Online help
Encyclopedia
Online help is topic-oriented, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software
Computer software
Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions for telling a computer what to do and how to do it....

. It is a form of user assistance
User Assistance
User assistance is a general term for guided assistance to a user of a software product. The phrase incorporates all forms of help available to a user. Assistance can also automatically perform procedures or step users through the procedure, depending on the question that the user asked...

. Most online help is designed to give assistance in the use of a software application or operating system, but can also be used to present information on a broad range of subjects. When online help is linked to the state of the application (what the user is doing), it is called Context-sensitive help
Context-sensitive help
Context-sensitive help is a kind of online help that is obtained from a specific point in the state of the software, providing help for the situation that is associated with that state....

.

Platforms

Online help is created using help authoring tool
Help authoring tool
A Help Authoring Tool or HAT is a software program used by technical writers to create online help systems.-Functions:The basic functions of Help Authoring Tools can be divided into the following categories:-File input:...

s. It is delivered in a wide variety of formats, some proprietary
Proprietary software
Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary...

 and some open-standard
Open standard
An open standard is a standard that is publicly available and has various rights to use associated with it, and may also have various properties of how it was designed . There is no single definition and interpretations vary with usage....

, including:
  • Hypertext Markup Language (HTML
    HTML
    HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....

    ), which includes HTML Help, HTML-based Help, JavaHelp, and Oracle Help
  • Adobe Portable Document Format
    Portable Document Format
    Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....

     (PDF)

Microsoft help platforms

Microsoft develops the platforms for delivering help systems in the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 operating system.
Platform name Description Public?
Microsoft QuickHelp  Ralph Walden joined Microsoft in 1987 and wrote an online help system for MS-DOS and OS/2 called QuickHelp. Ralph was also primarily responsible for WinHelp and HTML Help 1.x.
help
Help (command)
In computing, help is a command in various command line shells such as COMMAND.COM, cmd.exe, 4DOS/4NT, Windows PowerShell, Bash, Singularity shell, Python and GNU Octave. It provides online information about available commands and the shell environment. It is analogous to the Unix man command...

command
Available in MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows
Microsoft WinHelp (.hlp) Based on the Rich Text Format
Rich Text Format
The Rich Text Format is a proprietary document file format with published specification developed by Microsoft Corporation since 1987 for Microsoft products and for cross-platform document interchange....

, this was the industry standard for Windows 3.1 and Windows 95/NT. The popular Windows Help program (WinHlp32.exe) was included with all Windows operating systems from Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0
Windows 3.0, a graphical environment, is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, and was released on 22 May 1990. It became the first widely successful version of Windows and a rival to Apple Macintosh and the Commodore Amiga on the GUI front...

 until the Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

 operating system. However, the help engine is not included with Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

 and is only available as a download.
HTML Help (.chm) Also known as Microsoft Compiled HTML Help (the name of its file format), it based on HTML and other data such as images and JavaScript. HTML Help 1.0 was released in 1997. In 2006, it was available from Microsoft as HTML Help 1.4.
Help and Support Center
Microsoft Windows Help and Support Center
Help and Support Center is an electronic reference manual on Microsoft Windows that tries to answer queried problems while troubleshooting. It provides both offline and online manuals, and has been included with Windows since Windows ME.-External links:*...

 
A deprecated online help system in Windows Me
Windows Me
Windows Millennium Edition, or Windows Me , is a graphical operating system released on September 14, 2000 by Microsoft, and was the last operating system released in the Windows 9x series. Support for Windows Me ended on July 11, 2006....

 and Windows XP
Windows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...

 
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....

 (.hxs)
In 2001, Microsoft announced plans for a wide release of HTML Help 2.0, which came to be called Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....

. This platform was developed by Microsoft and shipped in 2002 as the help format for Visual Studio .NET, MSDN Library and TechNet products, but Microsoft announced it had cancelled plans to make the format publicly available. Microsoft Help 2 was also used as the help format in Office 2007.
AP Help 1.0 (.h1s) Assistance Platform Help is based on Microsoft Assistance Markup Language
Microsoft Assistance Markup Language
Microsoft Assistance Markup Language is an XML-based markup language developed by the Microsoft User Assistance Platform team to provide user assistance for the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. It is somewhat of a departure from all previous types of user assistance for Windows operating...

