Microsoft 'Longhorn' Help Highlights


Introduction

Microsoft’s announcement at the 2003 Professional Developers Conference of the next version of Windows—code named "Longhorn"—included an unveiling of the proposed new Help format. Prior to the announcement, most of us might have anticipated a modest evolution of the current HTML Help format—perhaps the long-awaited release into the public arena of Help 2, polished up for consumption by non-technical end-users? Clever money might have been on an enhanced version of the Help and Support Center that we have in XP, since that’s where Microsoft seems to have been targeting most of its own user assistance efforts in recent OS releases.

In the event, Microsoft’s specification for "Longhorn" Help goes much, much further, and represents a major revolution in user assistance development for the Windows platform. Instead of simply refining the technical infrastructure of Help (windowing, links, search, etc.), Microsoft has given a good deal of thought to the needs of both Help authors and end-users. Ralph Walden, the original architect of WinHelp and HTML Help, puts it like this:

"Much of HTML Help's focus was taken up by the new display system, without very much functionality added specifically for user assistance. With Longhorn, the Help team has returned to focusing foremost on providing user assistance."
The result is a Help system designed specifically for creating task-based assistance that can be highly integrated with the application UI.

This article provides you with a synopsis of the key concepts and features of "Longhorn" Help, as currently documented by Microsoft at http://longhorn.msdn.microsoft.com. Even though "Longhorn" may not be released to the general public for two years or more, the paradigm shift in the Help authoring and deployment process demands significant up-front analysis and preparation. It obliges you to rethink your entire publishing strategy for user assistance, and may also require investment in new tools and technologies. For that reason, it may not be too early to start planning how you will take advantage of "Longhorn" Help.

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