Since 1989, the Help standards provided by Microsoft have been a focal point for technical writers charged with providing documentation for Windows software. There have been three major versions of Windows Help to date: WinHelp 3.x, WinHelp 4 for Windows 95, and HTML Help. The next version, Microsoft Help 2.0, is scheduled for release in early 2002. Windows Help continues to be the dominant form of online Help for the large majority of Windows applications. However, browser-based Help has found broad support and is becoming a major competitor to Windows Help as the means to present online Help in the Windows environment.

This portion of the survey looked specifically at Windows Help development. The results expressed in this section only reflect the portion of respondents supporting Windows. We asked questions about Windows versions, Help versions, and Help features.

Windows Version Support

One of the biggest challenges for Windows Help developers has been supporting a growing number of Windows flavors. Since different Windows Help versions work best with certain versions of the Windows OS, this is an important area of consideration. Forward and backward compatibility is one of the main issues Help developers need to address in devising an online Help development strategy. Many Help authoring tools now have a cross-target capability that attempts to output a single repository of content to multiple versions of Windows.

The following figure shows the percentage of respondents supporting different versions of Windows. The largest percentages of support goes to Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows 98. All of those versions support HTML Help.

For the 47% of respondents supporting Windows 95 there is a concern. Windows 95 in its out-of-the-box form does not support HTML Help. Installation of Internet Explorer and certain Microsoft products effectively upgrades that operating system, but that does not make the decision to deploy HTML Help any easier. WinHelp 4 offers a more straightforward approach for Windows 95.

Windows ME and XP are very new and Windows 3.x is very old, so the small support numbers there are not surprising.

Only a fifth of the respondents support just one version of Windows (see the figure below). Respondents supporting two through five versions make up 73% of Help developers. With 34% of the respondents supporting Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000, cross-version support issues are very important.

Help Version Support

Looking at the three major versions of Windows Help, two-thirds of developers are working with HTML Help, as seen in the figure below. It will be interesting to see if this number continues to grow or whether the announcement of Help 2.0 will freeze developers until 2002.

A strong 43% of respondents still support WinHelp 4 for Windows 95. The main reason for this is that WinHelp 4 continues to be forwardly compatible with all newer versions of Windows except for CE. The WinHelp 4 viewer application continues to be included in the latest versions of Windows. Developers who have an effective solution with WinHelp 4 can avoid the need to do a time-consuming and potentially error-prone upgrade to HTML Help.

A third of respondents indicated they support both WinHelp 4 and HTML Help. These Help developers are likely embracing the features of HTML Help for the latest editions of their products while maintaining WinHelp 4 support for Windows 95 users. This kind of support often requires special installation routines that check-match Help version to Windows version.

The use of WinHelp 3.x is close to disappearing. This version is probably only used for legacy support of very old versions of applications.

Windows Help Features

With evolving Windows Help formats and a growing interest in browser-based Help, it is important to understand what draws us to using the proprietary Help solutions from Microsoft. In our survey we asked the respondents to rank the importance of Windows Help features in their current development efforts. The features listed in the survey apply to both WinHelp 4 and HTML Help.

The figure below shows standard navigation components ranked highest. The Index was on top, rated as "Invaluable" or "Very Valuable" by 90% of respondents. This was followed closely by the Table of contents and Full-text search. This is not too surprising because effective access to conceptual information and domain knowledge relies on these components. While these components are well designed in WinHelp 4 and HTML Help, further research in making them more powerful and easier to use should be a high priority for future versions of Windows Help.

Following just behind the high ratings for navigation components is the high value placed on a standard user interface for Help. One of the key elements in the success of Windows Help has been a viewer window that provides a consistent look and feel across thousands of applications. Once users learn how to use one Windows Help system, they know how to use the rest. Empirical observations of Help systems have shown that most Help developers choose to use the standard Windows Help user interface. A standard viewer makes it possible for tech writers to maintain control of their Help design throughout the development process.

In contrast, customization of viewer window as a feature was highly valued by only a third of the respondents. While customization certainly has the potential to create a better user experience, the reality is that most organizations do not have the resources available to design, build, and test their own Help user interfaces. Viewer customization is important to a subset of Help authors and should be offered in future Help versions, but a well-designed standard viewer should be a higher priority.

Two-thirds of the respondents highly valued context-sensitive Help, which is not surprising for a component that provides the most direct way to get the needed information to the user. The Application Programming Interface (API) offers programmers an efficient way to enable this capability. This form of linkage between an application and Help has been a core element of Windows Help since its inception in 1989.

Nearly two-thirds of respondents highly valued the compressed Help file formats. It is obviously desirable to be able to ship a Help system in the compact, encapsulated form offered by the .HLP (WinHelp) and .CHM (HTML Help) files. This is one of the key elements that separates the Windows proprietary solutions from browser-based Help alternatives. The compressed format improves topic access performance, eases the file management process during final production, minimizes the footprint of the Help system, and helps maintain the integrity of the Help system once it is installed.