. It is the format developed for and shipped with Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...

. It will not be made publicly available as an authoring platform for other software vendors, but will be used by Microsoft, OEMs, and certain corporate users. Version 2.0 of the Assistance Platform Help engine is currently on hold.
Microsoft Help Viewer 1.0 (.mshc) The help system for Visual Studio 2010
Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. It is used to develop console and graphical user interface applications along with Windows Forms applications, web sites, web applications, and web services in both native code together with managed code for all...

, and the successor for Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2
Microsoft Help 2.x is a proprietary format for online help files, developed by Microsoft and first released in 2001 as a help system for Visual Studio .NET and MSDN Library....

.

Other platforms

Platform name Description
AmigaGuide
Amigaguide
AmigaGuide is a hypertext document file format designed for the Amiga, files are stored in ASCII so it is possible to read and edit a file without the need for special software.Since Workbench 2.1 an Amiga Guide system for O.S...

 (.guide)
the official hypertext document file format designed for the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...

.
Apple Help (.HELP) Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...

's proprietary help platform for the Mac OS 8.5+ operating system.
Flare MadCap Software's
MadCap Software
MadCap Software is an American computer software firm headquartered in La Jolla, California. The firm is best known for producing various help authoring tools...

 cross-platform, browser-based WebHelp
Sun JavaHelp
JavaHelp
JavaHelp refers to both an application and a format for online help files that can be displayed by the JavaHelp browser. It is written in Java, and is mainly used in Java applications...

 (.js)
A platform-independent help system written in Java programming language
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

 by Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...

. It runs on any platform and browser that supports the Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Oracle Help  Two formats developed by the Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...

: Oracle Help for Java (OHJ) and Oracle Help for Web (OHW).
Help library (.HLB) the official help file format designed for VMS
OpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...

.
DotNetHelp  A new Windows help format, designed to replace the .chm format, that also supports .NET applications.
Texinfo
Texinfo
Texinfo is a typesetting syntax used for generating documentation in both on-line and printed form with a single source file...

 (also known as the "info")
the official documentation system for the GNU project
GNU Project
The GNU Project is a free software, mass collaboration project, announced on September 27, 1983, by Richard Stallman at MIT. It initiated GNU operating system development in January, 1984...

.
Unix man pages
Manual page (Unix)
Man pages are the extensive documentation that comes preinstalled with almost all substantial Unix and Unix-like operating systems. The Unix command used to display them is man. Each page is a self-contained document.- Usage :...

 
the standard method used to document Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 commands.
Information Presentation Facility
Information Presentation Facility
Information Presentation Facility is a system for presenting online help and hypertext on IBM OS/2 systems. IPF also refers to the markup language that is used to create IPF content. The IPF language has its origins in BookMaster and Generalized Markup Language developed by IBM...

 (IPF)
the help system used by IBM's OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

 system.

See also

  • Balloon help
    Balloon help
    Balloon help was a help system introduced by Apple Computer in their 1991 release of System 7.0. The name referred to the way the help text was displayed, in "balloons", like those containing the words in a comic strip...

  • Web help
    Web help
    Web help is a type of online help delivered through the internet. A well-known example of such a system is WebHelp.Com. This approach, mixing internet and local resources, is also used in Windows XP's Help and Support feature....

  • Microsoft Assistance Markup Language
    Microsoft Assistance Markup Language
    Microsoft Assistance Markup Language is an XML-based markup language developed by the Microsoft User Assistance Platform team to provide user assistance for the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. It is somewhat of a departure from all previous types of user assistance for Windows operating...

     (Microsoft AML)
  • Darwin Information Typing Architecture
    Darwin Information Typing Architecture
    The Darwin Information Typing Architecture is an OASIS standard XML data model for authoring and publishing. Many third party tools support authoring, including Adobe FrameMaker, XMetaL, Arbortext, Quark XML Author, Oxygen XML Editor, easyDITA, and SDL Xopus...

  • List of help authoring tools
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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