Welcome to The Expert Help Hypertext System.

  Introduction
    Welcome to the finest Hypertext Database System available. With the
    tools included in this system you are able to create Hypertext Data-
    bases complete with pull-down menus and hyperlinked cross referencing.
    With Expert Help, you are able to develop and distribute professional
    Hypertext Databases without royalties of any kind. For those who have
    a need to distribute an Engine along with their Databases, we have The
    Expert Help Distribution Kit.

    The Expert Help System is powered by The Expert Help Hypertext Search
    Engine. This extremely fast and powerful search engine will read all
    Norton Guides Databases as well as Expert Help Databases. All pertinent
    information can be accessed with a single keystroke, within any program,
    at any time, without disturbing the underlying program (IE. an editor).
    All Hypertext Database information is organized so you can find relevant
    information fast, using auto lookup, text search, and cross referencing
    of related topics.

    The Expert Help System is especially suited for those who would like
    to have (or provide) quick access to virtually any type of information
    while using their computer. Since Expert Help is designed for beginners
    as well as experts, it quickly becomes an invaluable tool for those who
    appreciate comprehensive on line help.

  Hypertext Databases - Information at your Fingertips
    Hypertext Databases are the heart of the Expert Help system. Almost all
    of the information you see in the display window (from pull-down menus
    to Related Topics) is stored in the database file. The Database
    Composer also includes information of its own within the database to
    speed up the access to the data. You can create your own Database with
    any type of text or documentation that you might have...or you can
    purchase commercially prepared databases from over 100 sources.

    Pull-Down Menus
    Pull-down menus provide the basic structure of databases. Expert Help
    databases contain a number of separate, but still related, sections of
    data. Each of these sections is accessed through an item in a pull-down
    menu. This makes it easy to pinpoint the data that you want, or just
    browse through the data when you're not sure what you're looking for.

    The advantage of menus is that they provide a fairly "flat" database
    where short entries (which you can think of as a table of contents)
    expand to longer descriptions (detailed text).

    It is possible to build tree structures, where entries in a list are
    Expanded into other lists of short entries (sort of like having a book
    within a book). Expert Help's Global Search capabilities make finding
    this "tree structured" information painless.

    Entries
    All of the data in a Hypertext Database is organized as one of two
    structures: short entries and long entries. Short entries are one-line
    descriptions that serve as pointers to more complete descriptions.
    Those complete descriptions are called long entries.

    When you select Expand, you are asking to view the long entry pointed
    to by a short entry. A short entry can and usually does expand (point)
    to a long entry. Alternatively, a short entry can expand to a list of
    short entries, creating a "deeper" database.


    Text Files
    Each item in a pull-down menu points to a separate section of the
    database. And each of those sections is created as a separate text
    file. In other words, you will have at least one text file for each
    menu item. (You can also use the !file command to build deeper, more
    complicated structures - in which case, you will create more than one
    text file per menu item.)

    As mentioned above, text files are comprised of short and long entries.
    A single text file can contain either a list of short entries, with
    their long entries directly underneath, or a single long entry.

    The Composer - A Compiling and Linking Overview
    At this point you may be wondering how all of these text files are
    transformed into a single Hypertext Database. That's the function
    of the Database Composer. After creating the text files that make
    up your documentation, you will then use the Database Composer to
    compile them into files of highly organized and cross-indexed in-
    formation. The Database Composer creates intermediate files, which
    it then links together into the finished database. The new Database
    will be complete with your data, information about menus and menu
    names, and special information used to speed access to the data.


    Press the Gray + key to proceed to the next topic (long entry).