JavaHelp : Java Glossary

a HAT (Help Authoring Tool) An application much like WinHelp to convert HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) files to help format. It creates a table of contents, index and various cross references. The advantage is that it is platform independent. Oracle devised the basic framework and various third parties have created tools for it. If your help system generates PDF (Portable Document Format) or HTML, it need not be Java friendly. You just launch a browser of Acrobat reader to handle the help.

Using HTML for Help files

Increasingly programmers are abandoning proprietary help formats in favour of ordinary online HTML. The advantages include:

• The user can use his familiar browser with its familiar search tools.
• Online documenation is quick to update and disseminate.
• The user can use a site: qualifier with a Google search to help find what he is looking for in the documentation.
• You can can prepare the documentation with familiar tools.
• If the makeer of your help tool abandons it, you hane to somehow convert you documentation from one proprietary format to another. With HTML your documenatation is already in a portable format.
• For speed, you can distribute and update HTML using the Replicator.