Help and manual html

Help and manual html

Help+Manual uses editable HTML files referred to as «templates» to define the basic layout of your topic pages in your published output. There are templates for your topic pages that are used for all HTML-based output formats and additional templates that are only used for WebHelp output, which are used to define the overall layout (frameset) and the Table of Contents, Search and Index panes in the WebHelp help system generated by Help+Manual.

If you are using an HTML skin you must edit your templates and settings in the skin!

Nowadays you will almost always choose an HTML skin to publish your project to WebHelp or HTML Help/CHM. A skin is a special kind of Help+Manual project without topics that only stores your HTML templates and all the settings relevant for HTML output to these two formats. When you choose a skin, the templates and settings in the skin completely replace those in your project.

Normally, a skin is pre-designed and you don’t need to change anything. However, if you do want to change something, you must do all your editing in the .hmskin skin file. Editing in your Help+Manual project won’t have any effect because those templates and settings are not used.

To edit a skin, make a copy of the .hmskin skin file in your project folder and then open it in Help+Manual by selecting .hmskin as the file type to open in the Open dialog. All the templates and settings are in the same places as in a normal Help+Manual project.

Exception: HTML Export Options

The HTML Export Options section is not stored in skins and needs to be edited in your project.

HTML templates are not help windows!

HTML topic page templates and help windows are completely separate. Help windows are only relevant in HTML Help (CHM), where they are used to configure the help viewer and for opening linked topics in external windows.

HTML topic page templates can be assigned to individual topics in the Topic Options tab on the left of the main editor window . Help windows cannot be assigned to individual topics, you can only use them in hyperlinks.

HTML topic page templates

These templates define the layout and appearance of your topic pages in all HTML-based output formats, including the background colors of the topic and the topic header.

By default there is one HTML topic page template called Default that is assigned to all topics. You can edit this template and you can also define as many additional templates as you like and assign them to individual topics, by selecting them in the HTML Page Template: field in the Topic Options tab on the left of the main editor window .

The HTML topic page templates can be accessed in Configuration > HTML Page Templates in the Project Explorer. See Using HTML Templates for more details.

How topic page templates work

If you are familiar with HTML, you will know that HTML pages consist of a number of standard sections. The visible content of the page is stored between the and tags. The general page definition and any additional functions (for example the page title, keywords, scripts, search engine information etc.) are stored in the other sections above and sometimes also below this main body section.

When you publish your project to HTML-based output formats the HTML pages for your topics are «assembled» from two components: The HTML page template is taken as the framework and the content from the Help+Manual editor is inserted in this template between the and tags. Individual content outside the body section is inserted with variables. The content of your topics is also inserted by a variable called .

Additional WebHelp templates

In addition to the HTML topic page templates there are also four additional HTML templates that are used to configure your WebHelp output. These templates define the layout of the entire help (frameset) and the pages for the Table of Contents, Search and Index panes in your WebHelp output.

These templates can be accessed in Configuration > Publishing Options > WebHelp in the Project Explorer. Unlike the topic page templates, there is only one copy of each of these WebHelp templates per project, you cannot define additional versions as you can for HTML topic page templates. However, you can apply different versions to your output with «skins». See Transforming your Output with Skins for details and instructions.

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Help and manual html

This section allows you to edit the HTML templates that define the layout and general appearance of your topic pages in all HTML-based output formats. See Using HTML Templates for full details.

HTML page templates are shared:

Note that the same HTML templates are used for most HTML-based output formats (HTML Help, WebHelp, eWriter Help and both versions of Visual Studio Help). The only exception are ePUB and Kindle eBooks. The layout for these eBooks is extremely strict and they uses special template generated by Help+Manual. You can edit this template in Configuration > Publishing Options > eBooks , but please only do so if you are familiar with the eBook specifications.

If you are using an HTML skin you must edit your templates and settings in the skin!

Nowadays you will almost always choose an HTML skin to publish your project to WebHelp or HTML Help/CHM. A skin is a special kind of Help+Manual project without topics that only stores your HTML templates and all the settings relevant for HTML output to these two formats. When you choose a skin, the templates and settings in the skin completely replace those in your project.

Normally, a skin is pre-designed and you don’t need to change anything. However, if you do want to change something, you must do all your editing in the .hmskin skin file. Editing in your Help+Manual project won’t have any effect because those templates and settings are not used.

To edit a skin, make a copy of the .hmskin skin file in your project folder and then open it in Help+Manual by selecting .hmskin as the file type to open in the Open dialog. All the templates and settings are in the same places as in a normal Help+Manual project.

Exception: HTML Export Options

The HTML Export Options section is not stored in skins and needs to be edited in your project.

Simple Template Layout tab:

The Simple Template Layout tab hides the HTML code of the page template and allows you to make some simple changes and additions. This mode is recommended if you do not have experience with editing HTML code.

Disabled Simple Layout tab:
The Simple Layout tab will be disabled as soon as you edit source code to prevent accidental deletion of your custom code. It can only be re-enabled by clicking on the Reset Template button. This will delete the edited code and replace it with the standard template

Create new HTML templates and delete existing ones. You can assign page templates to individual topics when you create them and in the Topic Options tab on the left of the main editor window.

Resets the current page template to the default settings.

Header /Text background color:

Defines the background colors of the topic header and text.

Text above topic:
Text below topic:

Any text you enter in these two editing boxes will be inserted on every page above and below the main text of your topic.

HTML code is permitted but you are responsible for the correct syntax.

Topics with headers have , and links:

Activating this option adds additional navigation links to the headers of your topic. These links always point to the Top topic (the home topic defined in Configuration > Common Properties > Language Settings ) and the Next and Previous topics in your help.

You can edit the captions of the links in the Caption column but you cannot change their functionality.

By default the links are text-only. You can create button links by selecting graphics files for your buttons in the Image File column. Use the browse button to locate the graphics files.

HTML Source Code tab:

In this mode you can edit all the code of the HTML templates for your help window definitions manually with a basic HTML code editor with syntax highlighting. Experience with editing HTML code is needed – please don’t change or delete anything here unless you really understand what you are doing!

Disabled Simple Layout tab:
The Simple Layout tab will be disabled as soon as you edit source code to prevent accidental deletion of your custom code. It can only be re-enabled by clicking on the Reset Template button. This will delete the edited code and replace it with the standard template

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Help and manual html

HTML Output and HTML Templates

HTML templates are used to define the topic layout of all Help+Manual’s HTML-based output formats (HTML Help, WebHelp, Windows Exe and ePUB eBooks and Visual Studio Help). What you enter in the editor defines the content of your topics, the templates define the framework in which your content is presented. The HTML templates are stored together with your project.

In addition to this there is an additional set of HTML templates for the special components of WebHelp output (TOC, Index, Search, frameset).

If you are using an HTML skin you must edit your templates and settings in the skin!

Nowadays you will almost always choose an HTML skin to publish your project to WebHelp or HTML Help/CHM. A skin is a special kind of Help+Manual project without topics that only stores your HTML templates and all the settings relevant for HTML output to these two formats. When you choose a skin, the templates and settings in the skin completely replace those in your project.

Normally, a skin is pre-designed and you don’t need to change anything. However, if you do want to change something, you must do all your editing in the .hmskin skin file. Editing in your Help+Manual project won’t have any effect because those templates and settings are not used.

To edit a skin, make a copy of the .hmskin skin file in your project folder and then open it in Help+Manual by selecting .hmskin as the file type to open in the Open dialog. All the templates and settings are in the same places as in a normal Help+Manual project.

Exception: HTML Export Options

The HTML Export Options section is not stored in skins and needs to be edited in your project.

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