In-app help? (or something else?)

hpl123

Hi all,
Has anyone successfully built in-app help/documentation? When looking at e.g. http://help.xero.com/#home . This helpcenter is built with Sencha (Extjs) and looks good, professional etc. so I guess it´s possible to build this kind of help center directly in an application but has anyone tried it successfully? and achieved something similar to the Xero help center?

If you have, how did you go about it?, any tips? etc.. If you haven´t, how have you solved the help/documentation of your application?

pbrad

Hi,
I have a solution that I am quite happy with but it does take a little out of the box work.

Operational Mode:

Help files can be accessed individually in an ajax popup layer. They are called from custom html that shows the icon and calls the layer. In this manner, you can add context specific help icons throughout the application such as in query or form title bars, next to an attribute in the description field, in an html cell or wherever you want. I am a believer that help should be offered where and when people might need it. You can see how this works in the next two images:
http://iportcentral.com/iPort_Images/Clixon_Help1.png and
http://iportcentral.com/iPort_Images/Clixon_Help2.png
Context specific help files can be presented together via an external php page presented in a frame via a support menu item:
http://iportcentral.com/iPort_Images/Clixon_Help3.png

To Implement:

I use the highslide library but there are numerous javascript libraries that will allow you to show content in an ajax layer. You just need to add references to the js files in the startup.html file. I actually store the individual help files in a database driven cms website so that they can easily be edited without having to upload new bsv versions. I just present the external php page in the popup layer. This allows cross-linking between individual help files which is handy. You would have a number of options of where you store the help file content including in-line in the custom html.

For the comprehensive help file version, I just create an external php page and present the help topic menu and content in a frameset and then present the frameset inside AwareIM from a support menu item. As I am storing the help files in a database, obviously search capabilities could easily be added. Again, there are numerous approaches to this including ajax. (Check out codecanyon.net for low cost turnkey solutions)

Admittedly, this system takes a little more upfront work to setup and may require a little html knowledge but I believe that the end solution is pretty slick and very flexible. I have implemented it on a number of projects. There is an early version of this approach available in the AwareIM Toolkit that can be viewed at http://awareim-toolkit.com/features.html#Help. This version shows the help files in a popup browser window but if someone is interested in purchasing the toolkit for this reason, I would be willing to upgrade the version to use Ajax and provide detailed instructions on how to set it up.

Cheers,
Pete

hpl123

Looks good Pete but sounds like a bit much hassle. Isn´t it possible (and enough) to create a helpcenter in the same way as Xero where one uses a tree in one panel e.g. to the left for categories/topics and then display the topics/articles in another panel e.g. to the right. I will play around with this some I think.

Anyone else want to share their experience?

rocketman

Henrik, I have a little BSV (Help Centre Tree structure) I can send you. Give me a couple of days and I'll add it to the PayPal Subscriptions BSV, so you can download the latest version at no charge as long as you can remember your login credentials.

There will also be examples of Gift Vouchers, Add to Carte and View Carte if you need these

Will post here when it's ready

hpl123

Rocketman, great news and much appreciated 🙂. Also sounds great with the additional PayPal stuff. Thanks.

hpl123

rocketman wrote
Henrik, I have a little BSV (Help Centre Tree structure) I can send you. Give me a couple of days and I'll add it to the PayPal Subscriptions BSV, so you can download the latest version at no charge as long as you can remember your login credentials.

There will also be examples of Gift Vouchers, Add to Carte and View Carte if you need these

Will post here when it's ready

Rocketman,
Did you ever get around to doing these updates (PayPal) + helpcenter sample?
Thanks

kklosson

Possibly not what you need, but I am a big fan of Desk.com. It provides a full featured help desk solution and help content (knowledgebase). It's very easy to place an HTML tag on a form or VP to link directly to an article in the knowledgebase. As a one-person operation, it's free. I put all of my help content there and link to it from within the app. I also link to the support center page from within the app. Comes off as very professional.

hpl123

kklosson wrote
Possibly not what you need, but I am a big fan of Desk.com. It provides a full featured help desk solution and help content (knowledgebase). It's very easy to place an HTML tag on a form or VP to link directly to an article in the knowledgebase. As a one-person operation, it's free. I put all of my help content there and link to it from within the app. I also link to the support center page from within the app. Comes off as very professional.

I have looked at desk.com and am thinking about using it if/when my application grows a bit larger and I might need support staff etc. Regarding the free version, I didn´t know they had a free version? When looking at their site I only see the starter and plus plans?

kklosson

I might be Grandfathered in. As I recall, it is always free for one agent.

kklosson

I'm just bumping this to the top. I am using Desk.com as my help desk (trouble tickets) and knowledgebase (online help topics) and bug/enhancement tracking system. I am fortunate that I adopted it back when it was free for life for a single user. I will hold them to that promise. But if I had to pay the price, which would be $30/mo, I would in a minute.