With so many options for online help systems, you may wonder why you should use JavaHelp or how it compares with other online help systems. JavaHelp may be not only the best online help system to use with your Java applications or applets but also a great source for providing online documentation in general.
If you are designing online help for a Java application, JavaHelp is the best help system for the job. Since JavaHelp is written in Java, it is platform-independent and guaranteed to run in any environment in which its associated Java application runs. Also, since JavaHelp is implemented using Java Foundation Class (JFC) components, Java programming can customize JavaHelp’s interfaces and functionality.
JavaHelp offers many online help-presentation options. You can design it for standalone, context-sensitive, or embedded modes; you can also use other standard help features such as pop-up windows, secondary windows, and multimedia integration.
Finally, JavaHelp is easy to merge and update. If you have different software applications with different HelpSets, you can merge them so that users see a single, integrated online help system. If you ever have to update your JavaHelp topics, you can easily do so since JavaHelp uses standard HTML files for its help topics.
Help authors today have many options for providing online documentation. Most help authors are familiar with WinHelp, an older Windows help system that provides online documentation with Windows-based applications. Today there are an increasing number of online help options, most of which are based on HTML. HTML-based help systems (such as JavaHelp) offer online help solutions for more than just the Windows operating system.
Having many online help systems to choose from, however, makes it more confusing for help authors to decide which help system to use under which situation. It is not the position of this book to tell you which help system to use in different situations—only to help you recognize circumstances for which JavaHelp is your best online help solution.
I’ve already explained why JavaHelp is the perfect solution for Java applications. Actually, JavaHelp will probably solve the majority of your online documentation needs whether you’re working with Java applications or not. For example, as you will read in the next section, you can use JavaHelp for online books, such as reference manuals or user’s guides.
The only situation where I would not recommend using JavaHelp is when you want to incorporate an online help system into a non-Java application. Because of the different environments, other online help systems are better for different platforms. For example, an application developed with Visual Basic would not be well suited for JavaHelp. You could certainly use JavaHelp, but using the Java runtime environment only for the online help system would not be worth the required resources. Instead, a more compatible online help system such as WinHelp or HTML Help would work better with the application and integrate more smoothly with the development environment.
JavaHelp is not only a solution for providing online help with Java applications. Since JavaHelp is platform-independent, it offers a solution for general online documentation. Online books and reference material can be distributed through JavaHelp, since users of all platforms can access it.
For example, the Aviation document illustrated in Figure 1.1 could be an online reference document independent of any software application. You could create something similar for reference manuals, user’s guides, product specifications, and just about any other type of document you can imagine.
When you compare other options for online books, JavaHelp emerges as a viable solution. For example, you could use ASCII text files to distribute cross-platform documentation; however, you would not be able to use user-friendly navigation controls or add images and text formatting as with JavaHelp. If you want to use a more sophisticated documentation tool (such as Microsoft Word) to add navigation, images, and text formatting to your documentation, you have to deal with more complex issues with regards to portability and user software requirements.
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