Presentation Manager also supports the development of online, context-sensitive help panels, along with online documents for support of applications, business processes and computer-based training. Such information may be displayed in windows on the Presentation Manager desktop, using the Information Presentation Facility (IPF), which is shipped with the operating system.
Help panels displayed using IPF are context-sensitive, thereby allowing the user to request help on a specific topic, and the application to that help in a window on the Presentation Manager desktop. Help panels within an application may be indexed, which allows a user to search for help on related topics in addition to the topic initially requested.
Phrases or illustrations within panels may be marked as selectable, and used to display additional information, initiate application events or start new applications. This capability is provided by the hypertext and hypergraphics facilities of IPF.
Online documents may also be generated by IPF. Such documents are not linked to applications; they act as applications in their own right, and indeed may be used to initiate the execution of application programs using the hypertext facility of IPF. Online documents may also be indexed, and keyword searches may be conducted on document files; these facilities are part of IPF.
Information Presentation Facility is described in detail in Adding Online Help and Documentation.