I am trying to figure out a way to host a single version of our WebHelp output that shows that appropriate content to users based on which release of our software they are using. We have the ability to pass the release number to our WebHelp output. I understand how the Conditional Text feature works and that would be fine if we didn't need to support customers running multiple releases of our software, offer beta features that we don't wan't uninvited customers to be aware of, or offer enterprise and ASP versions. I haven't filled out the matrix completely, but the approach whereby we output 16 versions of our WebHelp content doesn't seem like a great one.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!
WebHelp: single output to support multiple versions
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tasteslikechicken
- Propeller Head
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2008 1:49 pm
Re: WebHelp: single output to support multiple versions
What's wrong with the 16 versions approach!
It is good and simple. You use Flare conditionals and generate 16 versions of the help. Then you link from each version of the program to the respective WebHelp version. Or you just put all helps on a server and let users pick the one that applies to their version of the program - everybody loves you. If you need to hide a version, hide it behind the login of the application or support center.
Just for the sake of the exercise, imagine that you maintain a single help file or project. You do not need conditionals. Each topic within the projects has one, two or up to 16 versions. All versions compile in your master help. You label each topic with the version(s) to which it applies. You interlink all versions of a topic to each other (so a user who goes to version 15 but needs version 12 can find the correct topic). You probably have a huge TOC with 16 books (one for each version) or some other complicated hierarchy. You also need to find a way to limit unwanted users who do not have the right to access the topics for specific versions (I can't imagine how). At the end, nobody loves you. Users will have hard time finding what they need. Developers will not know how to link to the topics and to which topics to link. Forget it.
It is good and simple. You use Flare conditionals and generate 16 versions of the help. Then you link from each version of the program to the respective WebHelp version. Or you just put all helps on a server and let users pick the one that applies to their version of the program - everybody loves you. If you need to hide a version, hide it behind the login of the application or support center.
Just for the sake of the exercise, imagine that you maintain a single help file or project. You do not need conditionals. Each topic within the projects has one, two or up to 16 versions. All versions compile in your master help. You label each topic with the version(s) to which it applies. You interlink all versions of a topic to each other (so a user who goes to version 15 but needs version 12 can find the correct topic). You probably have a huge TOC with 16 books (one for each version) or some other complicated hierarchy. You also need to find a way to limit unwanted users who do not have the right to access the topics for specific versions (I can't imagine how). At the end, nobody loves you. Users will have hard time finding what they need. Developers will not know how to link to the topics and to which topics to link. Forget it.
Dimiter Simov
Usability and Technical Writing
Usability and Technical Writing