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What is a Static Help System?

This is a pure HTML help system that does not require a web server to be viewed. A static help system is made up of .HTM pages which can be run on your harddrive, on a network, from a CD, etc.

A static help system will look exactly the same as a dynamic help system published from the same project. The main difference is that the dynamic help system can be modified on the fly, whereas a Static help system must be re-published whenever changes are made.

Static Help System

Dynamic Help System

Advantages:

• Faster than a dynamic help system
• Can be run anywhere with a standard browser
• Can be distributed on a CD or within a setup file
• Fewer files
• Can be run on any web server such as Apache, Linux, etc.
• Supports all browsers right back to Netscape 1.0 and IE 1.0

Disadvantages:

• Not editable (Updates require re-publish)
• 'Most Popular Pages' feature not supported
• 'Reader Comments' feature not supported
• 'Page views' feature not supported
• Dynamic conditional content not supported
• Dynamic skins not supported

When to Publish a Static Help System?

• If your help system will be run from a CD
• If your help system will be located in a sub folder within your application
• If your help system will be included within a setup file
• If your help system will be run from your network
• If your web server is not running IIS with .NET Framework