Welcome to NetHelp

NetHelp is an open standard for viewing HTML-based online help. NetHelp allows you to provide context-sensitive online help for an application--in any environment--where Netscape Navigator is present.

NetHelp enables you to:

Authoring for NetHelp

HTML is fast becoming a standard for network-based information display. Netscape Help therefore benefits from the new tools available for producing content in HTML. The same tools and techniques used to publish information to web sites can be used to construct NetHelp systems. These traditional features, combined with the NetHelp Builder, will enable you to author and produce powerful help systems.

Who Should Read This Guide

You should read this guide if you want to build a complete HTML help system like the one found in Netscape Communicator 4.01. This document is aimed toward three types of authors: You'll find this guide useful if you're a technical writer or help content provider. It will be helpful for you to be familiar with HTML, and to have some experience with online help systems.

What This Guide Covers

This guide presents an overview of NetHelp 2.0 and describes how to author content for a NetHelp 2.0 help system. It illustrates all the steps you will take to create, test, and deliver a help system, guides you through troubleshooting, and answers some frequently asked questions.

Building a NetHelp System

Whether you are starting fresh or converting an existing help system, the process of building a NetHelp system falls into three phases:

Parts of a NetHelp System

Before you begin, it will be helpful to understand the parts that constitute a NetHelp system.

This platform structure depicts how your help topics are viewed through a user interface, which is supported by NetHelp's platform, which is supported by Communicator's platform.

Platform Structure

Authorable Help Topics

As an author, you will focus your efforts on providing a body of instructional information for your users. You may choose to create graphics to support your text; you might even include animation and sound in your help topics. Your role as an author also involves tagging elements in your help topics, just like you would in HTML, but including NetHelp's unique tags for the Table of Contents and Index.

Configurable User Interface

Your end users will access your help topics through a user interface. Netscape Communicator and NetHelp provide a platform and a basic user interface, but you have some control over certain parts of that interface. You may create your own graphics for the header pane of the help window, and replace the action buttons in the button bar and locator panes. You may also change the size of the window and relative sizes of each pane.

NetHelp Platform

NetHelp's JavaScript and HTML code organize the user interface elements and your unique help topics. NetHelp builds a Table of Contents and keyword Index for your system.

Communicator Platform

The NetHelp platform rests on the Communicator platform, allowing you and your end users to view your help system through Netscape's browser.

You will never need to touch the Communicator platform, and NetHelp's Builder enables you to bypass the NetHelp implementation files as well. As an author you only interact with the top levels of this system structure.

Author Interaction

Panes in a NetHelp Window

The NetHelp window is divided into areas of navigation and information called panes.

Panes in a NetHelp Window

When you compare these diagrams, you can see how the parts the the NetHelp system fall into panes of the NetHelp window.
Relationship between Platform Structure and Window Panes

Directories in a NetHelp System

Before you begin building your help system, you should understand the NetHelp directory structure. All local NetHelp systems live in the NetHelp directory, which is part of your Communicator installation.

On Mac and UNIX systems, the NetHelp directory location is relative to where you installed your Communicator directory.

On PCs the default location is:
C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Program\NetHelp\

NetHelp Directory Default Location on PC

Your help system will live in the NetHelp directory. Within Your Help directory, you will create subdirectories for each of your sections. The NetHelp implementation files (graphics files, JavaScript files, and HTML files) must also be located in Your Help directory.

The YourHelp Directory

Each of your sections will have your HTML topic file, graphics files for the section Header, an HTML file for the section Header, and the help project file. Any graphics, animations, or sounds you create to support your help topics must also reside in this section directory.

The Section Directories 

Files in a NetHelp System

Files for your help system will live on two levels: some files support the implementation of your help system and live in Your Help directory, while other files are specific to your help topics and live within your Section directories.

Files in Your Help Directory

The files that live in Your Help directory support the implementation of your NetHelp system. These files are included in the NetHelp template and do not need to be modified.

There are three types of implementation files in Your Help directory:

Files in Your Section Directories

The files that live in your section directories are specific to your help topics. You will produce the majority of these files, and then use the NetHelp Builder to create the project file.

There are four types of files in your Section directories:

Planning Your NetHelp System

Now that you are more familiar with the structure of the NetHelp windows, directories, and files, you'll need to plan your own help system. You begin by structuring your help content.

NetHelp System Structure

Sections

You will divide your help system into "chunks" of related information called sections, which show up in the Header pane. In a large help system, sections may be used to organize a suite of products. Netscape Communicator's help is divided into sections by product: Navigator, Messenger, Composer, etc. For a smaller help system, sections may be used to organize information like the parts in a book. This NetHelp Authoring Guide is divided into sections by the process of building a help system: Getting Started, Authoring, and Building.

Subsections

Your sections are divided into subsections, which show up in both the Locator pane and the Topic pane. These subsections are a way of breaking up the topic information and providing a way for your users to scan through the help information. In the Locator pane the subsections work like folders, expanding and contracting to reveal their topics.

Topics

Each subsection is further divided into topics. The heading for each topic shows up in the Locator pane, and the heading and body of information shows up in the Topic pane.

Parts of the NetHelp System in the NetHelp Window