Are style sheets required?

[John_Meidl]

Now that I've had two project crashes, I tread softly as I do my editing in my project, looking under every rock and paying attention to every snapping twig... Now I'm worried about a style sheet issue --

From scanning my Topic List in my RoboHelp 8 (Microsoft HTML) project, I just realized that several htm topics do not have a style sheet. The rest of the topics have the project style sheet, namely, CarePartner.css . Might this be a problem -- that a few topics have no style sheet? I'm suspecting that these may have been the topics that I imported to recover from my RoboHelp project crashes: when I imported the missing topics, I didn't import the style sheet with them, because I didn't know I needed to. Perhaps that's why these few topics are missing the style sheet?

I'm not real familiar with style sheets. I just tried to link the style sheet to several topics (i.e., selected the topic, in Properties-Appearance selected the style sheet and clicked OK), but still no style sheet appears next to those topics in the Topic List.

So, should I just ignore the fact that a few of the topics lack a specific style sheet? Will the project work OK if they don't have a style sheet?

Thanks in advance for any other insights regarding topics that are missing style sheets.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Style sheets are just a way to apply consistent formatting across your topics.

While not technically required, they are helpful in controlling the appearance of your text and other options in the topics.

Typically, you will have only a single Style Sheet (known as a CSS file) that is associated with all your topics. Fortunately it's simple to associate the same CSS file with ALL topics. You do this through the Topic List pod. From there, you select all the topics in your project, then right-click and choose Properties. In the properties, you choose the Style Sheet you wish to use.

If you have RoboHelp 8, you have another option. When you compile or generate your output, you may choose a single style sheet to associate with each topic as the output is created.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Peter Grainge]

Hope Rick doesn't mind me coming in but there is a harmless bug in both RH7 and RH8 where the CSS selected does not display in the Topic List.

It shows correctly in Topic Properties and the topic displays correctly in both the Design Editor and any output. It is just the Topic List that is incorrect.

The more people who report a bug or request a feature, the more likely it is to be actioned. Please follow this link.

http://www.Adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform&product=38

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

Follow me @petergrainge

[John_Meidl]

That must be it, then! So I don't need to worry about the style sheet not showing up on the Topic List pod, as long as it does show up when I view the properties for that topic.

Thank you for your clarification and insights. It's good to know that I can proceed with my work on this project. I'll plan to report the bug, as you suggested.

[Captiv8r]

Well! I never!

Pish Tosh... Of course I don't mind and welcome any further comments.