App for making a hypertext (self-contained) software manual

Posted by Jeffery Smith
Jun 19, 2020 at 02:18 PM

I will check them out. I have never liked LaTEX, and need an editor. In fact, I’ll look at several of them.

Thanks much!

Jeffery

MadaboutDana wrote:
Hey Jeffery,
> >Before committing to what sounds like a remarkably clunky process (I use
>and adore FM Pro, but would never use it for a project like the one
>you’ve described, not least because of the post-editing required),
>I’d suggest you look at Versatil Markdown in the Mac App Store,
>which is a very powerful editor (a bit like Typora on steroids). It also
>exports to PDF, HTML or Web Archive format, which seems to me ideal for
>something like help files or hypertext notebooks.
> >It also supports document aliases (transclusion, as I was kindly
>reminded in a previous post). It’s not well known - not because
>it’s not actually very easy to use (it is), but perhaps because it
>comes across first and foremost as a programmer’s tool (it can
>be).
> >Which reminds me that it would also be worthwhile exploring Quiver as a
>possible solution (now that does describe itself as a programmer’s
>notebook, but is a lovely piece of software, although the author
>appears, alas, to have given up on developing an iOS version). Quiver
>(also in the Mac App Store) also has an impressive range of output
>options, including PDF, HTML, Markdown, JSON and others.
> >Cheers!
>Bill
> >Jeffery Smith wrote:
>Thanks for the replies. I fiddled around with several things, and I may
>>untimately use what I have used in the past for this sort of
>>project…Filemaker Pro. I even used Nutshell, the distant ancestor of
>>FMPro over 3 decades ago. I make a framework for the title, writing,
>and
>>any pictures on a template, fill in the information on one screen, and
>>make another layout to print to PDF. But I’m also going to use Adobe
>>Acrobat to create links in the manual that jump to major pages
>>referenced.