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Screen shots of VS 2010 b2 Help

posted Oct 21, 2009 5:47 PM by Robert Chandler

Hi all

We created a page with VS 10 beta 2 Help screen shots and info:

Also looks like VS Beta 2 Pro is now available for general download

And don’t forget the free Migrate Utility by MVP Rob Chandler is here:

And help 3 documentation is here

Rob

First Look at MS Help 3.0 File Format

posted Apr 21, 2009 6:53 PM by Robert Chandler   [ updated Apr 21, 2009 7:12 PM ]

At the 2009 MVP Summit at Microsoft HQ in Seattle, the Help MVPs spent 2 days with the Help 3 Team learning about MS Help 3.0 (H3 is part of Visual Studio 2010)

This week MVP Rob Chandler posted details of the new Help 3 format
Also this week Helpware released the first MS Help 3 Tag Editor, and TOC/Index Editor.

Help 3 Offline to Ship Beta 2

posted Apr 1, 2009 12:15 AM by Robert Chandler   [ updated May 5, 2009 4:39 PM ]

Anand [MS - Sandacastle team] has just let us know that VS 2010 Beta 1 will be Online Help only (in the browser).

The offline (local help) experience wont be available until Beta 2. The current plan now is to also view offline help in the browser.  Originally they were thinking of a C# application with WPF UI.

Hopefully Beta 2 is when we can start integrating. So relax for a little while longer.

Help 3 at WritersUA Conference

posted Feb 20, 2009 4:29 PM by Robert Chandler   [ updated Feb 20, 2009 5:41 PM ]

From Anand's Sandcastle Blog: "We are currently working on updating Sandcastle to ship content for VS 2010 Help3 viewer." and "After we ship VS 2010 Beta 1, I will post an updated version of sandcastle that we will be using for shipping VS 2010 Beta 1 MSDN library. This will include the following features and several bug fixes... <snip> and Attributes supporting Microsoft Help 3 viewer."

Yes folks the new Help 3 viewer and engine will debut in Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 (availability TBA).

For more information catch Anand Raman and April Reagan at this years 2009 WritersUA Conference (March 29 - April 1).

When: Monday March 30th 1:15 - 2:45 pm
Session 444: Microsoft Sandcastle Documentation Compiler - Anand Raman, Microsoft
Session 133:  Microsoft Help v.3 Preview - April Reagan - Microsoft

April's session blurb:
   

Microsoft Help 3 is a new client help system! This help system has been built from the ground up with simplicity, performance and relevance in mind. It was not a straightforward road in getting the project approved, and with a large legacy content base and complex content scenarios, it took a lot of long and heated design discussions with a will to favor simplicity. The end result is a greatly improved deployment model, a fast underlying architecture based on the Zip storage standard and a beautiful new Windows Presentation Foundation based help viewer featuring a web-browser feel. Initially shipping as the product help system for the next wave of Visual Studio products, this system will become available to all Windows developers in the near future. This will be the first wide release of a help system from Microsoft since Help 1 (aka HTML Help).

WritersUA (formally WinWriters) run a great conference, lots of great speakers and sessions. As usual Help MVPs will be attending and speaking.

MS Help 3.x

posted Oct 18, 2008 2:24 AM by Robert Chandler   [ updated Oct 18, 2008 2:33 AM ]

In case you missed it, there is a new help technology under development at Microsoft. A new dev team was formed early 2008 and is led by program manager April Reagan.  The team's immediate aim is to replace VS MSDN help using readily available technologies (such as Windows Desktop Search and ZIP file containers). April says that eventually (somewhere down the line) she hopes to see this technology available to everyone (not just MSDN users). It's been refreshing to see a project team being so open with the community at this early stage of the project.

Remember it's early days and just like Help 2.0 (VS / MSDN Help) and its cousin AP Help (Vista Help) it may all come to nothing. We hope that MS can pull it off this time. The need is certainly out there.

How can I find out more?


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