|
HelpSWMatrix
Preliminary Help Software Comparison
|
Product |
Blue Sky Software |
WexTech |
|
Requested Features/Systems |
WinHelp Office 4.0 |
Documentation Studio |
|
Mfr. Est. Price |
$649.00 |
$850.00 |
|
Components |
|
|
|
Authoring Tool |
RoboHelp Author 4.0 |
Doc-To-Help 2.5 |
|
Graphics Tool |
PaintIt |
Quickture 2.0 |
|
Multimedia Tool |
Sofware Video Cam |
Lotus ScreenCam |
|
Web Tools |
HTML Kit |
HelpSite 1.5 |
|
Conversion Tools |
Help>HTML, Help>MS Word |
Word>Help, Word>HTML |
|
Install Utility |
|
Setup Wizard 2.0 |
|
Context Sensitive Help |
What's This? Help Composer |
Integrated with Doc-To-Help |
| |
|
|
|
Help File Target Environment |
|
|
|
Windows95 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows NT 4.0 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Context Sensitive Help |
What's This? Help Composer |
Yes, seamless integration. |
| |
|
|
|
32 Bit Development Environment |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes, Doc-To-Help 2.5 |
| |
|
|
|
Authoring Tools |
|
|
|
Authoring Environment |
Microsoft Word 7 and Word 97 |
Microsoft Word 7 and Word 97 |
|
Single Source for Hardcopy and On-Line Help |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes |
|
Automatic Creation of Topics/Subtopics, Pop-Up Definitions, Keywords |
|
Yes |
|
Automatic Generation of Contents File (.CNT) |
Manual Drag and Drop |
Yes |
|
Automatic Conversion of Cross-References and Page References into Hypertext Links |
|
|
|
Dialog Box Help Editor |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes |
|
Contents Tabs |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes, Doc-To-Help 2.5 |
|
Authorable Buttons |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes |
|
Ad-hoc creation of A-Links, K-Links |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
Yes |
|
Help-File Appearance Control |
|
|
|
Window Size and Placement |
|
Yes |
|
Buttons Placement/Colors |
|
Yes |
| |
|
|
|
Graphics Tools |
|
|
|
Image Editor |
Yes, PaintIt |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
Thumbnail Previewer |
|
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
Smooth Bit Map Scaling (reduction) |
|
Yes, Smooth-Scaling 2.0 |
|
Screen Capture |
Yes |
|
|
Graphics Library / Extensible? |
Yes/No |
|
|
Create Image Hot Spots |
|
Yes |
|
Graphics Directory |
Yes |
Yes, via Find/Replace |
|
Multimedia Tools |
|
|
|
Audio |
Yes |
Yes, Lotus ScreenCam |
|
Video Sources |
Software Video Camera |
Yes, Lotus ScreenCam |
|
Integrate Video and Audio |
Yes, WinHelp Video Kit |
Yes, Lotus ScreenCam |
|
Verification Tools |
|
|
|
View Topic Files |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Search Keywords |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Context Sensitive Help Verifier |
Yes, Win Help BugHunter |
Built-In Diagnostic System |
|
Interactive Edit and Test |
Yes, RoboHelp 4.0 |
|
|
Built-In Diagnostic System |
Separate Tools |
Yes |
|
Web Tools |
|
|
|
Link to WWW URLs |
Yes |
Yes, Advanced Tool |
|
Link Verification |
Yes |
|
|
Seamless Integration with Authoring Tool |
Yes with WinHelp 2000 |
Yes |
|
Conversion Tools |
|
|
|
Windows Help to HTML |
Yes |
Yes, HelpSite 1.5 |
|
Navigation Page from Help Contents |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Bitmap to GIF File Conversion |
Yes |
Yes |
|
HTML 3.2 Tables |
Yes |
HTML 3.0 Tables |
|
Client Side Image Map File Creation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Windows Help to Microsoft Word |
Yes, Help-to-Word |
No |
|
Create Help and HTML from Single Source |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Hardcopy Help Manual |
Yes, Help-to-Word® |
Yes, Clickbook |
|
Help System Installation Utility |
|
Yes, Setup Wizard 2.0 |
|
Image Format Support |
|
|
|
BMP |
Yes |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
CGM |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
CDR (Corel Draw) |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
TIFF |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
GIF |
Yes, Help-to-HTML |
|
|
JPEG |
Yes, Help-to-HTML |
|
|
ICO |
Yes |
|
|
PCX (PC Paintbrush) |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
TGA |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
WMF |
No |
Yes, Quickture 2.0 |
|
Software Compatiblity |
|
|
|
Microsoft Word 95 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Microsoft Work 97 |
Yes |
Yes |
|
OLE Capable Software |
Yes |
|
|
ActiveX Controls(Pop-Up Help for Web Page) |
Yes, SmartHelp |
No |
|
System Requirements |
|
|
|
Minimum PC |
|
|
|
Min. Operating System |
Win 95, Windows NT |
Win 95, Windows NT |
|
Minimum Memory |
16MB |
16MB |
|
Minimum Free Disk Space |
|
|
|
Sound Card |
Yes, for Software Video Camera |
Yes, for Lotus ScreenCam |
|
Other hardware |
Microphone |
Microphone |
|
Software Maintenance |
|
|
|
Maintenance Program |
|
|
Last Update: 7/21/97
Name: Joseph P. Brazy
|
|