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Hosted Help Authoring
Let us host your help system, knowledgebase or website for you. Avoid the hassles of maintaining your own web server, applying service packs, and upgrading to new versions. Allow your staff to create and maintain help projects from anywhere using a standard web browser.
Powerful and Easy to use
HelpConsole was designed with ease of use in mind. Anyone within your company will be able to quickly create professional web-based help systems and PDF manuals that run in all browsers on all platforms. The true WYSIWYG design environment allows you to see exactly how the resulting help system will appear.
Try it out for 15 days
Subscriptions are on a project basis. After creating a project within your account, you'll have up to 15 days to try out the service before you need to activate your project. No credit card information is required upfront. To get started sign up at www.helpconsole.com.
 
Key Features:
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Easy to use |
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Design Help Systems in any language |
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Search with Advanced Options |
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Publish to PDF Format |
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Fully Customizable Skins |
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Reader Comments and Feedback |
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Concurrent Author Support |
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Generate Help Index |
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Track author and reader activity |
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Spellcheck |
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Conditional Content |
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Insert Flash animations and Movies |
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| Cost Per Month |
$16.95 |
$29.95 |
$39.95 |
$99.95 |
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This is the subscription cost per month. If you wish to switch to a different edition after your subscription has started, contact us at sales@extremeease.com
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| Disk Space (MB) |
10 |
20 |
30 |
70 |
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Maximum disk space allowed.
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| Named Users |
5 |
5 |
5 |
unlimited |
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Named users refers to the user accounts defined within the project. To determine the number of user accounts contained within HelpConsole, open 'Tools>Users' to view a list of users.
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Each project requires a separate subscription.
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 Concurrent Authors |
If the Enterprise Edition is purchased, multiple authors are able to work on the same help project at the same time, from anywhere using a standard browser. If a user attempts to edit the contents or a page that is being edited, they will see a message stating that the page is locked and who is editing it.
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| Page Comments |
Readers can submit comments based on the page content.
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| Track Bug Reports |
A 'Bug Reporting' dataset can be added to your help system, knowledgebase or website to allow customers and prospects to submit bug reports relating to your product. Bug reports are stored in the database and can also be emailed to a predefined person such as the product manager.
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| Track Feature Requests |
A 'Feature Request' dataset can be added to your help system, knowledgebase or website to allow customers and prospects to suggest new features and improvements. Feature Request records are stored in the database and can also be emailed to a predefined person such as the product manager.
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| Report Designer |
Administrators can customize existing reports or create their own reports. These reports can provide summary information about many aspects of the help system including pages, user activity, user accounts, reader comments, feature requests, bug reports, etc.
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| Activity Log |
HelpConsole records all reader and administrator actions including what pages are viewed, search terms, comments submitted, pages added, etc. All of this information is displayed on the 'Activity Log' report which can be filtered by various criteria.
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| Registration Form |
A 'Registration' form can be added to your help system, knowledgebase or website to collect prospect or customer information. When you log in as 'Admin', you'll see a list of registration forms that have been submitted. Registration forms could be implemented for any of the following:
- Download a software trial
- Download a PDF manual
- Download a software patch
- Register for an upcoming seminar
- Instructor Evaluation
- Customer Survey
- Warranty Registration
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| XHTML Validator |
The Xhtml Validator dialog uses the W3C XHTML Validator Page to perform validation of the page currently being edited. The W3C service returns a compliancy report right within the editor dialog. This feature eliminates the need for manual copy/pasting of the HTML and validation in a separate browser window.
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| Format Code Block |
Authors can use the 'Format Code Block' feature to automatically format chunks of code such as HTML, XML, ASPX, Javascript, CSS, C#, CPP, VB, PHP, SQL, Delphi and Python
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| Allow Page Scripts |
This feature allows authors to include scripts (usually in the form of ) in page content.
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| Style Builder |
Authors can dynamically add styles to page elements as needed using a wizard style dialog. This includes font attributes, background colors, background images, text alignment, margins, padding, borders, bullets, and many more.
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| Track Changes |
The 'Track Changes' feature allows authors to see exactly what changes they have made since they started editing a page.
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| Dynamic Variables |
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A variable value can be passed in the URL to override an existing variable. For example, if you had a variable named "company" with a value of "Extreme Ease Software", you could override this and display a different value by specifiying "default.aspx?company=Acme Corporation" in the url.
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| Page Approval Trigger |
This allows companies to implement an approval process. The status of a page will automatically change to 'needs review' when a page is either added or edited. An administrator is then required to approve the page and change the status back to live.
