Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Help Builder and Snagit

Last week I spent time getting re-familiar with Help Builder by Rick Strahl. I had created a help file years ago which is used by my primary application. I really liked using Help Builder back then, but I never updated my help file. So I decided to start updating the help file.

First I made sure I had the latest version of Help Builder. Rick has made some enhancements that I believe the programmer will like for building program documentation (that's another thing I haven't done either).

Next I purchased and downloaded Snagit v10. In the past I had used Paint Shop Pro's (PSP) capture software. Using PSP worked but it was also kind of a hassle; I think that is why I let the help file get so far behind. Well, Rick has done something special. Help Builder will interface with Snagit. This process works really good and makes capturing screen shots a breeze. There is no excuse to not have plenty of screen shots in the help file now.

I have to give Rick a big thanks for another wonderful product.

I've never seen my users use the help file. Maybe because it is so old, or maybe because they just don't know about it. Recently I've been reading the help files from different frameworks that I use and there is a wealth of information in there. It is my hope that I can create a help file that is just as useful as the ones I've been using lately. I hope to have help project completed soon and I have Help Builder and Snagit to thank.

1 comment:

  1. I second your recommendations, Prentiss. I've used both for more than a decade and couldn't do without them.

    Doug

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