Web 2.0 Online Help System

[JoeEC]

 Hi,

I'm currently using RH 8 to generate WebHelp for various web-based applications. Unfortunately, the help system's appearance has been deemed outdated. I've been tasked with finding an online help solution that provides a cleaner appearance with a blog-type feel that provides a web 2.0 experience. I've provided a few sample online help solutions below.

Sample solutions:
[http://support.twitter.com/ | http://support.twitter.com/]  (sans tweets)
[https://support.skype.com/en/ | https://support.skype.com/en/]

I would be more than willing to update to the latest version of RH if it can deliver this type of solution. Although all suggestions are welcome, the ideal solution should not require a client installation.

Thanks!

Joe

[CraigCC]

Hi Joe,

I wish that I had a simple solution for you.

All the links / samples you refer to are bespoke solutions and if you look closely they all have one thing in common - they fit in with the look and feel of the brand's website.

My guess is that the site developers created the pages and technical writers imported the content.

I've seen a couple of KB software solutions that I can dig out, but again you won't get the kind of look and feel without some input from web developers. What these solutions provide however, is dynamic content invovling the user.

On the plus side, having been in this position, it is not a lot of work (for the web developers) to create these templates.

What I found a struggle is getting the work prioritised. I also created content in RH and exported content to the site.

Kind Regards

Craig

[Captiv8r]

Hi Joe

As my fellow Community Professional Craig indicated above, the two examples do appear to be themed to match other elements of the sites.

Additionally, RoboHelp 8 doesn't offer a simple "make this single option choice" sort of way to create what you are asking about. But that doesn't mean it can't be done with a bit of work. If you were to upgrade to RoboHelp 10, it offers some new HTML 5 layouts that may offer something close to what you are looking for.

If you want to stick with RoboHelp 8, what you might to to get something similar to the Twitter page would be to eliminate everything but the Search field. Then eliminate the left navigation panel. You might even need to consider using ZoomSearch as described on fellow Community Professional Peter Grainge's site at the link below:

Click here to view Peter's site

If you omit the navigation frame as earlier described, you would then need to create a "home" page with links that point to the other pages.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

[JoeEC]

Rick + Craig: Thank you for offering timely suggestions on how to achieve a web 2.0-type help solution.

Craig: I think that you hit it on the nail. A solution that incorporates help with dynamic user-generated content would probably provide the experience that we are trying to achieve. Any information that you can provide on the KB software solutions that you have used in the past and how they worked out for you would be greatly appreciated.

Rick: I'm not too familiar with how RH 10 handles layouts with HTML5 output. Can you point me to a sample layout? Also, I know that browser support for HTML5 is not uniform. Our customer-base is worldwide and we cannot dictate the web browser through which they will access our site. Is RH 10's HTML5 output supported across most modern web browsers?

Joe

Message was edited by: JoeEC

[Peter Grainge]

See if the Multiscreen HTML5 page on my site helps.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[JoeEC]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for pointing me to your site. I found the following project on your site:

http://www.grainge.org/demos/html5/desktop/Employee_Care/Introduction.htm

It seems to be a step in the right direction, but I don't think that it meets all of our company requirements for a help solution. It sounds like Craig's KB/RH solution may have the potential to accomplish what we are trying to achieve.

Joe

[CraigCC]

Sorry Joe been busy with jobs, well job hunting.

I'll post you some details off-line as this is out of the scope of the forum.

Drop me your contact details and Ill send you some info.

Just hover over my name to find my email address or you can find me on LinkedIn.

Cheers

Craig

[JoeEC]

Hi Craig,

Sounds good. I'll send you a private message shortly.

Good luck with the job hunt!

Joe