This article tells you about the pros and cons of open source help documentation tools!
According to the study, more than 39% of millennials now consult their company’s help center for product instructions before consulting about product use. It can be seen that an excellent customer service is inseparable from the support of a quality help document.
But creating your own help documentation can be costly in terms of time, money, and labor, so many companies are turning to open source help documentation tools to simplify the process and save money.
What is the open source help documentation tool?
Before getting into the pros and cons, let’s take a look at what an open source help documentation tool is. With the open source help document authoring tool, you can gain access to free applications and the ability to customize their source code and use it to design, publish, and maintain help documents for your own enterprise.
For open source tools, the editor has also used several typical help documentation tools. Let’s take a look at what an open source help documentation tool is through these examples.
1. GitBook: Helps companies publish beautiful documents for users and focus team knowledge for advanced collaboration.
2. Hexo: Fast, concise and efficient blogging framework
Squido: a super simple static HTML website generator with no code
Docuowl: The file generates static single-page documents
Docsify: An amazing file site generator. Unlike GitBook, Docsify does not statically build HTML documents
All of these products are examples of open source help documentation tools that allow free access to their source code and different types of documentation. Of course, there are cloud-based SaaS tools that, while not strictly open source, can also write help documents, such as Baklib, HelpnDoc, etc.
Using several open source help documentation tools, we can see that there are some pros and cons, and the following article will focus on this topic, hoping to provide some suggestions for readers who need to choose.
The pros and cons of open source help documentation tools
In the following sections, we will discuss the pros and cons of open source help documentation tools in terms of the following considerations.
Consideration 1: Deployment implementation issues
- Pros: ** Open source tools provide free access to customize their source code for your help documentation needs, and can be easily downloaded and installed on your local system. Therefore, open source is well worth considering if you have complex requirements for help documentation.
- On the other hand, the implementation process of open source tools can be time-consuming and require some IT expertise. However, if you need plug-and-play help documentation, you can also use a SaaS tool like the one mentioned in this article to write help documentation.
Factor 2: Cost
- Pros: ** Open source tools provide free access to source code, and this is the biggest incentive to use open source.
- ** But at the same time, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and if you want to do a lot of work with open source tools, or meet custom needs, you’ll also have to pay an equal cost. Especially if you hire a professional because of this, you will be on the hook for an expensive hire.
Consideration 3: Compatibility issues
- Pros: ** Open source tools are compatible with limited operating systems.
- ** * It is also compatible with a limited number of systems, so it requires a lot of customization to use on different systems and devices.
Therefore, open source is a good choice if you can ensure technical support and use it in a fixed location. But if you want to use help documents across different systems or geographies, or even globally, then SaaS tools are better suited because they can be deployed in the cloud and work with more devices and operating systems.
Consideration 4: Data backup
- Pros: ** Open source software can selectively back up and manage data according to individual needs.
- ** But this obviously has some drawbacks. Open source tools in terms of data backup, don’t like SaaS tool with the function of automatic data backup, using open source software requires you to create your own data base structure, to ensure that all the information on the management and backup tool, this means that you need to have professional knowledge, and need to be done on the data management process must be input.
Factor 5: Data security
- The pros: The security of open Source software has always been a matter of opinion. The scale and influence of early open source software are small, and the importance of development documents and security development maturity are not high. However, today’s mature open source software will have online and offline documents, some of which will have a Wiki system, convenient for users to learn and feedback, to create a perfect document management mode, which is also one of the factors affecting the security of open source software.
- ** Open-source software is defined as software whose source code is available to the public and whose use, modification, and distribution are not restricted by a license. As you can see, the open source code of an open source tool is freely available to anyone who downloads it, so there are potential security risks. If you use open source tools, your IT team needs to closely monitor the security of the tools to prevent hacking and data loss.
Consideration 6: Upgrade and update issues
- Pros: ** You can use open source tools for upgrades and updates.
- ** Regular updates and updates to help documentation on open source tools are expensive and require expertise and raw code to make changes. This is different from SaaS systems because edited documents written based on SaaS tools can be updated at any time. On Baklib, for example, even published content can be modified or edited in the background.
Consideration 7: Customization and integration issues
- Pros: Another major advantage of using open source tools is the ability to customize your needs. When your company needs a lot of integration, such as using CRM or live chat, or complex customizations, open source software is a great choice.
- ** However, the customization and integration needs of open source tools can mean some expense support, as well as professional IT staff.
For cloud systems, integration is a little more difficult, and it can limit open source software. Microsoft’s HTML help workshop, for example, can only convert HTML pages into compiled help formats, and you may need to combine several tools for full functionality.
Summary of applicability
Based on the above summary of the advantages and disadvantages of open source tools and the comparison with SaaS tools, we can basically judge which situations open source and SaaS are suitable for.
1. Enterprises suitable for open source tools:
We believe that open source tools offer great flexibility for customization and integration, so companies with specialized IT teams and specific or high needs for help documentation can adopt open source software.
2. Enterprises applying SaaS system:
An organization with a clear cost, a specific budget, and a clear understanding of what features and services they need can consider SaaS tools. And most SaaS providers offer a free trial, or free use to a limited extent, so you can see how their tools fit your needs.
Finally, whatever you choose, make sure it meets your current business and budget needs and is the best option for your team. In short, take the time to help document editing tool selection, as it determines the success of enterprise customer service.