With music blaring on your iPod? In a quiet corner? Actually, that's not where I'm going with this (although I admit I don't write and listen to music at the same time). I'm talking about something a little more fundamental. Do you like to write in a traditional narrative format?
If so, Doc-To-Help makes it simple for you to write a book, chapter by chapter — and still output high-quality, feature-rich, *logical* Help and web output, as well as attractive manual output.
And if you'd prefer to write discrete content chunks, you can do that in Doc-To-Help also using the built in XHTML Editor or an HTML editor (such as Adobe® Dreamweaver® or Microsoft® FrontPage®). You can even combine different types of documents in the same project. More on this in a future blog post.
But back to writing preferences … With Doc-To-Help, you can work in Microsoft® Word, writing in an organic way, and Doc-To-Help takes care of the rest. You can write a book that flows, but transforms into logical Help topics. And you don't need to create separate topics – because Doc-To-Help creates them for you.
Writing in Word, Creating Help and Manuals Automatically
How does this happen? First of all, Doc-To-Help automatically breaks your Microsoft Word documents into individual topics based on Heading styles. It then uses the order of those topics to automatically structure the navigation of online outputs. If your documents have logical structure, so will your Help and web output, right out of the box.
Here's an example:
You write a chapter and apply the Heading 1 style to the chapter name. To the name of each section under that chapter, you apply the Heading 2 style. Each chapter can be a single Word document, or you can keep multiple chapters in the same Word document. Just use the Heading 1 style to designate the start of a new chapter.
By design, Doc-To-Help does the following when you build your output (manual, Help, or web output): Heading 1’s in your Word Documents automatically become parent topics, and all of the Heading 2’s under them become subtopics. This can be illustrated by looking at the automatic Table of Contents generated by Doc-To-Help. The automatic Table of Contents for both online Help and manuals is generated based on the structure of your documents, and their order in the Doc-To-Help Documents Pane.
Note that Heading 1's with no Heading 2's under them become "standalone" topics in the TOC. (You can customize the automatically generated TOC if you would like.)
Your online Help and Manual TOCs will be appropriate for each format.
Parent topics (Heading 1's) automatically include “See Also” links to their subtopics (Heading 2's) in online outputs. You can add additional "See Also" links manually, and the introductory text (More:) can be changed and its style customized.
There are a few other ways Doc-To-Help automates a "book" workflow:
· Links to other topics (created in Word using the Link button on the Doc-To-Help toolbar or ribbon) will automatically become cross-references (with page numbers) in your printed manual, while they will become hyperlinks in online outputs. You don't need to use Word's cross-reference feature to get both.
· Margin notes in your Word Documents automatically become pop-ups in online Help or web output.
And … Doc-To-Help automatically generates the Title Page, Table of Contents, and Index for printed manuals, so you don’t have to. It also adds footers. You don't need to use Word's features to create them. Just write and then build your Manual Target.
Next posts: Tips for Logical Help and the Doc-To-Help Toolbar
Until next time ...
I've recently written three new articles that you may find helpful and posted them to our knowledgebase, HelpCentral. HelpCentral also has videos, FAQs, and other helpful information. Here is a quick article overview ...
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If you would like to include embedded Help with your product, but couldn't because of the time and complexity involved, you may find the
ComponentOne DynamicHelp control the solution you have been looking for. This control can be incorporated into the user interface of any application developed in Microsoft Visual Studio.NET, and the mapping of the interface to the Help file can be completely managed by the Information Development team -- no Context IDs needed (but you can use them if you'd like).
See
Creating Embedded Help with the ComponentOne DynamicHelp control
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One of the coolest features of Doc-To-Help is the automatically-generated “blue buttons” (AKA "Auto Subtopic Links") that appear at the bottom of Help topics. This article explains how to edit the Heading text, button graphic, and link text to your liking.
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Changing the Look of Auto Subtopic Links
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You can change the look of your Help "skin" (or Theme) in Doc-To-Help with the Theme Designer. This article explains how to swap out the default logo (as well as its link and pop-up text) in a Theme.
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Changing the Doc-To-Help Logo on a NetHelp Target
Happy Holidays and Enjoy! 
It has finally stopped raining in Pittsburgh (for the moment) so I'm going to blog while the sun shines.
I love the 'Burgh, but it does rain quite a bit in June. We have a large arts festival -- the Three Rivers Arts Festival -- that coincides with the rain every year. But it all seems to work out.
So ... here are a few of my favorite (web) things ...
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The
Duck Island Greeking Machine generates greeked text in seven "languages" (Classical Latin, Hillbilly, Marketing, The Matrix, Metropolitan, Pseudo German, and Techno Babble). Very handy.
http://www.duckisland.com/greekmachine.asp
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While on the subject of the web -- I highly recommend Janice (Ginny) Redish's new book Letting Go of the Words -- Writing Web Contents that Works. Lots of great information and solid examples. I have post-it notes all over my copy.
Lastly, an interesting article from slate.com about how we read online http://www.slate.com/id/2193552/ (Jakob Nielsen is referenced).
More later
I’ve worked on a number of software products, and there were several that were ideal candidates for dynamically updating, embedded help – but since that sort of effort is usually software developer-intensive, I was never able to make it happen (not for lack of trying by myself and some wonderful software developers).
The wait is over; and convergence was the answer. Doc-To-Help is developed by ComponentOne; ComponentOne develops components software developers use to streamline Visual Studio development. The C1 DynamicHelp for Winforms control was born.Short tour: this control can easily be dropped into the main window of your app, as well as in dialog boxes. Once the software developer has configured it, that’s all they have to do. Mapping a compiled Help file to the user interface is the information developer’s job, because the control includes a mapping interface. Once you’ve mapped, the end user has help that updates automatically as they navigate the interface. The right help at the right time. You can see it in action in Doc-To-Help 2008 (download a trial version at http://www.componentone.com/Products/DocToHelp.aspx) If you are attending the STC Annual Conference in Philadelphia next week, you can see it there at the Doc-To-Help booth. The Dynamic Help control will be available in June. I’ll be talking about the project itself (among other things) at DocTrain East this fall. See http://www.doctrain.com/east/program_detail/all_around_user_assistance_delivering_layers_of_information_efficiently/ for more information on that.
Since I need to play a bit of catch up; a few updates and thoughts...
Can't think of a better way to kick off summer camp than the STC Summit in Philly. (Full disclosure: I'm currently an STC Director At Large, but I've been attending the Annual Conference for years.) Hope to see you there.
Earlier this month I attended DocTrain West in Vancouver. I did a talk titled "Documentation Planning and Library Design in a Web 2.0 World." I'll be posting more on this subject later. While I was there Tom Johnson interviewed me for a podcast that he will be posting on his "I'd Rather Be Writing" blog. Looking forward to hearing it.
Great Web 2.0 read (albeit from a marketing perspective) -- "Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies" by Li and Bernoff.
More later!
There are a number of tech comm blogs out there (the ones I keep up with are listed on my blogroll) but the cool thing is that they are all different, with different themes, perspective, and – probably most importantly – tone.
Today, I’m adding my voice to the mix.
My blog’s name, Technical Communication Camp, refers to the fact that we are always learning – and that we should try to have a bit of fun along the way.
With that in mind, I plan to keep you up-to-date on what is going on in the world of technical communication, handy tips and tricks, and maybe even try my hand at podcasting.
Smores anyone? :-)