RH Template Set Up

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TCS 3, RH 9.0.0.228

Word 2010

Hope you can answer some of these questions to help me setup the Help template which I am setting up for imported word documents to export to Webhelp.

I have managed formatting through a combination of direct edits to RHStyleMapping.css and via the Word Import > Edit options to manage style display settings. In some cases i the [Source] selection for certain styles and in other cases, i have mapped my imported word styles to inbuilt RH styles which i have edited.

I also created a Master Page which the project is set to use.

Q: Am i following a consistent approach to achieve a template for automating document conversion?

It doesnt feel consistent ot me and i am concerned that i will lose some settings. I find for each modification i am attempting a hit and miss aproach to achieve the desired look and feel.

Q: I have note tables in my word documents which are right aligned in my Word template so that the width can be adjusted to fit tables under indented styles.

Unfortunatley, the rendering in RH help output aligns the tables to the right and also the contents of the table cells. As these tables are used frequently i dont want to modify each and everyone in RH or int he original word document.

How can i set adjust the alignment of these tables when they dispaly in the help.

Q: I want to modify the HTMl page to display a gradient in the background and body or breadcrumbs to show a white background with wide left and right margins along the lines of the current fashion in websites. Any suggestions?

Q: I would like to create a band below the topic page toolbar in which i will place previous and next buttons to scroll between pages in the help (not browse sequences) in the order in which they follow in my structure. How can i do this?

thanks in advance and apologies if any of these queires have been answered before but hopefully someone out there can save me reinventing the wheel.

Robert

[Peter Grainge]

Will the Word documents be abandoned after import? I ask so as to prompt thinking whether linking might be better than importing for what you want.

Assuming you have decided importing is the right way to go...

Q: Am i following a consistent approach to achieve a template for automating document conversion?

It doesnt feel consistent ot me and i am concerned that i will lose some settings. I find for each modification i am attempting a hit and miss aproach to achieve the desired look and feel.

Can you give some specifics about the issues here?

How can i set adjust the alignment of these tables when they dispaly in the help.

That sounds like a problem seen in RoboHelp 8 has not been fixed.See Item 24 at http://www.grainge.org/pages/authoring/rh8/using_rh8.htm

Q: I want to modify the HTMl page to display a gradient in the background and body or breadcrumbs to show a white background with wide left and right margins along the lines of the current fashion in websites. Any suggestions?

You will need to Google for that sort of information and don't assume that because it can be done on an ordinary webpage that RoboHelp will support. It may well do so, just don't assume that.

Q: I would like to create a band below the topic page toolbar in which i will place previous and next buttons to scroll between pages in the help (not browse sequences) in the order in which they follow in my structure. How can i do this?

I think you mean like the old WinHelp non scrolling region. This has been covered before but forum search is broken. See the forum Announcements to find out how to use Google for a search within the forums.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

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The word documents are source. I hope to set up Framemaker as the source editor but for the meantime i am using word documents.

I am actually linking the documents not importing.

Q1: In the Word styles editing, i have some mapped to Source with some edits to the source style. For other styles i have created a robohelp style and mapped to those. I have have found this to be less clear with table styles formt he Word document. Tables and some other Word para styles are not listed in the mappings with the same names they have in the Word document os it is difficult to determine which tables and styles are which.

Some toher styles have been modified using the CSS but the naming conventions which show up in the CSS are different to those used in the word document template.

All mappings are handled through a trial and error approach and i usually go with the one that yields a result which means i am constantly trying to modifify things and generating the Help to see if there is the desired result.

Q2: There seem to be limitations on how to set up Master pages. I could do with more assistanc eon how to manipulate those. It seems that the easiset method is to insert tbales and manages content in there, for example, creating Forward/Next buttons in a table using javascript on the master page. Using Rick Stone Skinny on Skins to manage the Webhelp output.

Q3: Ah, Google, where would we be without it.

[Peter Grainge]

I don't use Linking other than for academic purposes so I can't offer much but if your documents are consistent, then surely your settings should be good and if they are not consistent, then trial and error may be the way. One thing I do when importing is to first import into a clean project, if it works then I can import those topics and if it doesn't, then my main project has not been touched.

You talk about limitations with master pages and needing assistance but you don't give any specifics on what you are unable to do.

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See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge