Recommendations for Help menu item for MacOS apps

[darrellr]

I have two MacOS apps in the app store. I used the “Help Crafter” app to author my “Help Book” which is pulled up when you use the “Help->[Appname] Help” Menu.

It mostly works. But there are two issues:

1. The “help book” window is always in front, like a modal alert.
2. I was never able to get links to specific pages in the help book to work. The book always opens to the front page (perhaps this is a technical error on my part).

It feels like Apple’s help book system is old. I haven’t seen any evidence of recent development.

What is the recommended way to answer the “help” menu item these days? Are people still bundling help books with their app, or are they having the help menu item open up web-based documentation in Safari?

Darrell

[shogunkaramazov]

@darrellr Do you still have issues with this?

[darrellr]

I’d still love to hear what other MacOS developers are doing with their help menu item for new apps: opening web documentation or opening a Apple-style “help book”?

[robertomachorro]

I’m kind of in the same boat. I like how the built in help integrates and looks. Definitely makes an app look polished and professional. That said, it’s kind of a pain to maintain, much easier to keep help online (see Xcode Help) and just link+anchor into a site.