Microsoft HTML Help is a new Help standard based on compiled HTML and ActiveX format instead of the Rich Text Format (RTF) used by WinHelp. HTML Help runs on Windows 95/98/2000 or NT 4/5. When it is run on Windows 95 or NT 4 platforms, Internet Explorer 4 is needed to create and view HTML Help. Windows 98/2000 and NT 5 include a new HTML Help engine for displaying HTML Help. Microsoft is using HTML help for all of its new applications, but will continue to support the WinHelp engine for backward compatibility.

HTML Help is displayed differently from WinHelp. In WinHelp, the contents, index, and find features appear in a separate Help topics dialog box that disappears when a selection is made. Topics are displayed in main, secondary, and popup WinHelp windows. HTML Help displays both navigational functions and topic content in a single tri-pane window. Contents, index, and search functions remain visible in the left pane while topic content is displayed in the right pane. The third pane contains the menu buttons. There are no secondary windows, but popup windows are supported for context-sensitive help and HTML help topics (text and images).

One HTML file is created for every Help topic, and multiple subtopics can be in a single topic. Help source files are compressed and packed into a single compiled Help file .CHM for shipment. If popup windows are used, the popup.ocx control must be shipped with the .CHM file. A single compressed file or multiple individual files can be updated and copied to the Web server or local drive.

WinHelp files can be converted to HTML Help using the RoboHELP HTML wizard. The file size ratio (.CHM to .HLP ) is 6:1. Secondary windows will convert to jumps that appear in the right content pane

Key points to consider in creating HTML Help are as follows:

• You must compile your WinHelp project before you convert to HTML Help.
• Check the box to convert bulleted and numbered lists to retain indentation. Spacing on lists will not be as tight in HTML.
• If you have authorable buttons, check the applicable box or they will be converted to hyper-linked text.
• Use as few Word styles as possible, because formatting may not be retained.
• Popup window dimensions are set, so you may need to resize them.
• Use the HTML style sheet (.CSS) of choice.

WebHelp is a cross-platform help solution that uses Java applets. It runs on any 4.0 or higher browser. It does not support full-text search or popup windows. WinHelp files can be converted to WebHelp.

WinHelp 2000 is used to display WinHelp in a split-screen format with a navigation pane visible on the left while content is displayed in a topic pane on the right. WinHelp 2000 runs on Windows 95/98/2000.

PDFWriter is installed as part of Adobe Acrobat and is used to convert non-PostScript files to PDF files. PDFMaker is not included in Acrobat and must be downloaded from Adobe through its Web site or by FTP.

PDFMaker offers several linking features that are not available using PDFWriter:

• scrollable hyperlinked table of contents (bookmarks)
• internal hyperlinks
• cross Word document and cross external document links
• Internet hyperlinks

Both tools provide full text search, but with PDFMaker, this works only with PostScript fonts, not TrueType fonts.

PDFMaker does not support the hyperlinked indexing which is available using FrameMaker.

PDFMaker is also limited to 50 bookmarks per PDF file. To work around this, you can split your document into multiple PDF files and insert the pages using the Acrobat Exchange tool. Then alter the AdjustBookmarksLevels macro in the PDFMAKER.dot file.

To work with PDFMaker, you need Word 97 for Windows 95 or NT 4.0 with an MS PostScript printer driver (pscript.drv) installed. PDFMaker is not compatible with other Word versions. To create PDF files, you must have PDFWriter 3.0 or Acrobat Distiller 3.0 or Adobe Acrobat 3.0 for Windows which includes both tools. To view the PDF files, you must have Acrobat Reader or Exchange or Adobe Acrobat 3.0 for Windows which includes these tools, too

Set up your Word document in the following manner:

• Use styles so that a hyperlinked table of contents can be generated.
• Use PostScript fonts to enable full text search of your PDF files.
• Add color to cross-references.
• Split up a Master Document so you will have separate PDF files. You will append the files in Adobe Exchange via the Insert Pages option.
• Convert graphics to GIF/JPEG format.
• Use an image editor to change graphics to the intended viewing size.

Select the applicable PDFMaker preferences, and click the PDF icon in the Word tool bar to run PDFMaker. To reduce the size of the generated PDF files, select Save As from the File menu in Adobe Exchange, then select the Optimize option

The most critical step to avoid Word problems is to have sufficient RAM and hard disk space on your computer. It is also a good idea to defragment your hard drive periodically. Word uses large quantities of RAM and stores many temporary files on the hard drive. If you run short, you will encounter many Word aberrations.

If your Word file becomes corrupted, save your file without adding anything and close it. Shut down Word, then shut down Windows (restart for Windows 95/NT/98). Restart Word, and open your document. If this does not work, another fix is to save it to RTF file format, close it again, and open the RTF file.

Setting up Word properly will greatly simplify your work. Here are some tips:

• To limit the appearance of Office Assistant in Word 97, use the Options function on the help message.
• Do not hide paragraph marks and other nonprinting characters. If you accidentally delete one of these marks, you will lose formatting.
• Do not select Fast Save on the Save tab under Tools/Options. This feature can cause serious Word problems.
• Carefully select options under Tools/AutoCorrect, particularly the ones under Autoformat as You Type. If you are using RoboHELP, make sure straight quotes is selected.
• Turn Find Fast off on all your drives, then delete it from your Startup folder.
• Customize your toolbars.
• Tweak the normal.dot template to your needs.

Take advantage of Word's many features.

• Use character styles as well as paragraph styles.
• Use preset hot keys and make your own.
• Right-click to display popup menus.
• Use the Format Painter tool to apply formatting to words or lines of text.
• In Word 97, use Browse by Object on the vertical scroll bar to navigate to the next picture, table, or heading.

Some tips for working with graphics are:

• Decrease color depth down to the actual number of colors used to create the image.
• If you have many big graphics, link them instead of storing them to your file.
• Show only what is pertinent and crop extra white space.