Any Ideas?

[karenlakl]

After browsing around I see this is the wrong place for this... I've copied it to RoboHelp for HTML.


I have spent 3 days experiencing very strange problems with images in my Robohel HTML (WebHelp layout) project. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

For example, I insert a .png image (browsed to outside the project to get it using the Image dialog). It appears in the Wysiwyg, is shown (in Projects) under Images, but does NOT appear when I preview the topic. AND, after compiling, the browser hangs while trying to load the image in that topic (the text appears, and the status bar reports either openig page file or downloading picture file - but it never appers).

Another strange side effect. In the compiled help files, I can open a topic with an image that works... then go to the topic with the problem image (doesn't work) and after that I no longer can view images in the topics that were working before.

In the source file the code shows <img src="../search_projects.png" > and I can see that the file is indeed there... up 1 level from where the topic file is. In the compiled files (in !SSL!\WebHelp\) I can see that the code is the same and the image file is where it is supposed to be.

Another odd thing, unlike the 'good images' in my project, RoboHelp does not allow me to move the 'bad' image to a folder under Images (in the Project pane).

Any ideas? Thank you very much.

[Captiv8r]

Hi Karen

When it comes to .PNG images, all are not equal. For example, I've seen others post and report that one image editing application creates .PNG images that cause RoboHelp to gag, while the same image, after importing into a different image editing application and saved as .PNG will work just dandy. The bottom line is that you need to find an image editing application that produces .PNG files that RoboHelp likes.

Out of curiosity, what is it that makes .PNG so attractive over their more reliable .GIF and .JPG cousins? I've used these guys for years with virtually no problems. Yet, yours makes about the 5th post I've seen over the past week reporting issues using .PNG. Personally, given the fact that .PNG seems "iffy", I'd simply stick with .JPG or .GIF. But that's just me. I'm sure you have valid reasons for preferring .PNG format.

Sincerely... Rick

[karenlakl · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your response Rick - I use png because that's the default in SnagIt. (And all my graphics were from Snagit - not just the failing ones.) As of now, though, I'm going with jpg. Why tempt fate?

I ended up resolving my problem by deleting all the offending graphics, re-creating them and saving them into the Folders known by the RH HTML Files folder. They still do not appear in the Topic Preview (even jpgs), but do appear in the compiled files.

When I inserted images from outside the project directory, RH copied them into the top level project folder, but didn't seem to recognize that it copied them. There must be some place in RH that the graphics are 'booked' in order to be recognized by the img tag.

Two statements in the RH Help would've saved me lots of pain. 1)Explaining that "Images" is a virtual folder (I inherited this project & previous writer actually had a folder called Images in the project... confusing!) and 2) telling me to copy graphics into the project directory prior to inserting image into topic. I know that's not supposed to be necessary... but for some reason it is for some of my graphics to work. (sigh).

But now, back to focusing on CONTENT... yea!

Regards,
Karen