AprilR's WebLog : Help3

Fixing your VS 2010 Beta 2 help

AprilR — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:53:00 GMT

If you are experiencing problems with your Beta 2 help, you may need to repair it, especially if you had a prior tech preview installed.

The Help 3 team blogs tells you how to fix it:

http://blogs.msdn.com/help3team/archive/2009/10/21/how-to-repair-a-help-viewer-help-3-beta-2-installation.aspx

Good luck!

AprilR

Visual Studio Library Experience News

AprilR — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:48:00 GMT

Kim Wolk, the new Product Unit Manager for the online and offline Visual Studio help experience, has started a blog. You can get a good look under the hood and follow the developments in this area here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/kwolk

Enjoy~

AprilR

Moving on again!

AprilR — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:10:00 GMT

Hey there blog readers :) Just a quick post to let you know that I am moving again - this time to Microsoft Surface

I have been in our Developer Division for 11 years; I have had a great time working on the development of Microsoft Help 3.0, and unforgettable times working on the Visual C++ team. I've enjoyed communicating with all of you over these past few years, too!

But, I am definitely ready to take on a new challenge. I'll be utilizing my project management skills and exploring application of recently learned skills from the UW Bothell MBA program in tackling a new product, business and customer base.

SO, if you want to keep up with the latest on Help 3, make sure you subscribe to the Help 3 team blog and if you use Twitter, follow @Help3! Soon we will be posting a great guide about the new "platform."

If you want to keep up with Visual C++, you probably already know about the C++ Team Blog.

Thanks for all of your comments and support. I hope you follow me to the new world of Surface, too!

April

Impact VS10 - Memorial Day Weekend Challenge

AprilR — Fri, 22 May 2009 23:59:00 GMT

The word is out - and so far, customer feedback is extremely positive about the MSDN low-bandwidth view. But what about you? You should have a say, too. So my challenge to you this weekend is to take a moment to check it out if you haven't already and then cast your vote!

A - LOVE IT AND WILL ALWAYS USE IT!

B - It's OK, I'll use it when I'm on a slow or expensive connection

C - YUCK I CANNOT USE THIS.

Post your VOTE here - comment that you are in bucket A, B or C. Get your friends to vote. And, if you have them, make suggestions on what to include/not include/change for the offline help view in the next VS10 pre-release.

C'mon, bring it on! You have three days to take 5 minutes to shape the product help experience in the Visual Studio 2010 product.

- AprilR

Help 3 is getting its Social on

AprilR — Thu, 21 May 2009 02:15:00 GMT

In case you missed it below - the help 3 team is keeping you up to date and providing resources for help 3 through modern means:

Twitter - Follow @help3!

Join the MVPs on Facebook - there is a Help 3 page and a Help 3 group - there are also groups for Visual Studio 2010

And, all new! Watch the new Help3 blog for a first post tonight! http://blogs.msdn.com/help3team

Enjoy!

- aprilr

Early Parts of Help3 come to life in Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1!

AprilR — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:09:00 GMT

Soma has announced the release of the first Beta of the next version of Visual Studio is available to MSDN subscribers. In this release, you will see that product documentation is only available online. While you are using that, do us a favor and try the new low-band view! It's clean, simple and FAST! Check it out and give us your feedback - simply visit the MSDN library, or take your favorite short cut, Live Search or MSDN Search to get there, and click on the 'switch on lowbandwidth view' link.

April

What does DITA mean to you?

AprilR — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:01:00 GMT

SO, I realize, it has been over a month since WritersUA, and still, no really helpful posts about what-it-is and how-to-use-it for Help 3.0, but, this is only because there have been a few MORE changes that are being finalized. In just a couple more weeks we'll be free to share all the fun details with you....it is all good, though, so don't worry too much!

BUT, in the meantime, whilst the team toils away on this release, I've got my mind a bit further out - on 3.1 to be exact. Yes, THE 3.1 release, the one that we expect to support all ISVs (Independent Software Vendors) on Windows. The BIG one. So, one of the things I'm looking at is the various connections between authoring tools and publishing pipelines and the point where the content gets on the box, where Help 3.0 actually sits.

One topic I hear coming up again and again is - what does this mean for DITA (http://dita.xml.org/book/dita-wiki-knowledgebase)? Well, from the little research I have done, I think that DITA and Help 3 are fundamentally compatible.

What I want to hear from you all, though, is, what does DITA mean to you? Take the question for whatever it is to you - post a comment or e-mail me directly.

Thanks!!

aprilr

Help3 @ WritersUA

AprilR — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:55:00 GMT

Monday I presented the latest news on Microsoft Help 3.0 at the 2009 Software User Assistance conference hosted by WritersUA! We've made a lot of progress and many design decisions and changes since PDC back in October. We had originally expected to be ready Visual Studio's next Beta release, but now we plan to show off our bits in Beta 2. Over the next month I'll be writing several posts about the ins and outs of Help3 and at the end of April I will be back on Channel9 with some demos and any updates.

As our team has grown, and we've been getting MVPs and VSIP partners up to speed, so you'll be able to keep up with Help 3 in a couple of new ways:

A new Facebook Help 3 page run by our beloved Microsoft Help MVPS -

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=70197449895

On Twitter - Search on #Help3 or follow me, Lirpa, or Help3

- April