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RoboHelp Office X5
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Rating: 3.67/5 from 3 reviews Don't listen to the naysayersOverpriced and very disappointing.There is very little that is "robo" (i.e., automated) about RoboHelp. Sure, it will auto-generate things when you ask it to, but its output is so erratic and incomplete you might as well do it all by hand. As a manual Help creation tool, it's got a nice complement of features, but let me tell you about a couple of little quirks or bugs... You're supposed to be able to switch the type of output you get from RoboHelp at any point in your project. We started out with the goal of producing WebHelp, then switched to MS HTML help. Well, the part where you define what's available in your final output (Window definitions) did not come along for the switch. It took some time to realize that we had to delete the window definitions and define new ones in order for RoboHelp to actually produce the output we wanted. Another little quirk is that when you add a hyperlink to existing text in a bulleted list, RoboHelp throws in a bunch of space characters (from 3 to 10) between the bullet and the text. And the WYSIWYG editor is not really WYSIWYG, not that that's any surprise, but it won't allow you to do everything you want to do. There is a TrueCode editor to let you get around that, if you know your way around HTML. A new quirk that I've been wrestling with this morning is that any edit to an existing topic changes the style for that topic, and RoboHelp will not allow me to change it back, even when I edit the HTML directly! Workarounds, more workarounds, and living with things you can't work around--expect to spend a lot of time developing your project's Help file with RoboHelp. Highway RobberyThis is nothing more than the basic RoboHelp with many more bells and whistles. It's not worth a grand; not now, not ever. Reminds me of automobiles: they're all the same, four wheels and a horn. They all do the same thing. But start adding features and the price starts climbing. I think it's the height of arrogance to charge a grand for this software. Just so long as this type of arrogance marks the software industry, then just so long will I in my secret heart cheer on the software pirates. | ||||||||||||||||||
I also like the Flash Help feature very much. You can easily go to Project Manager and set your preference for the type of Help output you want. Flash Help makes the Help for our product look very slick. My coworkers agree. I highly suggest that you upgrade if you haven't already.
Another reason you should purchase this product (and no, I don't work for Macromedia) is that eHelp no longer "owns" the product. Macromedia supports it. Sure, you may not get a break on the price but guess what? Unless you're a registered user, you won't be able to access free skins online anymore. Macromedia has made the product more proprietary than ever. So, with improvements formerly via eHelp Corp. comes disappointments. They want you to upgrade, yes. You will have to pay, yes. Pirated software? If we all did that, you'd probably be paying an even bigger price for the prized software.
Good luck, & if you want to create your own Help project by hand, then don't buy the product. RoboHelp X5 literally saves weeks of work and if it has a few bugs, what software product doesn't? I personally would not want to be slaving over Help files all weekend doing them manually.
That's MY six hundred or so bucks' worth...but I got my company to pay for my version. So what are you griping about? Cut a purchase order and get reimbursed or use your company's credit card!