that went beyond the basic features in WinHelp. This included a Software Video Camera to create screen animations (a more cumbersome ancestor improved upon by today's Adobe Captivate Flash SWF file format) and the ability to display more than 16 colors.

Microsoft no longer supports WinHelp in Windows Vista to discourage software developers from using the obsolete format and encourage use of newer help formats. However, Microsoft WinHelp was undisputedly the first most popular Help format.

About CHM (Microsoft Compiled HTML Help)

With the advent of the World Wide Web and HTML, Microsoft introduced HTML Help (.CHM) as a proprietary format first released in August of 1997 as a successor to the Microsoft WinHelp format. It was introduced with the release of Windows 98, and is still supported and distributed through Windows XP and Vista platforms. Almost all help authoring tools use the compiler and core components from Microsoft to generate CHM files.

In 2002, Microsoft announced some security risks associated with the .CHM format and restrictions on its network deployment came with Windows XP Service Pack 2. They have since announced their intentions stop development of the .CHM format further, and will be moving to a new generation of Windows Help called Microsoft Assistance Markup Language in the Windows Vista operating system.

CHM was truly a revolution and became successful as the next generation Help format because of the following advantages:

• Single file for distribution. The TOC was integrated into a single file unlike WinHelp's requirement for a separate .CNT file.
• Very efficient compression made the file size smaller than plain HTML
• Support for CSS provided formatting options that HTML gives for text presentation
• Full text search built into the format
• Ability to merge multiple CHM files with a common TOC, index and search
• Better language support with ability to display international characters.

Among RoboHelp's continued innovations and extras for its authors were a Browse Sequence editor, the ability to graphically create a TOC through drag and drop, and an easy way to merge .CHM files.

About WebHelp

In 1997, RoboHelp was the first to provide help authors a convenient way to move to the web with WebHelp when it introduced the RoboHelp Help-to-HTML toolkit. This was revolutionary because it was cross-browser and cross-platform compatible. RoboHelp output was no longer restricted to the Windows OS. Now, it could even run on a UNIX, Linux or Macintosh system.

WebHelp is a type of online help delivered through the Internet. WebHelp can be viewed offline as well, but its most significant feature is its connectivity and the ability to update it quickly. Simple WebHelp may consist of a series of web pages, while more sophisticated solutions feature a frameset sidebar that provides a table of contents, search capability, index, glossary, browse sequence, and so forth, emulating local help resources such as CHM.

RoboHelp's WebHelp has a number of inherent strengths that helped it gain popularity as a format for delivering User Assistance and knowledge bases, like policies and procedures manuals. The advantages are as follows:

• WebHelp enables content to be continually updated to Internet and intranet websites.
• It is a cross-platform solution since it can be viewed through a regular Internet browser, while local online help targets specific platform and software (help viewer).
• It enables Help and User Assistance for web-based solutions and applications.
• RoboHelp's WebHelp Skin Editor makes it very easy to customize the appearance of help with color schemes and corporate branding.
• It decouples the application and Help. Help can be a free standing or connected to an application.
• RoboHelp further innovates with Context Sensitive Help for web applications as well as desktop applications and popular platforms like Java, Visual Basic, C# and .NET.

Though WebHelp is the latest widely accepted Help format, there are some limitations:

• Cross-browser compatibility on different hardware is a constant moving target and a challenge.
• You do not get the same look and feel of Help across platforms.
• Distribution is not as easy as .CHM files. You need to be careful in managing and installing thousands of files in a particular structure.
• Updating local Help is a big challenge.
• Since Help runs in web browser, there are access limitations for local files due to browser security models. For instance, a much-requested feature for managing favorites and user comments requires a server.

New trends for new needs

WebHelp has lived its life, it's a decade old format—new trends evolve. There have been drastic changes in how people work and use applications. Prominent among them are the following changes:

• In a bygone era, help systems were updated monthly or quarterly or with the release of an application. Now updates may be required in a moment's notice. The update process itself must be seamless and the Internet plays a big role in software distribution. These days, software applications are sold over or updated automatically over the Internet. Most applications have functionality to automatically update themselves whenever a new update is available.

• The boundary between Desktop and Web is blurring.

  • In the desktopworld, applications reside on a particular machine and are designed to offer maximum performance. An application that is designed for Windows machine will not work automatically on a Linux, Macintosh machine, or any other platform for that matter.
  • In the web world, however, an application is available anywhere, anytime and on any device. For example, if there is a WebHelp or a website, you can view it on any of the platforms (Windows, Mac, Linux) and on any browser (Internet explorer, FireFox, Safari, and so forth).
• The applications that traditionally reside on the desktop are being deployed to web so that they can be accessed on any device, anytime, and anywhere. This way, the developer doesn't worry about updating the application and distributing it; the end user, through the browser is always using the latest release.

What is Web 2.0 why does it matter?

Good authors are constantly asking, "am I really being helpful?" Often they don't know because until now the process has been one-way, from the documentation writer to the user. However, with today's blogs, chats, and social networking landscape, technical communication has become a two-way street.

