What Kinds of Help Systems Can You Create?

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This content is no longer actively maintained. It is provided as is, for anyone who may still be using these technologies, with no warranties or claims of accuracy with regard to the most recent product version or service release.

You can use HTML Help to create two types of Help systems. You can:

  • Create a compiled Help file that is viewed by using the HTML Help Viewer. This is typically the way HTML Help is used to provide help for an Office application.
  • Create Web pages that use the HTML Help ActiveX control or the HTML Help JScript applet to implement navigation and secondary window features to display HTML pages and other documents from a Web browser. If you provide the appropriate value for the CODEBASE attribute when you are inserting the HTML Help ActiveX control in a Web page, the control can be installed and downloaded if it isn't already installed when a user opens the Web page. This method can be used to run a locally installed Help system, but it is more typically used to create general-purpose Web sites.

See Also

Using HTML Help to Author a Web Site | Adding Help to Your Custom Application | What Is Microsoft HTML Help?| HTML Help Tools and Features | Displaying HTML Help | Working with the HTML Help ActiveX Control | Deploying HTML Help