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| File Folders |
A file folder can be added to any page within your help system. File Folders provide a way to easily upload documents, images, and other files to the project allowing end users to view or download the files. File folders are secure meaning that only users with the appropriate permissions can view, download, upload or delete files.
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 Email Notifications |
Email triggers can be added to a dataset page to send an email when a record is added, edited or deleted.
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| Toggle Panels |
A Toggle Panel provides a way to display a minimal amount of information, but allow the reader to click an 'expand' icon to display additional information. Toggle Panels can contain pretty much any html element including images, flash videos, tables, iframes, links, etc. You're looking at an example of a Toggle Panel right now.
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| Unicode Language Support |
HelpConsole 2010 provides full language translation to all or most languages. All aspects of the interface can be translated including tooltips, dialog headings, etc.
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| Page Status |
When a status is assigned to a page in the help contents, a background color is assigned allowing administrators to quickly see which pages need to be reviewed. Administrators can also use the 'Page Status' report to list help pages that have a specific status assigned. For example, you can list all pages that have a status of 'incomplete'.
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| System Reports |
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HelpConsole includes various system reports that allow authors to effectively manage their help projects. Reports include:
Page Summary - Lists pages and shows who created each page and when.
Page Status - Lists pages and the assigned status. Can be filtered by status.
Unused Images - Allows authors to view and delete unused images in the project.
Pending Comments - Lists comments that have a status of pending. Can also be filtered by 'hidden', 'visible' or 'all'
Orphaned Pages - Lists pages that are found in the project database but not the contents.
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| Add/Edit Page Templates |
Authors can create their own page templates, or customize existing page templates. Once added, the page template will appear on the 'Add Page' form.
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| User-Defined Variables |
Variables can be created to act as placeholders for any text that might change in the future. Some examples where variables may be used are product name, product version, product tag line, company name, company address, etc.
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| Skin Editor |
Use the skin editor to customize the look and feel of your help system. Add your company logo, change colors, add links, etc. Each help project has its own set of skins, which means if you modify a skin or create a new skin, other projects will not be affected.
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| Conditional Content |
Control which pages are displayed or what text is displayed on each page based on the current skin. For example, if you had two similar products 'Widget Master Lite' and 'Widget Master Pro', you could create a single project that generates help systems for both products.
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 Publish PDF Manuals |
| Publish a PDF manual from your HelpConsole project. Easily customize the PDF template to suit your requirements. Publish all pages to the PDF manual or only selected pages. |
| Create Restricted Help Systems |
Create a dynamic help system that displays partial or no information until the user logs in.
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| Security Groups |
| Create powerful dynamic help systems that provide access to different information and functions based on the username and password. Implemented with user accounts and security groups. |
| Stylesheet Editor |
| Easily apply styles to pages and skins such as text, images, tables, etc. Select from a list of predefined styles or define your own. |
 Mobile Device Support |
Help systems can be viewed on and automatically formatted for mobile devices. Text and images are resized to fit on the smaller screen, and the search box is position at the top of the screen.
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| Search Engine |
| Search results are displayed by relevence based on various criteria. Readers can apply conditions such as 'any page', 'all pages' and 'page title'. Results can also be filtered by chapter. |
| Create Keyword Index |
HelpConsole generates an index based on keywords specified for each page.
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| Publish Dynamic Help Systems |
A Dynamic Help System is essentially a help project displayed in live mode where a user is not logged in. To publish a dynamic help system, simply provide the URL to your readers. The URL can be cut and pasted from the browser's address window.
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| Publish Static Help Systems |
| Generate a pure HTML version of your Help System which can be added to your software product, or published to your website. |
| Project User Permissions |
Each help project has its own set of usernames. Permissions can be assigned to control who has access to what functions. Security is self contained within each project which means that a help project can be moved from one server to another and all usernames and permissions will be preserved.
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| Support for Legacy Browsers |
All legacy browers are supported for both dynamic and static help systems right back to IE1.0 and Netscape 1.0.
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| Backup Help Projects |
Projects can be easily backed up by clicking "Tools > Backup". Because the backup feature compresses the help system project into a single file, the project can be moved around from Web Server to Web Server as desired. If nessesary, the file can also be emailed to Extreme Ease technical support for troubleshooting.
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| Paste Images |
Unlike most web applications, HelpConsole allows images to be pasted directly into the page while editing. This is done by interfacing with a screen capture tool such as Snagit.
Images can't be pasted directly into most web applications like you can with Windows based applications such as MS Word. This is due to security restrictions on modern browsers that allow text to be pasted from the Windows clipboard but not images. HelpConsole gets around this limitation by integrating with screen capture tools such as TechSmith Snagit.
