Applying CSS and styles to imported project

[Guest]

Hi,

I hope someone can help me here - I have documents in FrameMaker that I need to use to build a Help system - I have imported the files into Robo but I can't get the css style sheets I need applied.  It creates new style sheets for each topic and completely disregards the css that I apply.

I am used to building sites for online assistance programs in DreamWeaver and I can't seem to find the tools that I would use in DW to build the site in Robo. I have several formatting elements that I require for this project.

Do I need to make adjustments to the HTML reference mapping table in Frame before converting?  Do I need to manually apply the styles in the css and update from there?  I have the files in HTML in Robo logically displaying but none of the formatting I require is there.

I am very stuck!

Thanks,

Ryukhin

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

You can always have your css applied to all topics when you generate your WebHelp. It's one of the options in the Single Source Layouts (SSL) recipes.

[Guest]

Thanks Jeff,

I appreciate you taking the time to answer my post.

I have the css mapped but I am having to manually apply the styles in each topic and it's killing my productivity. It seems like you are saying the styles will be applied when I generate the project but that seems counterintuitive - I have worked in Adobe products long enough to know that counterintuitive can be the name of the game - but I am dealing with some tight deadlines and files that were originally in Author-IT that I converted into Frame and am now trying to create the help system.

I think I bit off more than I can chew here! Because there is no conversion from Author-IT into Robo because Author-IT doesn't generate a project file of any kind, just flat HTML files.

-R

[Captiv8r]

ryukhin wrote:

...I think I bit off more than I can chew here! Because there is no conversion from Author-IT into Robo because Author-IT doesn't generate a project file of any kind, just flat HTML files.

One thought would be to create a CHM file from Author-It and decompile it for inclusion in a RoboHelp project.

Also, CSS files are simply text files. One could easily open both in Windows Notepad, select all the rules from the referenced CSS and paste to append them into the linked CSS. Then the styles should appear in the selection panel.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Guest]

Thanks Rick,

I decompiled the CHM and it has left me with the files but I can't include them in my Robo project - it doesn't see them when I try to add files.  Am I missing something?

-Ryukhin

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Generally speaking, you would right-click the folder where you wish the files to be and choose Import > HTML  files. You can't simply copy them to the folder using Windows Explorer and expect RoboHelp to know about them as you might expect in Dreamweaver.

Cheers... Rick

Helpful and Handy Links RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7, 8 or 9 within the day! Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training SorcerStone Blog RoboHelp eBooks

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

Thank you for your help, the help files are looking better but I am having more issues regarding the css or perhaps it's the frame set

My topics are supposed to display in the product as help with a branded header - basically my help file has everything in it but it is not working nor displaying the way it needs to within the software product my company puts out.

Any ideas on how or where to check to make the files display properly?

Cheers,

Ryukhin

[Guest]

Ok, I don't think it's a css issue -  I think it's something to do with the frameset.  The Frameset file looks fine but it is not applied to any of the topics -

what am I missing? How do I make the topics display in the frameset? And I tried generating the web help file and got a blank file with nothing in it, despite the output viewer indicating the file was created successfully.

I don't think I need to generate the web help file anyway, the HTML files just need to be imported to the directory of the product it is attached to.

Anyway - framesets? help!

thanks

R