## 7.1 Weighing Help-system alternatives

Most users expect three navigation elements in a Help system:

• Table of Contents (TOC), preferably in an expanding and collapsing tree form, that tracks your position in the Help system

• Index (IX), with multiple levels and See/See Also capabilities

• Full-Text Search (FTS) that gets you directly to each occurrence of a word or phrase.

You could use generic HTML for a Help system as is, especially with framesets (see §13.14 Using framesets). JavaScript-based TOC templates are available on the Web, and an index is not hard to create. But the search engine is harder. So it is a good idea to consider the existing alternatives for Help systems. Keep in mind that users might run into security issues with any browser-based help system; all such systems use JavaScript.

In this section:

§7.1.1 Considering Help-system features

§7.1.2 Understanding the effects of mid-topic links

§7.1.3 Evaluating Microsoft Windows Help (WinHelp)

§7.1.4 Evaluating Microsoft HTML Help

§7.1.5 Evaluating WebHelp

§7.1.6 Evaluating OmniHelp

§7.1.7 Evaluating JavaHelp and Oracle Help for Java

§7.1.8 Evaluating Eclipse Help

| 7 Producing on-line Help |  | 7.1.1 Considering Help-system features |