Glossary Item Box

Community Extensions Overview

Innovasys Community Extensions is a companion product for HelpStudio and Document! X that enables a range of community features to be automatically and seamlessly included in the help systems you generate.

Innovasys Community Extensions features require the Innovasys Community Extensions ASP.NET web application, which can either be hosted by Innovasys (through a hosting subscription), or installed on your own Windows Server or Desktop machine. A setup free evaluation server is provided to enable you to evaluate Innovasys Community Extensions without any server setup or hosting agreement. 

Community Features

This help system contains Innovasys Community Extensions features to illustrate how they work from an end users point of view:

  • The Community Features Feature Selector in the page header allows help users to enable / disable particular Community Features according to preference.

    Community Features Feature Selector
      Community Features Feature Selector 

  • The Ratings Bar, also in the page header, shows the average rating this page has been awarded to date. Help users can simply click on the bar to submit a rating.

    Ratings Bar
      Ratings Bar

  • Private Notes, in the page footer, allow help users to store private notes against a particular page - e.g. reminders of best practices, additional information specific to the user. Private Notes are only visible to the user who created them.

     

  • Public Comments, also in the page footer, provide a way to build community amongst your help users by allowing them to comment and share information on the help content they are using. Public Comments can also be used as a means to gather feedback from help users on the usability of the help systems you author. Public Comments are visible to all users of the help system.

     

Community Benefits

Innovasys Community Extensions was designed with simplicity in mind - both from the perspective of implementing Community Features in your help systems, and from a help users perspective in using the Community Features. In addition to the ease of implementation and use, Innovasys Community Extensions offers several important benefits over other ways that you may be considering implementing Community Features.

ShowPush button implementation

Implementing Community Features in your help systems is as simple as enabling an option in your Document! X or HelpStudio project. No custom Javascript to create, no clutter in your page content, no long and complex procedures to go through.

ShowSeamlessly integrated

Community Content is seamlessly integrated with the rest of your page content, even when you are authoring. Your help users can instantly gain the benefit of Community Content whilst they are reading the help, and you can see the Community Content whilst you are authoring.

ShowAll help formats

Community features are available in all online help output formats: web help, HTML Help 1.x and Help 2.x. Many competitive implementations restrict you to a custom help viewer, or only support web output.

ShowPortable content

Community content is linked to a specific page and will appear wherever the help system is viewed. For example, a private note created by a particular user on his desktop machine will also appear if he views that same help system on his laptop machine. Users can have confidence that the notes or comments they rely on will be there the next time they need to refer to the help.

ShowVersioning flexibility

A particular help system is identified by an "Project Key" value that you specify in the Document! X or HelpStudio Project. This Project Key can remain constant for new versions of a help system in order to retain previous community content, or can be changed to start a new set of community content.

ShowModeration and notification

Innovasys Community Extensions can be configured to notify you when new Community Content is created. Innovasys Community Extensions can also be configured to require approval by a moderator making new Community Content publicly visible. These options keep you in control of the content that appears in the help systems you create.

ShowAdministration tools

An administration page is built directly in to Document! X and HelpStudio. The administration page allows you to review Community Content project wide. Administration functionality allows you to approve, reject, edit and delete individual items of Community Content.

ShowSecurity

The Innovasys Community Extensions ASP.NET application uses the ASP.NET 2.0 membership framework for user authentication and management features. This enables you to integrate Innovasys Community Extensions with your existing authentication process where necessary, or be up and running with the built in user management and authentication features right out of the box.

ShowLocalized

The Innovasys Community Extensions ASP.NET application is pre-localized to 8 additional languages:

  • Dutch
  • German
  • French
  • Italian
  • Spanish
  • Russian
  • Japanese
  • Simplified Chinese

Translations can be customized after installation.

The localization used automatically matches the Phrase Language chosen in the Document! X or HelpStudio project.