robohelp html embedded code

[Advanced_user]

if you use conditional build tags when you publish to html, robohelp publishes ALL of the details of the tags in the html page - yes it does not show, but search engines do nto care.....

Also, every html page has robohelp embedded in pages that you cannot remove so if you use it as a tool to publish to html, your customers can figure out what you use?

Anyone know how to remove this? I talked to support about 10 times, sent my files and they never did get back to me.

Thanks
Steve

[RoboWizard]

Hi Steve

Well, for starters, it's obvious you aren't a happy RoboCamper. You joined today and your first six posts are all about how you feel RoboHelp just sucks and doesn't do what you want.

I'm a bit confused as to what is going on. What output are you producing? WebHelp or Microsoft HTML Help. I'm guessing that you mean WebHelp, as you say something about "search engines" not caring. Are you referring to the p.whs1 { x-condition:TagName; } code you see when you choose "view source" from the output?

Why are you overly concerned that someone would see what you used to produce the help? Is it borne of a fear that customers might "skip the middleman" and purchase the product in order to do it themselves? Trust me. If it were that easy, they wouldn't be looking for someone else to do it to begin with.

If you are intent on removing the:
<meta name="generator" content="RoboHelp by eHelp Corporation www.ehelp.com"> that RoboHelp adds, you can easily use a tool such as Far to perform a bit of post processing to remove the tag. However, keep in mind that the WebHelp output format is pretty distinctive, regardless of which skin you use. So it is easily recognized. Hiding the RoboHelp added meta tag will do nothing to thwart someone from figuring out you used RoboHelp to create the help system.

Cheers... Rick

[Advanced_user]

oppss... aw, I guess you tell....I am a bit calm now. Sorry that was after a 30 minute hold call with yoru customer support and then I was told that robohelp was longer around and was replaced by Captivate....

I produce help files for web hsoting resellers and customize webhelp and ftp to theri sites. I brand by inserting logos in the template page as well as footers and header info. I have a few options set in the build tags based on the features of hosting they offer.

So yes, when I do a build, ALL of the code in the template page is published. So xyx hosting would have abc hosting links or urls (since I offer them the ability to put links in headers or footers) and spiders etc find the links etc. The robohelp "created with" code is there too..

And yes, i do nto want them to know the program we use. We are going to go after a new segment and want to see what we can do to edit out some of these issues.

Steve

[RoboWizard]

Hi again Steve

Ummm, I think you are a bit confused. You said: Sorry that was after a 30 minute hold call with yoru customer support and then I was told that robohelp was longer around and was replaced by Captivate....

For starters, even though I have a rather officious looking Adobe logo near my forum handle, I'm not an Adobe employee. I'm just a user same as you. I've just been around enough and answered enough posts and generally tried to be helpful. As a result, I've earned a bit of recognition.

If Adobe support actually told you RoboHelp was replaced by Captivate, they are dead wrong. Captivate is a totally different application. That's about like saying Microsoft Word was replaced by Photoshop.

I once contracted with a web hosting reseller that did something similar. Even though we were using RoboHelp, he wasn't overly concerned with the behind the scenes references. But to each his own.

Without actually seeing both the before and after code, it's very difficult to say what may or may not be controlled. To be very honest, I'm having a bit of a struggle with visualizing what may actually be occuring. I don't suppose you could toss together a simple two or three topic help file that exhibits the issue and let us look it over? I'm not suggesting I'd have an answer for you. But there are a good many bright folks here that have all sorts of different expertise. You never know what you might find.

Cheers... Rick

[MergeThis]

Steve:

I think Rick's suggestion of using FAR is a good one. Using the FAR File Lists and Search Definitions should easily make the replacement process a quick one.

As a historical aside, you might not be aware of the travails our old girl RoboHelp has had to endure. Some time ago, Macromedia acquired eHelp and did two things: they updated RoboDemo and renamed it Captivate; and they decided to sunset RoboHelp. Very soon after, Adobe acquired Macromedia. For a time, nothing happened.

Then, LOUD HOSANNAS!!!! Adobe quietly let it be known that they were going to resurrect the old girl. The new development team was being presented at trade shows and a Q1/Q2 2007 timeframe was established for the new version. There are still no details of exactly what it will look like, but we're all hoping for the best.

The funny thing is that, with no updates or patches in three years, the old girl continues to chug along and provide many authors with an extremely stable and robust help generation product. Intense criticism based on the lack of specific, esoteric demands is quite unfair. It is what it is, and it's very good at that.

Many new members, over time, become valued contributors to this excellent peer forum. I hope you'll become one yourself.


Good luck,
Leon