From the original SynthMaker forum (2004–2014), with its members’ names and dates.
angstrom ·
can the help file menu item in the application run a check to see if the files exist locally in the app root?
if the file/s exist locally it should show them - and then also run a check to see if updated files exist, in which case an alert is shown.
I'm a bit bored of going to synthmaker.com to re-re-re-re download the component reference everytime I need to check something. I have the files locally, but I have to browse to the pdfs via explorer.
can't the app just look in the root as default?
infuzion ·
Or for that matter, why not include the component ref in the install package in the first place? It would add to the distrobution size, but you can get around that by having only patch programs for updates (esp the x.x.+1 sub-point releases).
+ having the help system jump directly to the component listing in question. Might be easier if it was split up into HTML pages, & have only PDF version optimized for print.
angstrom ·
and while we are beating them with a stick ... 😉
what's wrong with CHM files ?
and what's right with PDFs ?
I use PDFs to distribute flat contracts and flowcharts to my clients, or where embeded fonts are important, but for help files I'm pretty sure CHM is superior.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML_help
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help_authoring_tool
BTW: I noticed if you don't have a document open you don't get the full help menu (pdf links)... just "about synthmaker" is listed
infuzion ·
angstrom wrote: what's wrong with CHM files ?
and what's right with PDFs ?
An advantage of PDFs over CHM is that you can zoom in & out of the entire document, including the pics (good for multiple resolutions), while CHM you can only enlarge the fonts(?). You can get the same effect with Opera if you use regular HTML files. Another disadvantage is that CHM uses IE dlls. Otherwise, I do find CHMs better.
Isn't there a program or 2 that you can write a document once, and it will translate it into any format (PDF, CHM, HTML, XML, WIKI markup...)?
Another idea: Click on the mouse-over help to open its help file.
malc ·
If you put the pdfs in your SM install folder then the Help menu should already open those versions instead of the online ones. Let me know if this doesn't work for you.
We used PDF because that was the quickest and easiest way for us to produce the guides.
angstrom ·
just to let you know that the reason this didn't work for me is that the application looks for "Component Reference.pdf"
what is downloaded from the website is
Component%20Reference.pdf
and of course, the application does not recognize the unix escape code for 'space' and goes online for the PDF.
this is the same for
[old link]
and
[old link]
I meant to mention this earlier, but I forgot.
rl ·
<nitpicking_mode>
%20 is not a unix escape code for 'space' but standard URL encoding (any OS)
</nitpicking_mode>
But I agree. The MS Help format has the advantage of indexing and searching. e.g. I could klick on a primitive in SM, hit F1 and magically the help window opens showing the primitive's reference documentation.
But using PDF's is definitely the right decision when going multiplatform, thinking about OSX 😉
malc ·
Ah! That's what it is. Nice one angstrom - mystery solved 🙂
aliasant ·
rl
pdf's has indexing and search and a whole lot more if programmed right.
Also Mac OS X has its own Help thing that many apps use. Not sure how that works though.
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