Australian Software company Virtual Media Pty Ltd’s Highway gives companies without HyperText Mark-up Language experience the ability to publish documents on the World Wide Web. Based on Windows NT, Highway generates HyperText Mark-up Language code automatically from WinHelp-based source documents. Sydney, New South Wales-based Virtual Media says this enables companies to use the same documents created for internal use, for distribution over the Internet or an Intranet. HyperText Mark-up Language- formatted documents usually require an individual file for each page and graphic. Highway compresses the document and its graphics into a single file, so a 500-page manual with 50 graphics would be one file, instead of 550 separate files. It needs to be installed on a Microsoft NT-based personal computer connected to the Internet or Intranet. The user nominates directories on the server, and copies the WinHelp files into them. Highway converts the document to HyperText Language on demand. Installed as a Windows NT object, its performance and operation can be monitored with standard NT diagnostics.
Context-sensitive searches
Virtual Media has also launched version 3.0 of its HyperText Development Kit, HDK, which will convert Microsoft Word documents to WinHelp format and enables context-sensitive help searches. The new version supports Windows95 and NT, as well as Windows 3.1, and supports all current versions of Word 2,6 and 7. It also contains a new scriptor language which uses English language style for defining help macros and an encryption feature for Windows files. Hypershelf is Virtual Media’s tool for display and management of documents. The company has announced version 2.0, which now supports Windows95 and NT, handles larger collections of documents up to thousands and has enhanced printing options. The user sees documents displayed as books on a bookshelf and new books are highlighted in a different color. The user clicks on the book to open it and can view the document using the contents page or context-sensitive search. New or updated documents placed in the directories defined by the system administrator are automatically displayed on users’ bookshelves. Highway, HyperText Development Kit 3.0 and Hypershelf 2.0 will be available around mid-March.
