Confusing built-in build names

[Peter_J_user]

Hello,

since Help+Manual 10, I have noticed that some build-in builds are labeled differently, namely:
- eWriter - This adds the EBOOK build.
- Webhelp - This adds the HTML build.

It is a little confusing. Can you unify the builds labeling? I would expect to add "HTML" or "EBOOK". Now I must think about what I am adding, because the naming is not transparent. Al least keep the old name in brackets: "eWriter (EBOOK)", "Webhelp (HTML)".

[Tim Green]

Hi Peter,

These are actually not new, that has always been the case.

In the case of eWriter, it has historical reasons: The first experimental version of what became eWriter was referred to simply as a "Windows eBook", and the rather ungainly build solution was to activate both eBook and HTML for it. This has now become so established that our developers didn't want to change it because it could have caused errors in existing projects.

WebHelp used to be called "browser-based help", because there was some concern that it was a proprietary term from Adobe. Instead of calling the build something odd like BBHELP we chose to use just HTML, which was easily distinguished from CHM for CHM files. In retrospect, that has proved to be a little problematic as well, because all the output formats except Word and PDF are actually HTML-based. And Microsoft also caused endless confusion by referring to CHM as "HTML Help" to distinguish it from the former RTF-based WinHelp in Windows 3. Now, many people assume that "HTML Help" means WebHelp, and so the confusion continues.

For the moment we're stuck with these tags, even though they aren't perfect.

[Peter_J_user]

Hi Tim,

thanks for your response. I understand that the builds cannot be changed for backwards compatibility (which I want to keep, too).

I wonder if the UI strings when selecting the builds can be updated - please see attached:
For example: eWriter > eWriter (EBOOK)

[Tim Green]

I wonder if the UI strings when selecting the builds can be updated - please see attached:
For example: eWriter > eWriter (EBOOK)

No, because we want to actively get away from the word "eBook" in connection with eWriter, because that limits it too much and many people then misunderstand what it's for. It's now a full, interactive and context-sensitive help format. So it's official name is now eWriter Help, or eWriter in the short form.

[BertholdL]

Excelent reasons! The ewriter format is so powerful!
Are you considering to make these changes also within eviewer itself?

ewriter_ebook.png

There are still references to the word ebook.

[Tim Green]

Thanks, noted.