AIR Help Output Format

Summary

Adobe AIR is a browser independent environment similar in nature (but I'm sure with its own set of unique features, flash support for one) to Sun Java VM, Microsoft ActiveX, and Google Gears. The "AIR Help" format would presumably take advantage of the AIR APIs to achieve more advanced Help features beyond what javascript alone can provide.

Detailed Description

See details on help prototype at: http://www.leximation.com/airhelp/.

Use Cases

:) :)) :( ;) :\ |) X-( B)
JohnPitt   I've done a quick read-through of the info available at Leximation and Adobe, but didn't find answers to:

Does it support popups or a good replacement?

All the samples look very designer-whizzy; but would a "typical" help set load faster as AIR Help than as WWHelp5?

jjj
 2007-12-20 15:15:22
TonyMcDow   John, its not likely we would ever develop AIR Help instead of WWHelp5, however, we are considering using the AIR API to enhance future versions of WWHelp. For example, the FinalDraft format could use the AIR API as a replacement for the ActiveX control that is currently used to perform the uncompress and save comments operations.
The AIR API could be a nice solution to the problem of using ActiveX which is not cross-browser and requires certification to deploy within a browser.
This enhancement request was originally brought up by a user that wanted specific support for the prototype that has been labeled "AIR Help", which is a third-party implementation of help using HTML and the AIR API. We are not even sure if anybody is using this format, but it might be worth discussing as a possible test bed for new help features and capabilities.
 2008-01-03 15:09:06
B) JohnPitt   Thanks Tony. My present client is looking something with all the capabilities of WWH5, but with far quicker loading and (the Holy Grail), no IE6, IE7, Firefox and Safari "anomalies" (am I asking too much? Probably). We'll wait and watch.
 2008-01-06 14:47:35
:) TonyMcDow   John, we are working on it. Rest assured that it will be implemented as a new ePublisher format so that it can be easily added to an existing stationery alongside wwhelp5 or any other format being used. Your not asking too much.
 2008-01-07 11:23:53
B) JohnPitt   That is excellent news.
 2008-01-07 15:39:46
DaveTruman   I suggest that a pre-requisite for this is to develop a new web-based output format, ideally using Web 2.0 technologies to replace the cumbersome framesets and heavy Javascript. With technologies like jQuery and CSS-based layouts, it should be possible to get functionality similar to WWH 5.0 in a more accessible and search-engine-friendly way. This is probably worthy of a whole page but hopefully this comment will do..
2009-05-19 13:00:07

Enhancements/AirHelpOutputFormat (last edited 2008-02-13 06:18:28 by localhost)