Make a popup persist on top

[HKabaker]

One of my developer colleagues asks if RH can do this:

1. Click a hotspot (or link, or "Help") on a page in the main application.
2. RH window pops up over the application with suggested steps 1-2-3.
3. User clicks to focus the main window and begins Step 1.
4. The RH popup window (moveable, maybe resizable) is not in focus but still on top, in case the user can't remember Step 3.
5. User completes the task and closes the popup.

I reminded my colleague that the RH popup window can stay, off to the side, if the main app isn't hogging the entire screen.

He's asking if we can reduce some of the competition for real estate.

Has anyone tried this?

Harvey

[MergeThis]

You're probably referring to embedded help, such as used by MS Outlook, et al.

There's some discussion in the RH help, but I suspect you'd need some developers who've done it before, since all I've ever read on the subject indicates that a high level of expertise would be required.


Good luck,
Leon

[HKabaker]

Leon, thanks.

We'll look at RH help and Adobe's knowledge base.
For now, I'm just noodling over possible approaches.

For example, if we use the RH CSH capability, could the developer configure "always on top" the way we specify window features -- size, placement, resizeable, and so on? Is this possible/relatively easy to do in the window call, or would it need some extra js.?

Or should we look at some other API approach?

Anybody?

Thanks again.

Harvey

[MergeThis]

When you ask your developer for answers to these questions (which you should), look for these dead giveaways to this being a non-starter: he develops a thousand-yard stare, or runs away from you at warp speed.

As I said before, this type of CSH is not for the faint of heart!


Good luck,
Leon

[HKabaker]

Leon,

Thanks.

Actually, it was the developer who raised the issue. He's asking whether we think it's doable in the context of RH WebHelp for a Web-based application.

I spent a lot of time searching the Web for this. My main conlusion is, we shouldn't try to accomplish this in the html/javascript/jsp environment for an application that runs from a Web browser, primarily IE.

H

[Linux Rules]

Hello Harvey -

Thinking out loud here...is there a way to have your Help open in a separate tab?

Regards,
GEWB

[HKabaker]

Sure, if the browser option is set for opening a new window in a tab instead. But you still see only one at a time.

My developer agrees that this is relevant only for users whose screens are too small to work with multiple windows open. Conversely, only for applications that have so much to look at on a single page, they need the whole screen. In time, I think, both conditions will fade away.

H