Category: Computers: Software

All widely used SaaS apps nowadays provide their clients with a help file. Such a help file resolves many important tasks, such as explaining to customers how to use a specific feature or accomplish something with the application, reducing the effort spent on support service, etc. Even though a comprehensive help file is an integral part of your product, its creation is most often still not an easy task. As the help writer, you should define what help format to use, what help authoring tool and other utilities to use, how to integrate the help file with your product and provide context-sensitive Help, and so on.

Overview of HelpSmith, an excellent help authoring editor for software developers

The original idea for HelpSmith was to design an affordable help authoring application, which has a professional feature set and easy-to-use user interface, and allow developers to make professional help manuals and printed documentation with a minimum of effort. HelpSmith currently has support for multiple help formats such as HTMLHelp, browser-based Web Help, and Printed Manual. Finally, HelpSmith lets you create PDF docs with a third-party PDF printer program. The developers of the help authoring product combined an easy-to-use interface with features making it possible to create full-featured help systems and supply documentation in different help formats. A single help project can be exported into any number of output help formats, thanks to single-source support.

HelpSmith includes an advanced way of working with multi media files. The help authoring tool automatically puts all such files into a single media repository saved with your help authoring project. This, in turn, gives you the following benefits: you do not have to copy any media files manually (so it becomes easier to distribute your help authoring project), and it becomes much easier to update a screenshot used in more than one help topic as you simply modify the graphics in the media repository and do not have to find and edit the topics manually. The Media Repository feature can be used to organize images and video clips into folders, which is also useful for large help projects.

Writing help topics will clearly be the largest part of work on any help file. Thanks to a full-featured word processor with dynamic styles and topic templates feature, HelpSmith lets you concentrate on writing: you can use multiple languages, insert pictures and videos, tables, create hyperlinks to other help topics in your help system as well as links to external resources located on the Internet, insert breadcrumb placeholders, and all else you may need. Styles and topic templates are nice tools that you can use for customization of the view of your help file at any time, saving time alternatively spent on editing each help topic manually.

Our help authoring tool has support for text variables, which are divided into system and user variables. A variable is an object that can be added into the text of a help topic, template, or in the text of some values. When you build your help authoring project, the variable objects are replaced with their actual values. This can be actually useful, because you can store values that appear in more than one place of your help file. And when you need to modify a particular value, simply change it in the window that controls all of the variables for your help project.

Take a look atOutput Help Systems

HelpSmith has various features which let you quickly develop high quality help files and manuals with customized designs, a professional feel, and easy navigation. The help authoring tool contains even more possibilities than those described above. But let's take a look at the result of working with this solution - help systems written in the CHM help, browser-base, and Printed Manual output formats.

Try this help authoring tool

Now you have seen how HelpSmith can help you a lot with your help authoring-related jobs. Being a help authoring software for quickly creating high-quality help files and documents, it allows you to produce a help project with NO nee to master technical details. In fact, you even do not have to know anything about CSS/HTML to create professional help systems. So HelpSmith is a help authoring tool which allows you to actually concentrate on writing.