PpcSoft iKnow Help

The Windows Help system has gone through many changes over the years.

"The Windows Help system's bad reputation is so widespread that many folks simply disregard it altogether and have done so for such a long time that they have forgotten that the Windows Help system even exists"

Windows Vista changed the help system and removed WinHlp that first shipped with Windows 3.0 in 1990 (but Microsoft made it available as a separate download for both Windows Vista and Windows 7).

Microsoft Office has tried several different help systems and "innovative" ideas like Clippy and automatically resized windows (to fit the help side-by-side with the editor in Word/Excel etc).

Office 2007 uses a different system than the Windows standard(s) and Microsoft has announced that Visual Studio 2010 will use yet another new help system.

"I hate Office help, which hasn't changed dramatically from Office 2000: The window appears, automatically resizing your Office application into a skinny, barely usable vestige of its former self."
- Office XP review

Unfortunately, Microsoft is still struggling to decide what the "ultimate" help system should look like, and this makes it very hard to get a consistent help system for all applications on the Windows platform.

Help in PpcSoft iKnow

So where does all this leave us ?

There is no perfect solution, so we decided to use this approach:

1. Avoid the need for help by making things as easy-to-use and simple as possible
2. If you need help, try to make it automatically available when and where you need it
3. If everything else fails, provide a simple help file that can be easily updated.

The first time you use PpcSoft iKnow you will see a "Getting started" tutorial. You may skip it if you want to, but it explains the basic features of PpcSoft iKnow that you need to get started. In addition, to help you get started you will begin with a default datafile that contains examples and more help.

(Click to see details)

Most of the time you don't need help, but if you forget what a button does there is powerful help in the statusbar - it is unobtrusive and available if you need it.

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In the examples above, you'll notice that the help in the statusbar is different depending on the status of the button.

The dialogs in iKnow are custom made to be able to give you context-sensitive help when you need it (and even more help if you click the '?' in the left corner).

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For power users that like to use shortcut keys we have provided a quick help dialog (Ctrl+Q) that shows you all the available shortcut keys. The shortcut keys are divided into sections, and PpcSoft iKnow will remember the active section. The next time you open the dialog it will automatically show you the last active section again.

(Click to see details)

If you want a quick shortcut reminder for the most common shortcut keys, you can press and hold the Ctrl key in either the editor or the QuickSearch field (the statusbar will expand and show you the most common shortcuts). Just release the Ctrl key to hide it again.

(Click to see details)

The Help tab in the ribbon gives you access to the Getting Started tutorial and shortcuts dialog.

You also get direct web links to check for updates and for support.

The e-mail links will give prioritized help using your default e-mail client. The e-mail will automatically be pre-filled with technical information to help us serve you better and faster (Professional version).


Last, but not least, we have the F1 key that will give you the traditional help.

To keep it simple, we have chosen to give you the help file as a local web page.

Everything is in a single web page;
- you can use your favorite browser
- easy to search using the browser
- a single local web page means it is (relatively) easy to replace/edit it yourself if you want to

Most people don't use the help system at all, so we have tried hard to make sure you don't need it.

PpcSoft iKnow offers a lot of help, but our goal is to minimize the need for any help at all by making it as easy to use as possible !

(and if you still need some help - contact us and we'll do everything we can to help !)

Bonus: Use PpcSoft iKnow as a "global" help system

Create a single note for each application/web service that you use, and enter your own tips on how to use them effectively.

In the example to the right, a list of shortcut keys in MS Word can be very useful if you're working with MS Word a lot.

Open the note, and hide iKnow using F12.

When you don't remember a shortcut, simply press F12 to show iKnow, find the shortcut, and press F12 again to hide it and continue working.

Very simple, very easy, very fast !

In this example the note is named 'Help_Shortcuts_Word', but you should name it something easy to remember and type like 'MSWord' or 'HelpWord'.