The help is basically unusable

[altenbach]

I am aware that we can configure it to use the local help, but by default it is using the online help when we "right-click...help" on a primitive.

The problem is that it takes at least 20 seconds to pull up that help page, so if we need help once per minute, we are wasting 30% of our valuable time twiddling thumbs. Something needs to change so this is actually usable.

Browser opens quickly, but then it takes forever to load that help page. Something needs optimization!

This is not just a temporary problem, it happens every single time, even if I get help for the same primitive again a minute later. I saw it last week and I see it today.

[Darren]

I have also observed that the current online help system is painfully slow compared to the old CHM help.

[buyer@Carya]

Online help is a cumbersome experience and doesn't fit the mission to program faster and more efficiently.

If it can be configured (is this nicely documented), why not add an extra menu item so we can easily configure it or select it from the help menu?

[altenbach]

Obviously, the problem is with the web server setup and might be easy to fix.

Maybe this is a server running on an Arduino that composes the relevant help page from scratch from scattered database entries based on the current LabVIEW version. Maybe NI grossly underestimated the server load of millions of people requiring help every millisecond.

The help pages seem to come up faster when finding the link with Google, so what's the difference? (At least today. I'll try from within LabVIEW later once more).

I understand that having the help on the web is easier and is identical for windows/mac/linux. Maintaining the chm is a burden in the long run, even though it has that nice incorporation of "place on diagram" and "open example", etc. features).

Ultimately also replacing the example finder with a well organized web version of it would help too. It feels so stale! Once we have that, the online help could seamlessly link to the examples.

[markwni]

Hi altenbach,

Thanks for the comment. We are aware of the unacceptable performance with ni.com/docs. We are working with the team to identify why this is and get it resolved. 

Thank you,

Mark

[MaximeR]

Hello,

Another big issue of the online help is when you have are in a localized country of the help.

LabVIEW and LabVIEW help is available in french. Not so bad even if the quality of the translation is going down year after year.

But when you have a french account, you have the loading time twice. First help page open in English, then reload it automatically in French even if you LabVIEW is in english.

It's twice more unusable for LabVIEW users in localized countries.

best regards

[jo_mo]

Hi Mark,

Your post was from March 2024 and it is now Jan 2025 and the online NI docs performance is still terrible and basically unusable.  Any chance of it getting fixed soon?

John Morrison

Staff Electrical Engineer

NI Product User for the last 14 years.

[MaximeR]

You can fix it by configuring your help to be local. Search NI Help in your start menu and uncheck the box in the configuration window. 

with this, help is back in local and fast and in the LabVIEW language.

[jo_mo]

Mark,

I must apologize, it turns out our cybersecurity at my work was preventing the correct display of the web spec sheets.  They have since fixed it and now all works as it should.  Again, my apologies.

John Morrison

Staff Electrical Engineer

NI Product User for the last 14 years.