I was ruminating on the programs I used to write for MS-Windows and got to wondering about the possibility of contex-sensitive help for Revolution. I don’t know if it’s even doable to have a universal F1-style help system with a compiled help file because we don’t really have enough Windows and window elements that have a focus (do we?).
An alternative might be to insert ? icons all over the place that would open a popup window and fill it with specific info from a compiled, hyperlinked help system. This is no trivial task (even if the icons are easy, which they’re probably not) since we’d have to design a help file format and create a compiler for it -- then plan, organize, and write the help system. For a number of the Windows programs I’ve written, the help system took significantly longer than writing the program and I had a help compiler and a help-system editor already in place.
A bad help system (see: early MS Office Help) is worse than no help system, so this isn’t something that could be thrown together. Still, it would be a tremendous tool for both new and experienced users.
