4 Replies Latest reply: Jan 30, 2014 8:53 AM by SuzieC2014 RSS

    Javahelp - how to get styles to work properly

    SuzieC2014 Community Member
    SuzieC2014 Jan 29, 2014 10:25 AM

      Hello all,

      Does anyone here generate Javahelp 1.1.3? I'm quite familiar with creating Webhelp and epub using Robohelp. However, we have some javahelp projects i need to upgrade and the style mapping just seems random when displayed in the Javahelp viewer (ie, mix of serif and sans serif fonts, even though my CSS has only sans serif fonts, fonts really tiny, etc).

      Webworks created Javahelp beautifully but it would be good to use one product for our conversions.

      Any tips on how to get my stylesheet to work for producing Javahelp?

      Thanks.

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        • 1. Re: Javahelp - how to get styles to work properly
          Peter Grainge CommunityMVP
          Peter Grainge Jan 30, 2014 1:28 AM (in response to SuzieC2014)

          JavaHelp has always had issues with formatting. What I know about it is on my site and there you will see the MadCap decided not to even offer this format.

           

          Typically Java developers say they must have JavaHelp when in reality WebHelp would work for them. It's not always the case but it is worth asking.

           

          See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips

           

           

          @petergrainge

          • 2. Re: Javahelp - how to get styles to work properly
            SuzieC2014 Community Member
            SuzieC2014 Jan 30, 2014 5:07 AM (in response to Peter Grainge)

            Thanks Peter. Unfortunately, this is a project that's existed for many years in this format and changing the format is not an option. I did manage to create a Webhelp sample with no problem. I was just hoping that Robohelp could do a decent job with the Javahelp, at least equivalent with what we were able to do with Webworks  for many years. Thanks for the reply.

            • 3. Re: Javahelp - how to get styles to work properly
              Captiv8r CommunityMVP
              Captiv8r Jan 30, 2014 7:09 AM (in response to SuzieC2014)

              Hi there

               

              As you say that WebWorks did it beautifully, it would seem to imply that their CSS was solid. I might ask if you tried applying the WebWorks CSS to your RoboHelp output? Maybe that would be all you need. If not, one might assume it would be a fairly straightforward matter of simply identifying where the font doesn't look quite as desired and tweaking until you sort it.

               

              Cheers... Rick

              • 4. Re: Javahelp - how to get styles to work properly
                SuzieC2014 Community Member
                SuzieC2014 Jan 30, 2014 8:53 AM (in response to Captiv8r)

                Hi Rick,

                 

                Yes, the Webworks html and CSS is pretty clean, I have to admit.

                I can't apply the same CSS because Robohelp and Webworks don't work the same way - Webworks creates the lists differently in the HTML(uses <DIV> and doesn't rely on CSS for the alignment of those items as Robohelp does. That's just one difference.

                 

                I have worked with the CSS to create my Webhelp output, but applying the same CSS for Javahelp simply doesn't work (i found the same thing when creating epub output - the Robohelp definitions for the aligning lists doesn't work for epub output. I could be wrong, but I think that the xhtml required for epub is more strict and doesn't allow all the elements that the Webhelp CSS uses).

                 

                For the Javahelp, I'm suspecting it's because of the additional items Robhelp includes in the CSS for list alignment and such. As well, it's hard to go through the HTML because Robohelp does insert a lot of formatting - in other words, the HTML isn't that clean.

                I'll keep working on it, perhaps even creating new CSS from scratch and redoing all the Frame to Robohelp mappings, but I suppose I was hoping the point of being able to output to so many formats is not having to redo all this work.