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| Multimedia / Videos |
Adding a flash or media animation to your help system is easy. Simply select the animation file and it will be inserted at the current cursor position. HelpConsole supports the following:
- Flash Videos (*.swf, *.awi, *)
- Media Files (*.mov, *.wma, *.wmv, *.avi, *.wav, *.mpeg, *.mpg, *.mpe, *.mp3, *.m3u, *.mid, *.midi, *.snd, *.mkv)
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| External Web Pages and Documents |
External web pages and documents such as MS Word can be included in the table of contents and displayed as a page in the help system. An external page is typically a document such as a Word Document, PDF, Excel spreadsheet, Image, video, website, etc. that is located outside of the project folder or in a sub folder of the project. Examples of external files include:
- Help page located within another online help system.
- Word Document with pricing information hosted on company website.
- PDF brochure hosted on company website.
- PDF user manual located in a sub folder of the project.
- Flash product demo located in a sub folder of the project.
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| Breadcrumbs |
Display breadcrumbs at the top of each page which displays a breadcrumb trail to the current page.
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| Create Knowledgebase |
| Add a professional self-serve knowledgebase to your website. Allow your customers to quickly find solutions to product issues without having to submit support tickets or call your support department. |
| Create FAQ Pages |
The FAQ template can be used to add a professional looking FAQ to your website.
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| Popup & Mouseover Topics |
| Help pages can be displayed in popup windows. These popups can be opened by clicking a link, or by moving the mouse over a link or image. |
| Context Sensitive Help |
You can add context sensitive help to your Web application so that when a user presses the F1 key, the help system is displayed.
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| Format Code Block |
| Authors can copy and paste code such as 'HTML Code', 'VB Code', 'Javascript', 'C# Code', etc. The HelpConsole editor will apply correct formatting, indentation and colors to the code. |
| Drag & Drop Page Management |
| Quickly add pages to the table of contents. Rename pages by simply clicking and typing. Drag and drop pages to build your contents structure. |
| Drag & Drop Page Elements |
| Change the position of text, images, flash animations, tables, etc. by simply dragging and dropping them. |
| Cut and Paste from MS Word |
| Quickly cut and paste content from other applications such as Microsoft Word, or cut and paste content from any website. |
| XHTML 1.1 Compliant Output |
| The HTML content created by the page editor is XHTML compliant. |
| Spellcheck |
| Use this feature to check the spelling of each page within your Help System. |
| Author Sticky Notes |
| Add sticky notes to pages in edit mode to remind your self to complete certain tasks later. This can also be used by a manager to provide feedback to the author. |
| Complex Table Editing |
| Use the table wizard to create complex tables with any number of columns and rows. Set the background color, background image, style, border, etc. |
| Image Hotspot Editor |
| Use the hotspot editor to create clickable areas within an image that can be linked to various other pages. |
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| FAQExpand AllCollapse All |
| Can I cancel my subscription at any time? |
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. There is no long term commitment. You can cancel the subscription yourself within your PayPal account (http://www.paypal.com) or email us at sales@extremeease.com and we'll cancel it for you.
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| I've forgotten my account password, what can I do? |
If you have forgotten your account password or the email address that you used to create the account, email us at sales@extremeease.com and we'll either provide it to you, or reset the password.
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| Can I use a project from the hosted version with the download version? |
Yes. Projects created with the hosted version are fully compatible with the download version of HelpConsole
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| Can I customize the look and feel of my help system? |
Yes. You can customize the skin by clicking the yellow triangles at the top or bottom of the screen. This allows you to add your company logo, add a background image, add your company menu, etc. You can also customize styles which are found in "Tools > Styles".
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| Can multiple employees edit my help project? |
Yes. You can allow employees from any location to login and make changes to your help project. If there will be multiple authors working on the project at the same time, we recommend that you run the enterprise edition.
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| Can I re-use content in help pages? |
Yes. You can create your own variables or HTML snippets and include them within any help page.
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| Can I publish a PDF Manual? |
Yes. You can publish your help project to create a PDF manual. PDF Manuals can be emailed to customers, bundled with your product, or published on your website.
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| Can videos be included in FAQs? |
Yes. Showing a user the answer to their question is often better than trying to explain it. There are several inexpensive screen recording tools such as Camtasia that can be used to create videos such as these. The following video formats are supported:
Flash Videos (*.swf, *.awi, *)
Media Files (*.mov, *.wma, *.wmv, *.avi, *.wav, *.mpeg, *.mpg, *.mpe, *.mp3, *.m3u, *.mid, *.midi, *.snd, *.mkv)
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| What languages are supported? |
All unicode languages are supported. All aspects of the interface can be translated including the search dialog, contents heading, etc.
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