Rollovers or Popups

[SueKL]

Hi,

I'm using RH8 and my output will either be WebHelp or browser based AirHelp.  I've read everything I could on rollovers and pop-ups on the forum.  I'm looking for a way to present an explanation of multiple fields on a screen shot by providing rollover or pop-up text.  I've looked at all the properties of the image map but can't seem to do what I need to with this.  The only things I to be able to provide with this was by using the the tooltip text (and then I can't size the text box to exactly what size I want) or linking to a Word document for an explanation, which I would rather not do.  In the past we've created Flash files in other applications and imported these but would prefer to do this right in RH, if I could.

I noticed when using an image map you get the choice of file, web address, etc.  To get the tooltip text to work w/this I've just been putting in a # in that field.  Is there a better way to provide an explanation of multiple fields on an image using RoboHelp?  My user could either click on the field to get the needed explanation or rollover the field.  If anyone has any examples of things they've done within RH for a similiar situation that would be welcomed.

Thanks very much.

Sue

[Peter Grainge]

With the image selected, go to Insert > Image Map and select the shape you want. When you have drawn that shape, a dialog should pop up allowing you to create the target.

Bear in mind with this workflow, the user cannot print the image and the field descriptions. Maybe that is not important for you.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SueKL]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the response.  Yes, I've done that before but maybe I'm missing something?  I would just like to provide rollover text and not have to link to something such as a web address, e-mail, Word doc, etc.  The only options I see are either to put text in the "screen tip" text and have a # in the link to field (as it requires that I link to something), or link to a Word doc, RH file or multi-media file.  I don't want to open an entire Word doc just for a few lines of text explaining a field.

My second choice would be to have it in a text pop-up, but again I don't see how other than linking to a Word doc, etc. you can do this as it requires I link to something.

Thanks very much for your help.

[Peter Grainge]

So something like the above is not what you want to appear if the user clicks on Leave Checklist? The popup is a topic in RH whereas the examples you cite are all external items. I am not clear why you are thinking it might be necessary to open a Word document.

RoboHelp does not offer rollover text, you would need to incorporate a javascript method for that.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[SueKL]

Thanks, Peter. If I use this method is there a way that I don't have to create multiple topics for each field I want to explain (I have multiple fields on the screen). Can you just point to individual bookmarks in one topic that I use for all the screen field explanations or do I need a separate topic for each field?

Also, for your example did you use the "display in auto size popup" or "custom size"?

Thanks again.

[Peter Grainge]

I used an autosizing popup.

Link the hotspots to one topic and select the required bookmark when you create the link for each hotspot.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Captiv8r]

Hi folks

If you really desire the rollover functionality, you might consider using Captivate to create this. (Assuming, of course, that you have access to it)

I find this to be one of the more unsung awesome features of combining Captivate with RoboHelp.

Cheers... Rick

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[SueKL]

Thank you both for your responses, I appreciate it.

Yes, I have Captivate but one of my requirements is to have as much done in RH as possible for maintenance, as others that may be maintaining this don't have it.

Thanks again,

Sue

[Guest]

Hello,

I've been trying to do this in RH9. I have created a number of text paragraphs in a topic. Each paragraph has a leading bookmark which is linked to an image hot spot, and contains the text that I want to display for that hot spot.

I cannot find a way to prevent the popups from containing ALL the paragraphs in the topic instead of just the one with the relevant bookmark.

What am I missing?

[Peter Grainge]

Bookmarks are simply a mechanism to take you to a specific part of a topic. Your link will go to that point in the topic but the whole of the topic will be available to the user. It sounds like you are expecting to see only the paragraph that is bookmarked.

---

See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

@petergrainge

[Guest]

Thank you Peter.

Yes, I did expect that there would be some alternative to creating a separate topic for every image map hotspot pop-up consisting only of a few words. It is not useful have "the whole of the topic" visible to the user if the topic contains information that is not relevant to the particular hotspot they clicked on.

Also, it seems odd (to me) that RH provides no means for linking an image hotspot to a 'text-only popup' similar to what is available for a text link (Insert>Text-only Popup).

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

The only way I've ever known to accomplish this would be to configure the HTML page with the bookmarks as a non-scrolling page by adding scroll=no to the body element. This prevents scroll bars from showing (and allowing the users to scroll the page inside the popup).

Then you ensure you configure the size of the popup so it only presents the content you bookmarked. I generally would press Enter several times between bookmarks to ensure this happened.

Cheers... Rick

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[Guest]

That's a neat idea. Thanks.

I've just come up with a workaround that should be fine for what I need. For each area of the image that I want to provide a pop-up caption for, I create an image map link that points "itself" (i.e., to the same topic) and use the 'Screen tip text' field to contain the caption that I want the user to see. Instant mouseover!

To help the user get the idea, I introduce the image with something like "Move the mouse pointer over an area of the image to see a description." It also helps the user if the hotspots have visible boundaries; this can be done in the image editor before import.

[mws_mp]

Like Sue KL, I have read everything I could find about Screen Tip Text. I am using RoboHelp 8, publishing WebHelp to

be housed on SharePoint. I always use Screen Tips (when I can). However, in the local copy  they appear (see below); in the SharePoint version they do not (see below again). The Tip Text is replaced by the image name. Any ideas on why or how to fix?

[Captiv8r]

Welcome to our community, Mary

How exactly are you testing when you say (...However, in the local copy  they appear...)

Are you referring to what you see when you preview the topic in RoboHelp or are you actually running the project from the local drive?

If you say you are testing by looking at the RoboHelp preview, I'd say that's likely the difference. The preview is simply RoboHelp's best guess as to how things will look and behave in the browser.

Personally, I've observed different results through the years when you look at content using IE vs Firefox. There are actually two tags that may be used with images. One is the title tag. The other is the alt tag.I'm not exactly sure which tag is used under which circumstances. I did locate the link below using Google that may help.

Click here to view

I do notice that if I insert an image into a RoboHelp 8 topic and I don't type anything into the Screen Tip field, I do see an empty alt= tag in the HTML. And if I later double-click to fill in the Screen Tip field it causes a title= tag to be added. But it also leaves the alt= tag blank. So perhaps you might examine the HTML and see if you have a blank title= tag. If so, add the same information that is in the title= tag and see if anything changes.

Hopefully something here helps... Rick

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[mws_mp]

Hi Rick,

Thanks for the welcome and the response. When I talk about the local copy, I am "actually running the project from the local drive," not viewing in preview. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

At your suggestion, I checked the HTML. The Title tag is not blank, the tag includes the text that appears in my "local" copy and should display in the networked version. All the tips' text was entered at the time the hyperlinks were created, per my practice.

The files to which the hyperlinks point were moved. The tips' text was displaying prior to the hyperlinks being updated to point to the new location. It is not a deal breaker, just so very annoying and not up to my standards. But, thanks again for the suggestion.

[Captiv8r]

Hello again

You said the title tag was okay. What about the alt= tag? Are those matching what your title tags have?

If they are, I'm admittely a bit stumped.

Cheers... Rick

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