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Heavy_B
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2008
Question

Converts tabs to spaces when generating to MS HtmlHelp

  • April 21, 2008
  • 2 replies
  • 821 views
When I generate to MS HtmlHelp, the tabs in Word come out as spaces ("&nbsp").

Does HTML not allow tabbing?

I am primarily using tabbing to line up definitions for terms within the body of topics (no, not the glossary).

Help!
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2 replies

Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2008
WinHelp is Word based, not HTML so it will handle tabs.

Yes tables are frowned on by the purists but you will find tables in so many websites. You want to be pure or you want to get the job done?

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Heavy_BAuthor
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2008
"You want to be pure or you want to get the job done?"

LOL...this reminds me of Bruce Lee arguing against martial art style purists. His fighting 'style' was no style. Instead he used a philosophy of water. Water changes form to suit the immediate situation (from cup to bowl to pitcher). Likewise, during a fight, he focused on merely filling the void. "When the opponent expand, I contract, When he contracts, I expand, And when there is an opportunity, I do not hit--it hits all by itself."

If an immediate problem is solved by a table, I use a table.

I drive style nazis crazy with my 'water' developing style. Consistency has its place in developing/writing, but inconsistency is often more efficient, thus more productive. However, quoting Bruce Lee on tool forums is not productive so thanks and bye.
Peter Grainge
Community Expert
Peter GraingeCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 21, 2008
No it does not and you will regret it if you use spaces instead. Change the window size and watch it screw up your layout.

Use tables instead.

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Heavy_BAuthor
Participating Frequently
April 21, 2008
Thanks for the quick response.

When looking for an answer, I ended up on a wild CSS div tag goose chase. Apparently, there is an anti-table movement out there. However, their solutions are more about page layout than solving the simple inline tab problem I have.

term1 (tab) definition
term2 (tab) definition
term3 (tab) definition
so all the definitions line up!

How hard can that be?

BTW: I tried outputting to other RoboHelp Layouts. WebHelp and FlashHelp doesn't handle inline tabbing. WinHelp 2000 handles inline tabbing just fine. However, I happen to have tables in other topics and those tables loose all their shading a borders. WTF!
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