Your thoughts on distributing help files

Hi,
I'm trying to decide on a way to distribute help files with my small vb6 app. In the past I've done .chm files but find html workshop cumbersome to work with (I had problems with correctly displaying the .chm pages probably because I'm not an expert in creating them)
.
How about .mht (web archive)? I could create a small site and save it into a .mht, then distribute it as a help file. Easy to do.
What are some pros & cons

- .chm file
- .mht (web archive)
- separate html files

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,
Tom

I use HTML cause everyone has a webbrowser. I keep em simple HTML so no worries about compatibility browser problems. If the programs are user friendly most users will never even look at the help files anyway, don't waste more time on them then needed, and even if you cover every possible question/feature some dumb-ass will still email you asking whats already been covered in the help file! God help us programmers!

Good point Edgemeal,
I was leaning towards the html files as well, but instead of having different files for each topic I was wondering if a single .mht file would be better.

I guess I'm asking if there's a drawback to using .mht (web archive files) for help screens.

Well, you asked for thoughts...


I agree that the HTML Help Workshop badly needs an overhaul. We won't get it though because the same crazies who brought us .Net (the so-called "MSDN Crowd" within Microsoft) came up with an even more tortuous creation "Help 2.x" that basically nobody uses.


Alternatives?

WinHelp is officially dead now.

I'll have to say I just can't see throwing up a raft of naked HTML files as an answer. The results are spotty and totally miss the point of Windows Help formats anyway: they're meant as online books more than anything else. You may as well just give the user an RTF, DOC, or PDF file or something. Bleh!


HTML Archives (MHT files) are an interesting possibility, but aside from packaging images within them what do they offer beyond a naked HTML (or 12)? To make them useful at all you end up creating some sort of funky index or treeview navigation pane to riffle through hidden IFRAMEs, etc. You lose Search, Favorites, etc. You've also violated Windows Guildelines, the biggest crime here being making the user learn how to navigate some non-standard "help" tool.

Those images get stored as bulky Base64 strings too.

As with the other alternatives you sacrifice context help, something CHMs offer beyond the eBook metaphor.


No, with all of their warts I still keep coming back to CHMs. I've tried them all myself. Maybe you have come up with something innovative in the way of MHT Help though?

I remember Help Workshop being good. For smaller programs, a simple, self-contained HTML file with embedded CSS can be good enough. I usually add this as a custom resource and extract it/open it at runtime.

For larger programs, maybe a separate /help directory with the necessary files, and that same directory on your website for online help.

I still like .CHM files because everything is in one, single file and they can be "interfaced" to your program (context-sensitive help, for example).