New HTML editor?

Report · Feb 26, 2008

Just wanted to find out how others are using/not using the new HTML editor in RH7.

Our HTML files are valid, coded HTML, and what the RH editor does to them is, well, a bit scary. Changing tags, removing information, removing comments and formatting/line breaks that take the once well-coded HTML and make a jumble out of them.

So far, we've just been using an external editor to edit the files, and just used RH to generate the files. RH has had issues with some XML code in our files for awhile so the editor has always been problematic (stripping out the XML code) but rather than an improvement, it seems like the new version is just worse.

Am I missing something?

Report · Feb 26, 2008

You're not missing anything, except maybe the cash you laid out for RH. RoboHelp has always generated its own code and, in my opinion, is slowly improving in protecting your custom code. I think version 7 is better than the previous few versions in that regard. If you have another editor you like and are comfortable working directly in HTML, RoboHelp may not add any value to your help production. In my opinion, its value lies in the time it saves by allowing you to produce working code quickly and easily from an interface similar to the one the end user will see.

John

Report · Feb 27, 2008

If you want a real horror show right-click a topic in the Project Manager then choose Edit with Word. Then go back and edit it in RH7. Holy cats. That will make you appreciate RH7's editor. ;)

Since the functionality of RH7's HTML editor is poor despite my and a developer's best efforts to fix it and a complete flattening of my computer, I've taken to using Notepad for editing my HTML. It turns out this is a wash from a convenience perspective because while it's less convenient having to find my place in the HTML it's more convenient when actually editing the text--Notepad doesn't auto-select whole words plus their brackets or produce any annoying pop-ups, for example.

Report · Feb 28, 2008

Moonlion

Word is NOT a proper HTML editor. Try opening a Word document in Dreamweaver or any other HTML editor and see the mess you get.

I truly do not understand why you have so much trouble with RH. What annoying popups are bothering you?

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Report · Mar 07, 2008

quote:

Originally posted by: Peter GraingeWhat annoying popups are bothering you?

Sorry it took so long for me to reply--I forgot about the topic and my point was rhetorical anyway.

Anyhoo, since you ask: Say I need to add a class to a paragraph tag (say, change <p> to <p class=caption>).
When I press the spacebar after the p to start typing, a pop-up appears giving me a list of various HTML tags.

Example:

quote:

<h5> ... </h5>
<h6> ... </h6>
<head> ... </head>
<html> ... </html>

...and so on. Why? What does the list mean? Things I could add? What are they supposed to help me do? Isn't not as a shortcut to typing because if I double-click one of the listed items it merely inserts the code and doesn't replace the code that's already there so I'd end up with <p<h5></h5>> and end up having to spend time correcting that mess.

The pop-up very nearly obscures what I'm typing and so I have to click elsewhere to get the pop-up to go away. And it happens every time.

It's a poke in the eye. I thought the HTML editor would be more convenient, but now? I prefer using Notepad by an order of magnitude. (And it's moot anyway since the HTML editor is broken--a problem I described awhile back resurfaced and we're out of ideas on how to fix it.)

Report · Oct 10, 2008

MoonLion2, I think what you want to do is disable Intellisense. This was described in another thread. You want to "delete all expansions". Then you no longer have those annoying popups. I, for one, am much happier without them.

/Eileen

Report · Mar 09, 2008

It is a shortcut to typing. Try using Enter instead and it will ADD whatever you select.

Try typing
<p style="

When you type the quote marks, you should see relevant style options.

Using your example, I typed <p followed by a space. When I selected <h4> etc, it removed the <p realising that was not relevant within a p tag.

I agree it should be possible to turn it off it you don't like it but it does seem to be working correctly in the same way it does in Dreamweaver.

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Report · Oct 07, 2008

Hi MrsVJW,

Just picking up your old thread here.

I am having the same problem with the RH HTML editor. It seems very lacking in basic features, i.e., amateurish, to put it bluntly. I had expected one thousand per cent that after all these years and versions, RH would have feature rich support for styling etc., on par with Word (at least), DreamWeaver, and MS Expression Web.

So which HTML editor did you end up using, may I ask?

Tia

- avi

Report · Oct 07, 2008

I also find the editor a bit limited. For me it's mainly the zoom function. At 100% all is well. However, as I use smallish text for OLH I'd rather work at a greater magnification, when I work at say, 125% the quality of the display is much poorer and not really useable.

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New HTML editor?