Help components overview

When you open a Help system, you access the information in the Help system from one file. This file is the result of combining many different files together - usually working with a Help authoring tool.

Every Help system starts with ideas for communicating a message. The ideas may include text to explain concepts and tasks, images to show screens, and video and sound to illustrate a point. As the author, you work with a Help-authoring tool to create and use the elements that best suit your message.

Topics. The basic unit of a Help system is its topics. Topics communicate the message of the Help system, mainly through text and images. You decide the content, format, and organization of your topics.

Image and multimedia files. By adding images and multimedia files to your Help system topics, you take advantage of the power and color of Help. Depending on the format you've chosen for your Help system, you can add graphics, sound, video, animation, and more.

Windows. Windows are the frames that display topics. Each Help format has at least one default Help window in which topics automatically appear. You can customize the window's appearance and attributes. You can also design new windows to suit your content.

Links. Users navigate through your Help system through links. You design the strategy that connects your topics together. The most common links are from one topic to another. But links can also take users outside the Help system, to a topic in a different Help system (even in a different Help format), to a Web or intranet site, or to an application, for example.

Styles. Topics are formatted using styles. Styles are named formats that you design and apply to control the layout and appearance of text.

Table of contents. When users open your Help system, they usually see a Contents tab. It looks and functions much like a table of contents in a printed book. It presents a hierarchical outline of what the Help system contains. You create the table of contents and users can browse and select topics to view from the Contents tab.

Index. Users also see an Index tab when they open the Help system. The Index tab is equivalent to the index in a printed book. It displays a multilevel list of topics and keywords or phrases that you've specified to direct users to topics.

Full-text search. Another tab present in the Help system is the Find or Search tab. This tab allows users to search through every word in the Help system to find topics containing that word.

Organization. All those idea files and other components (called source files) come together in a Help project. Your Help-authoring tool creates one file that contains the information about the location of your topics, images, and other files. Help project files also contain the settings that affect how your Help system looks and acts.

Help compiler. The Help compiler isn't actually part of the final Help file, but you need it to create one. The compiler takes all the source files and other components of your project and creates one Help system file that you distribute to end users. The compiler reads information in the project to determine what the Help system contains and how it looks and functions.

Help viewer. Users work with the Help system from a Help viewer. Sometimes called a Help engine, the viewer opens and displays the Help system. You work with different viewers, depending on the Help format.