JavaHelp is designed as a comprehensive Help system containing the features that authors depend on and the navigation aids users expect.
JavaHelp Help viewer: The HTML-based viewer is comprised of a toolbar, content pane (uses HTML 3.2 for displaying topics), and navigation pane.
Table of contents: Includes an unlimited number of hierarchical levels and collapsible/expandable topics.
Index: Powerful index that lists keywords and all of the topics a given keyword is associated with.
Full-text search capability: Search engine examines full text of the content and supports multi-word queries. Search results are sorted based on the number of "hits" found in each topic.
Flexible display: JavaHelp can be viewed in its own primary window or embedded in an application. Navigators, content windows and other components can be individually embedded in an application.
Customization: The JavaHelp API provides developers and Help authors with the flexibility to add, combine, replace, customize and extend components and the user interface. Elements of JavaHelp programs that are frequently customized include navigation panes, toolbars and the Help viewer.
Context sensitive: Context-sensitive Help and ID mapping is provided in the JavaHelp API through the Swing toolkit of the Java Foundation Classes (JFC).
Popups: Two kinds of popups are supported in JavaHelp. Text-only popups open in a small window within the topic. Popup links are links that open in their own special popup window.
Merging options: The JavaHelp API supports merging of tables of contents, indexes, and search databases.
Compression: JavaHelp projects can be compressed into a single file in the Java Archive (JAR) format. The compression process dramatically reduces the size of your JavaHelp project so it requires less space.
Bulleted and numbered lists: You can include both bulleted lists and numbered lists in JavaHelp projects.
Internationalization: JavaHelp coordinates with the Java Development Kit 1.2 to provide full I18N support. Help content, indexes, and tables of contents are supported and function in a locale-specific way.