Apple MUST do something about Help Viewer

[Macette]

I am running "The World's Fastest Personal Computer" and Help is STILL as slow as... well, it's really bloody slow.

It is just a simple database - why can't they make it work properly? It's quicker to go online and look for information than it is to use Help.

Sheesh.

[shadowfax]

it's still not as bad as the help database in windows XP, in my experience.

the help viewer only seems to load slow, for me. it seems zippy enough at other stuff.

[Les Kern]

Agreed... I'd cringe evry time I was forced to use it. I don't cringe now, as I don't use it and generally delete the associated files unless it's a recent app I need it for.

[jholzner]

Originally posted by Macette
I am running "The World's Fastest Personal Computer" and Help is STILL as slow as... well, it's really bloody slow.

It is just a simple database - why can't they make it work properly? It's quicker to go online and look for information than it is to use Help.

Sheesh.

I'm pretty sure this problem will be resolved in Panther. I it will use the Safari SDK to render the HTML. Can anyone with Panther Verifty this? That's what I've been hearing though.

[Nermal]

I was just thinking about this today, while trying to figure out how to send SMS messages with Address Book. It's horribly slow. Anyone with Panther want to share their experiences?

[Marble]

Originally posted by Macette
I am running "The World's Fastest Personal Computer" and Help is STILL as slow as... well, it's really bloody slow.

It is just a simple database - why can't they make it work properly? It's quicker to go online and look for information than it is to use Help.

Sheesh.

That's what Mac Help does: It goes online and looks for your information. I always thought that this was silly because one could never get help with network issues, though the speed thing is really annoying, too. I look forward to a streamlined help viewer!

[robbieduncan]

A few comments on all this.

1) Help does not go online to get most of it's info. If there is further online content it spawns your default web browser to do it (in Jaguar). It is just dirt slow!

2) Help in Panther is really fast. I mean it! I just tried it using Safaris Help on Panther 7B21. It took 2 seconds for the Help Viewer window to appear and a further 2 seconds for the content (iBook 800). Most of this is due to the slow iBook hard drive. I figure the final build will be a bit faster than that too.

Search in this version is instant.

[Nermal]

Good to hear that they've sped it up. I'll hopefully be on a 1.25 G4 by the time I get Panther, so I should get speed boosts from both :)

[cb911]

i've always been annoyed with the slow Hlep viewer, but i've just put up with it whenever i've had to use it.

i hope it really is faster in Panther.

[mnkeybsness]

it seems that in panther the entire help viewer application is much more lightweight than in the past (only 908kb). the database is actually quite snappy.