CompuServe Messages

>> I assume then that your interest in Help files is as a medium for >> distributing and viewing electronic documents than as a means to document >> custom programs. If so, then you'll probably want to incorporate existing >> documents in the Help files you create. My mistake. I was not clear. I *think* I'm talking about both, but I would appreciate some help. I'm the documentor in our shop. I write the end-user guides for our custom applications; I help programmers write tech dox and I edit for clarity. We're sneaking into Windows development while maintaining our support for clients with DOS apps–the standard story, I guess. I anticipate two scenarios. Scenario One: A client requests a "customized" application and we decide the tools to use are Visual Basic and Access. Will I be able to hook into existing Access help to create add-on messages that provide more meaningful, context-sensitive help for users? Or can I maybe use bookmarks as a quick and dirty way to "customize" help files? Scenario Two: We are building a customized application from scratch and we decide to use Open Insight, which, to quote the marketing bumph, is a "repository-based Windows application development environment." (My apologies. This is not a plug. It's just that we develop apps in Advanced Revelation and OI is their new product, so *naturally* we get all the mail.) This tool allows me, I think, to use the Windows help compiler, but I suspect I'll be writing *much* more application-specific material and creating my own indexes, hypertext jumps, demos etc., all the while trying to maintain Windows' "look and feel." The effect I'm going for is that, while the app has been built from scratch, the user sees it as "just another Windows program." Am I right in my suspicions? Thanks, Doug Fine article on image management tools, BTW, and I enjoy your regular column. So "thanks" for those, too.