Tools for Building NetHelp2 Systems
Netscape currently provides a minimal set of tools to help authors for
building NetHelp2 systems:
We plan to continuously provide more tools
support over time for NetHelp2. This page introduces the current tools,
and tool plans for NetHelp2.
The NetHelp2 Builder
The Builder is a Java applet that builds the JavaScript-based Table of
Contents and Index files used in NetHelp2. These Table of Content
and Index files are based on special tags that help authors place in their
content files.
The Builder also allows help authors to set the sort order for international
versions of NetHelp, allows help authors to change the default size of
the NetHelp2 window, and automatically copies the entire system from the
author's working directory to their \NetHelp directory for testing and
use.
The Builder can be run from a web server, or locally on the help author's
PC, Mac, or UNIX workstation. You can download the Builder right now from
the DevKit section.
Composer Plug-ins for NetHelp2
Netscape's Composer - one of the components of Netscape's Communicator
- is an HTML editor ideal for NetHelp2 authoring. Composer supports
Java-based plug-ins, and the NetHelp team is creating Composer plug-ins
that will make it easier for NetHelp2 authors to create and test their
help systems. Composer and Java-based plug-ins mean that help authors
can create NetHelp2 systems on any platform: PC, Mac, or UNIX.
Check this site periodically for updated status on Composer Plug-ins
for NetHelp2.
Third-party NetHelp2 Tools
The NetHelp team is working with other vendors of Help and HTML tools to
provide NetHelp2 support from many of the products in both these areas.
Earlier versions of NetHelp have been supported by help tools vendors such
as Forefront and Blue Sky, and we plan on even more and better vendor support
for NetHelp2.
Check this periodically for updated status on Third-party tools support
for NetHelp2.
The NetHelp2 SDK (Software Development Kit)
The NetHelp2 SDK consists of three major parts:
- NetHelp2 Builder. This is discussed above.
-
NetHelp2 Authoring Guide. This is a NetHelp2 system that
you download, unzip into your Communicator's nethelp directory, and use
as a NetHelp2 system. It provides complete and detailed instruction
for help authors, and shows all the steps needed to create, build, and
test NetHelp2 systems.
-
NetHelp2 Templates. These are nine different templates
for help authors to download so they can quickly get started in creating
their own NetHelp2 systems.
You can download the entire SDK or just these parts from the DevKit
page.