Paul A. Akiki

User interface help (UIH) is crucial in assisting end-users in navigating, understanding, and effectively using software features. User interface help development systems (UIHDSs) streamline the process of developing UIH. This review paper surveys the work on UIHDSs published between 1990 and 2025 and classifies it according to the underlying UIH development approaches. Seven approaches were identified: model-driven engineering, artificial intelligence, crowdsourcing, frameworks and toolkits, usage demonstration and logging, pixel analysis, and static help authoring. Furthermore, criteria were established and used to assess the strengths and shortcomings of UIHDSs and their approaches. These criteria were classified under the following groups: intelligence, presentation, integration, creation, and feedback. The overall assessment result shows that certain criteria received less attention than others. The results identified several areas for improvement to guide future work. In summary, possible improvements to UIHDSs include combining multiple approaches, offering more comprehensive capabilities, and enhancing the intelligence and feedback features.