1. A computer-implemented method for allowing an author to create instructional material displayed based on user actions, the method comprising: displaying an authoring interface of an authoring system configured to build an executable workflow software application, the authoring interface enabling the author to design the executable workflow software application by: receiving, from the author, a selection of one or more elements to include in a workflow to be presented by the executable workflow software application, the workflow displaying instructional material for using a software application; receiving, from the author, a control selection for inclusion in the workflow; receiving a sequence of workflow steps selected by the author that is related to a set of actions the user can perform in the workflow; receiving one or more triggering actions selected by the author that a user can perform to determine the instructional material displayed to the user via the executable workflow software application, the instructional material being dynamically updateable to display help information to the user related to the user's current context and one or more previous choices in the software application, and at least one of the one or more triggering actions comprising receiving one or more executing environment conditions that affect the displayed instructional material and the one or more executing environment conditions that affect the displayed instructional material including at least one of user settings, peripherals, and user properties; receiving, from the author, an association between the received triggering actions and instructional content related to the actions; and storing the workflow for subsequent display to a user by the executable workflow software application, the preceding steps being performed by at least one processor.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving an association comprises receiving a help article associated with each path of a decision, and at run time displaying the associated article in response to a selection of a decision path.