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Re: Help System recommendation

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"John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote in news:nospam-
5BEFCD.20375308122011@news.aioe.org:

> In article <Xns9FB563746CF5Ejpnasty@94.75.214.39>,
>  Novice <novice@example..com> wrote:
> 
>> [...] 
>> So, what are people using these days? 
>> 
>> I'm seeing more and more cases where clicking on Help in an 
>> application menu brings the user to a website rather than windows on 
>> their desktops. Is it fair to say that's the preferred approach these 
>> days? If so, can anyone point me to information about how people are 
>> invoking those web-based help systems, preferably with examples that 
>> illustrate the technique? 
>> 
>> I'm already very familiar with web design, HTML, CSS, etc. I'm just 
>> unsure about what code goes into the application to direct the user 
>> of a desktop application to the website. Basically, I just need the 
>> code that gets executed in the application once the mouse click is 
>> detected and it is determined that it was Help which was clicked. I 
>> can build the website easily enough myself.
>> 
>> I'm also curious to know about preferred tools for building help 
>> systems that don't need an internet connection. In those cases, the 
>> application itself needs to display help screens without recourse to 
>> the web.
> 
> java.awt.Desktop, new in 1.6, is useful in both cases: browse() can 
> accept a URI that references either a local or remote resource. 
> Conveniently, it also leverages the user's chosen desktop browser.
> 
> The older javax.swing.JEditorPane is convenient, but it's limited to 
> HTML 3.2 with a few extensions. There's an example here:
> 
> <http://robotchase.sourceforge.net/>
> 

java.awt.Desktop sounds like it may be just what I want. I could deal with 
JEditorPane too but Desktop sounds like it is a better fit for what I want 
without the limitations of HTML 3.2. Is it just me or is it odd that they 
aren't gradually updating JEditorPane to accomodate newer versions of HTML?

Thanks John!

-- 
Novice

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Help System recommendation Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-12-08 14:45 +0000
  Re: Help System recommendation "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-12-08 20:37 -0500
    Re: Help System recommendation Novice <novice@example..com> - 2011-12-09 05:24 +0000
      Re: Help System recommendation "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-12-09 12:05 -0500
        Re: Help System recommendation Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-12-09 10:25 -0800
          Re: Help System recommendation "John B. Matthews" <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2011-12-09 22:31 -0500
  Re: Help System recommendation Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-12-09 06:30 -0800
    Re: Help System recommendation Fredrik Jonson <fredrik@jonson.org> - 2011-12-11 16:03 +0000
      Re: Help System recommendation Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-12-12 03:36 -0800
  Re: Help System recommendation Jim Janney <jjanney@shell.xmission.com> - 2011-12-22 11:27 -0700

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