RoboHelp X5 (WebHelp) and Vista

[LuckyClover]

We are using RoboHelp X5 to develop WebHelp for our product suite. RoboHelp is installed on a Windows OS (Windows XP). If we upgrade to Windows Vista, will there be any compatibility issues with developing WebHelp systems (comprised of HTML topics, *.htm) on that platform? Or, will only .chm output files be supported?

Your help is appreciated--our organization must know what steps to take if there are any support issues.

Thank you.

[LuckyClover]

....Need to make a correction to the earlier post.

I see from the FAQ site for Adobe products and Vista, that RH 6.0 cannot be installed on Windows Vista, and RoboHelp X5 is not mentioned, so that means that we could not run RoboHelp on Vista.

So, my question now is, if we don't upgrade to Vista, and we continue to run RoboHelp X5 on Windows XP, then what happens with the WebHelp output if our Web-based product is running on Vista? It will not work, right? Do we need to convert all of our WebHelp projects to .chm output format? (II have seen other Help authoring tools, such as Flare, that DO support Vista--wonder why Adobe felt that this was unnecessary???).

[Peter Grainge]

Wrong assumption. Just because a tool will not work under Vista, it does not mean its output will not. Think of Word. Word 2 is a really old version and it's quite likely that would have issues under Vista. If you used it on another PC though to produce a DOC file, a version of Word compatible with Vista should be capable or working with that file.

Same thing with webhelp. What could be a potential problem is if your customers also have Vista as likely that would have IE7 and that could affect how the webhelp works. Fortunately though the reports thus far are good. Our own testing did not reveal any problems.

The decision about webhelp or CHM is dependant on where the help sits. CHM files should sit on the client PC and webhelp on a server, although RH6 allows you to apply the Mark of the Web which enables webhelp to run locally.

[Captiv8r]

Hi all

Good analogy Peter!

LuckyClover, you may also wish to review the post linked below, where an official Adobe support person offers tips on RoboHelp and Vista.

Click here to read the post

Cheers... Rick

[LuckyClover]

Thank you, Peter, and Captiv8r. Absolutely appreciate the WebHelp Developer Forum and the quick, detailed responses. I will have to do some testing, then, and will keep my fingers crossed (with everyone else) that (formal) Vista support will become available.

[dmrh633]

Hi, I have been running Robohelp X5 on Vista, and things are going fairly well. I'm having an issue with printed documentation, and sometimes the application is slow to start up, but otherwise, it seems to be the same performance as I'm having on my Windows XP PC.
Debbie

[LuckyClover]

...thank you for the feedback, Debbie. BTW, I just read on a separate Adobe Web Dev forum discussion that RH version 7 will include support for Vista. Information was provided by a RoboHelp certified trainer who commented on the pre-beta version that was presented at the STC conference in May, I believe.

I did a search on the Adobe Website for information on when the product will be available, but didn't find anything. I hope that Adobe starts putting information out there about this version. It seems like an absolutely great product--I'm thinking that we should upgrade from X5 to this when it debuts.