Multi-language Help in a multi-language web app

[Kathy2]

Hello!

I had posted this on the RH HTML forum but removed that and posted here for a wider audience...

***Please note: this question is not specific to RH but is applicable now that RH 7 is unicode enabled. If you have experience that does not relate to RH, please share anyway! ***

Once I have developed WebHelp (for example) in multiple languages, how do I connect the help files to the web application that the help is about? How does the correct language output get displayed? For example, the application (that the help documents) changes its interface based on browser language. Can the appropriate help content be displayed based on browser language? How is multi-language help generally implemented for an end user?

And, equally important, how does context-sensitive help (mapping) work with multiple languages?

I have never been involved in a multi-language development effort and so I have no experience to relate this to. Any guidance will be greatly (and gratefully ) appreciated!

Kathy

[Peter Grainge]

It's for the developers to connect the application to the help, not the other way around. If all versions use the same map ids or URLs, then what they do is use those pointing to the correct language. They will be able to detect the language and point accordingly.

[Guest]

That's how our developers do it, but I just want to throw in one other detail. The help output for each language has to be in a separate directory. So if you have 5 languages, you'll have 5 directories. It's up to the developers to code the app so it detects the browser language, then looks in the appropriate help directory when the user clicks your help link or icon.

--Ben

[Guest · Accepted solution]

Separate directories will be needed whether you choose to implement your languages in separate RoboHelp projects or use conditional build tags within the same project.

Don't worry about not knowing the languages. If you're handing HTML files to the translators, you should get HTML files back with the same file names. Your map IDs, links, etc. should all still be in place.