Multiple Columns in MiniTOC

[Guest]

In RoboHelp 9, I know the MiniTOC is pretty much locked down tight so that it's manipulation is quite limited, but is there a way to create a minitoc that displays the items in columns? Some topics have many headings that are included in the MiniTOC and it becomes quite unruly to display the MiniTOC and be presented with a list of 100 or more options in a single column. Can this be modified?

If not, can I use JavaScript to accomplish the same task? Will RoboHelp display a JavaScript created MiniTOC in a CHM and in WebHelp outputs? Of course, I still need to figure out how to do it correctly in JavaScript, but I know there is a way, I just haven't mastered it yet.

Thanks!

[johndaigle]

Hi, mcallit82

I'm not aware of splitting the MiniTOC in two columns. However, I'm familiar with a technique where you create a two column table (no borders) with a narrow column on the left and place the MiniTOC there running down beside the Topic text which has been placed in the right hand column. With frequent "Back to Top" links, this can be a very handy way for the user to navigate a long topic. (This works in a CHM as well.)

I am not personally a scriptor, but many RoboHelpers add Javascript by going,  Insert > HTML > Advanced > Script command to add the js code to the topic. A .js file can also be added to Baggage.

Willam van Weelden, our resident scripting and css expert is pretty busy now, but he might chime in with some thoughts on this.

Other than that, if you have a hundred(!) I'd be inclined to seriously rethink the length of the topic 🙂

John Daigle

Adobe Certified RoboHelp and Captivate Instructor

Evergreen, Colorado

www.showmethedemo.com

[Guest]

Thanks, but doing the table isn't really the appearance we want to go with. Unfortunately, with the way things are set up, some topics are incredibly long and we can't break them up without causing confusion.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Just a possible suggestion for a workaround. I know the Mini TOC is incredibly cool, but something like this requires a bit more effort and "thinking outside the box".

One thing you could do would be to insert bookmarks at each heading you would link to. Then insert a Related Topics control that points to all the bookmarks. Configure the control to display in a "Topics Found" window. This would provide a reasonable window presenting all the links to the bookmarks.

Following on that same stream of conciousness, you could also create a table at the top of the topic and insert links as you want to see them in separate colums.

I'll close by strongly suggesting you file a WishForm to ask Adobe to enhance our customizing options for the Mini TOC. (Link to the form is in my sig)

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

[Amebr]

It's sort of possible to code a hack for it in your stylesheet, but I can't get it to work in IE (8 or 9) - so probably not really useful and no guarantee it would work in multiple version of RH. But I'll post in case anyone is interested.   The most recent copy of RH I have is RH8, so this may not be true for RH9.

In RH8, the output creates a div for the mini-toc, and the ID given appears to be prefixed with MT, so I used some CSS3 selector codes to apply this to any div with an ID beginning with MT. Then the rest says display in 2 columns, and try to spread the content of the div evenly between the columns. The first 2 lines work in Opera and are the "standard" names. The -moz- lines make it work in Mozilla based browsers and -webkit- makes it work in Chrome based browsers.

div[id^="MT"] {

column-count: 2;

column-fill: balance;

-moz-column-count: 2;

-moz-column-fill: balance;

-webkit-column-count: 2;

-webkit-column-fill: balance; }

http://www.w3.org/TR/2011/CR-css3-multicol-20110412/ - new css3 column coding, but not yet finalised.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms531207(v=VS.85).aspx - MS supported CSS properties

http://peter.sh/experiments/vendor-prefixed-css-property-overview/ - vendor prefix properties