This portion of the survey looked specifically at Windows Help development. The results expressed in this section only reflect the portion of respondents supporting Windows. We asked questions about Windows versions, Help versions, and Help features.

Windows Version Support

One of the biggest challenges for Windows Help developers has been supporting an ever-growing list of Windows flavors. In the past this was due to an incompatibility with HTML Help, but that is no longer a significant problem. Creating a Help system for multiple versions of Windows still requires a lot of testing to ensure everything works the way it should.

The following figure shows the percentage of respondents supporting different versions of Windows. The largest percentages of support go to Windows 2000, NT, 98, and XP. All of those versions support HTML Help.

Of the remaining versions, Windows 95 supports HTML Help only through upgrade versions of Internet Explorer; Windows ME appears to have been an interim OS, and .NET applications are just starting to be developed.

Help Version Support

Since 1989, the Help standards provided by Microsoft have been a focal point for technical writers charged with providing documentation for Windows software. The original version, WinHelp, has been around since 1989. The successor, HTML Help, was released in 1997. A new version, 2.0, was scheduled for release in early 2002, but that has been put on indefinite hold.

As seen in the figure below, the response to our question regarding the Help formats used shows HTML Help and browser-based Help running neck and neck in popularity amongst Windows developers. The strong showing of browser-based Help suggests that a single, dominant Help standard for the Windows environment is a thing of the past. While Windows Help continues to be the dominant form of online Help for the large majority of Windows applications, browser-based Help has quickly found broad support. It's likely that browser-based Help may soon take over as the primary method of delivering Help within the Windows environment.

Surprising pundits and Microsoft itself, a strong 51% of respondents still support WinHelp. This percentage reflects mostly WinHelp 4 development but includes WinHelp 3.x. The support for WinHelp has not declined at all in the past year and very little over the last two years. The main reason is that WinHelp continues to be forwardly compatible with all newer versions of Windows, except for the Pocket PC. Developers who have an effective solution with WinHelp can avoid a time-consuming and potentially error-prone upgrade to HTML Help.

Reasons For Not Using HTML Help

Throughout most of the 1990s, Microsoft's WinHelp format was the predominant standard for Windows Help development. The release of HTML Help in 1997 was met with much fanfare. However, it has only been in the last year that HTML Help has overtaken WinHelp in the number of developers working with it. And as the figure above shows, browser-based Help is likely to be the dominant format in the near future. How did Microsoft lose its grip in this area of software development? In our survey we asked Windows developers, "If you're not using HTML Help, why not?"

As seen the following figure, the number one vote-getting response is the need to support multiple platforms. HTML Help is a proprietary format and it is not compatible with anything except Windows. This means that Help authors must create parallel development tracks to deliver Help for other platforms, even if the content is essentially the same. Browser-based Help uses standard web protocols and conventions to deliver cross-platform support with minimal redundant effort. In Microsoft's defense, the HTML Help standard arguably provides the most robust format available for supporting Windows applications and that support is the main charge in Redmond.

A trend that Microsoft could have anticipated is the desire of tech pubs departments to deliver their Help via the Internet. This is important to a third of the respondents. For client-side applications, Web-based Help provides us with the ability to dynamically update our content. As we move into the world of web applications and web services, the Web is where our Help needs to be. Microsoft has not announced any effort to support these needs.

The second highest response at 45% is that "WinHelp works fine." If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Since WinHelp continues to be supported in emerging Windows operating systems, many Help authors feel no urgency to change. HTML Help contributes to this atmosphere by offering few compelling reasons to upgrade.

The reliance on Internet Explorer is significant to 29%. However, this issue has become much less critical to Windows developers now that IE is an integral and embedded part of the Windows OS.