CogentHelp: A Tool for Authoring Dynamically Generated Help for Java GUIs

CogentHelp is a prototype tool for authoring dynamically generated on-line help for applications with graphical user interfaces (GUIs) built using the tract Windowing Toolkit (AWT). In this paper, we describe some of the techniques used in CogentHelp to facilitate the authoring, maintenance and customization of high-quality help systems. These include the use of (1) a “single-source” methodology for developing program code and help text; (2) small-grained, reusable “snippets”of help text instead of monolithic topics; and (3) a lightweight, extensible framework for planning and generating help topics from “snippets”.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: SIGDOC
• Authors: David E. Caldwell, Michael White
• Keywords: Document Analysis, Graphical User Interfaces, On-line Help, SIGDOC 1997, Tract Windowing Toolkit