With Web 2.0, the author becomes a collaborator with the end-user. This means that those who use the content can also contribute to it. This new kind of help recognizes that the answers users are seeking may be located outside the immediate knowledge base or "help file." These external resources could be peer-to-peer user forums, blogs, or the websites of "power users." All of these become part of the user assistance solution.

The technologies that make up Web 2.0 provide clues to the future. Here's a brief review of the buzzwords:

• Rich Internet Applications (RIA): Provides functionality of a desktop application with the web connectivity of a browser.
• Service Oriented Architecture (SOA): Communication with a central server to assure content is up to date.
• Social web: A way for users to keep a persistent thread of comments about their thoughts on content and an exchange of ideas.
• Interaction with end-user: A way to "talk back" to the originator of the content.
• Feedback: A way to provide questions and comments to the author so that the knowledge base is constantly improved.
• Easy updating: Information is constantly changing and the need for accuracy and is important.
• Multiple devices: No longer relegated to personal computers, users are accessing help from cell phones, PDAs, iPODS, GPS, and other handheld mobile gadgets.
• Podcasts: Live video and audio or recorded for playback at the user's convenience.
• RSS: Allowing users to "subscribe" to changes and updates.

So what does this do for authors? It engages the end-user so that authors can answer that initial question: "Am I being helpful?" and respond in a continuous process of improvement.

The need for a consistent online/offline experience

So, now to address the limitations of the WebHelp, with a new Help format that is cross-platform and has a seamless online/offline experience. This is a platform that allows for rich video, eLearning modules, better search results, and up-to-date content. This platform allows the author to "push" a seamless update that is "in sync" between desktop and web applications that live on multiple operating systems and hardware devices. This is a platform that allows multiple teams of authors to collaborate on constantly changing content. Finally, this is an environment where end-users are encouraged to participate and act!

Enter the solution: Adobe AIR

Adobe AIR is a cross-operating system runtime (similar to the Flash Player or Adobe Acrobat Reader) that allows developers to leverage their existing web development skills, code, and tools (HTML, JavaScript, Ajax, Flash, Flex) to build and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) on the desktop. Adobe AIR applications can be seamlessly deployed across operating systems, just like web applications and they have the following strengths of desktop applications:

• They can read and write local files (browsers do not have this ability).
• They can drag and drop files to and from native applications.
• They can maintain local data that syncs with servers when connected.

The Adobe AIR runtime is lightweight and has little or no user interface, enabling you to have full control over the application and the experience it provides to users. The runtime provides a consistent cross-operating system platform and framework for deploying applications. It eliminates cross-browser testing by ensuring consistent functionality and interactions across desktops. Instead of developing for a specific operating system, you target the runtime. This has a number of benefits:

• Applications developed for Adobe AIR run across multiple operating systems without any additional work. The Adobe AIR runtime ensures consistent and predictable presentation and interactions across all the operating systems.
• Adobe AIR provides inherent support for a great online/offline experience. It provides a local database that can store all the work while you are offline and uploads the information when you connect again.
• Adobe AIR provides the power of building an application using one or a combination of HTML, PDF, Flash, Ajax, Flex, ColdFusion, and more. Hence you can provide your customers a branded experience with a custom UI that best suits the content being served. The Adobe AIR runtime understands all these popular formats.
• Adobe AIR runtime has a built-in support for installation logic and thus can manage updates of an AIR application in a very seamless manner.

Adobe AIR combines the best of the both worlds: Desktop and web. It combines the power of sophisticated and branded applications (help, knowledge bases, and policies and procedures).

Adobe AIR for creating the next generation of help systems

Adobe AIR is the right vehicle for delivering Help for the next generation of web and desktop applications. RoboHelp authors can combine the bests of WinHelp, CHM and WebHelp, overcome the limitations of WebHelp and also support the latest trends in market. The new Help:

• Has a single installable file for ease of distribution, think CHM files.
• Has a seamless online, offline experience, think WebHelp.
• Is cross-platform/cross-browser complaint, think Adobe PDF.
• Has a modern look and feel, think Flash SWF files.
• Has an automatic update process, so that you can design your online and offline help to remain in sync.
• Has content aggregation capabilities. You can combine resources on the local desktop or on the web.
• Has a flexible, scalable user interface with branding that follows marketing and corporate guidelines.

• Is like an application. Add features that you wish to give to your customers, such as the ability for your users to:

  • Have the most recent content seamlessly update itself through the web
  • Access their local file systems
  • Experience your personalized help system that allows the user to add or share comments among a group of users
  • Rate articles
  • Save search results or create a favorites page
  • Experience an adaptable and extensive application that can be built using Flex, Flash, Ajax, and so forth, to create features your users need the most.

So the task in hand is to start building support for producing Adobe AIR files from the Help Authoring tool. To start with, the RoboHelp team has built RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR, which can convert Adobe RoboHelp 7 WebHelp output to a single AIR file.

You can read more about this tool on the Labs. The RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR is something that is now available for you to try out for free, and because this is a Web 2.0 world, naturally your comments are encouraged to make it better!

Creating help as an application will be easy as a click of a couple of buttons for RoboHelp authors. Soon, we'll make available an article that explains the details of using the RoboHelp Packager for Adobe AIR along with practical examples and best practices for creating and distributing it to end-users.

About the authors