Copyright: Copyright © 1991-1994 Blue Sky Software
Citation: Created with RoboHELP. Copyright 1991-1994 Blue Sky Software. All rights reserved.


Contents
 Subset of WinHelp Style Guide

You can easily create a help system with the features demonstrated here - this guide shows you how. This guide was created with RoboHELP®.  About this Guide.

	Help Basics
	Fonts
	Colors
	Help Source Files


Help Basics

You can easily create a help system with the features demonstrated here - this guide shows you how. This guide was created with RoboHELP®.

Help Basics

What is Windows Help?

Windows Help is a system-wide standard for developing online help and it’s installed with every copy of Windows.  It consists of a Help viewer and a Help compiler for developers.  Windows Help usually called WinHelp is a standalone Windows application.  The WinHelp executable ((WINHELP.EXE) uses compiled Help files (.HLP) only.  WinHelp applications can be linked to another Windows application or can be used standalone as information systems.

Advantages of Online Help

Windows Help has become a very popular way of presenting reference information to a Windows user.  Windows users are notorious for not using manuals: they expect to find answers to all their questions via context-sensitive help in their Windows applications.  Window Help reduces the cost of goods, updates, and distribution.  It adds flexibility to the product development cycle; it’s faster to update than a manual.  It’s instantly available to the user and offers the potential of almost unlimited color graphics and multimedia capability.  The library of Help topics also allows users to quickly access the information needed.


Fonts

You can easily create a help system with the features demonstrated here - this guide shows you how. This guide was created with RoboHELP®.

Fonts

In a Help system you can use different fonts to emphasize text. Windows comes with several standard fonts that are installed on every Windows system. For Help systems it is best to use standard fonts - if you use a font that isn't on the Help user's system, the result can be strange looking (difficult to read) text. Sans serif fonts are best for help systems as they tend to have a crisper display on-screen.

The Arial font was used to create this Help system. Other standard Windows 3.1 fonts that the Help compiler supports include:

TrueType:

Courier New

Σψμβολ (Symbol)

Times New Roman

Standard:

Courier

MS Sans Serif

MS Serif

Small Fonts

You can also add font characteristics such as:

bold

italic

underline

strikethrough

bold italic

etc.


Colors

You can easily create a help system with the features demonstrated here - this guide shows you how. This guide was created with RoboHELP®.

Colors

This topic shows the colors that were defined as part of the help system. You can use any of the colors available to your system just by selecting a color for the font. When the help system is compiled, the text appears in the specified color.

In most cases, the default color is black, although it can be any color. Other colors available to Windows Help are:

Blue	Cyan	Green	Magenta

Red	Yellow	(white)	Dark Blue

Dark Cyan	Dark Green	Dark Magenta	Dark Red

Dark Yellow	Dark Gray	Gray

As you can see, some of the lighter colors don't show up well on the white background. It is helpful to keep this in mind when you are selecting the colors for your help system.


Help Source Files Text
Help Source Files

A Windows help system is comprised of the following files:


About this Guide

This is a subset of the Windows Help Style Guide.  The full WinHelp Style Guide is provided in the WinHelp Tool Kit from Blue Sky Software and provides information and examples on creating Windows Help systems.