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Community Expert
AmebrCommunity Expert
Community Expert
November 24, 2014
Answered

Custom screen layouts - things to watch out for?

  • November 24, 2014
  • 1 reply
  • 512 views

Hi guys (Willam ),

We've had a designer customise a screen layout for us. We started with Desktop_Layout. The designer doesn't know Robohelp, and the documentation is sparse, to say the least.

I'm wondering what issues we may run in to and if there is anything we absolutely, definitely shouldn't do.

For example,

  • @charset "utf-8", and * and html definitions have been added to the stylesheet
  • instead of embedding the toc book images in the Topic.slp, the images are coded in the css.
  • additional divs have been added (such as left-column, right-column, wrapper, content-wrapper)
  • some divs have been removed
  • Anything for which there was not an obvious use has been removed, e.g. wTOCNodeCloseBook, div.wTopic
  • additional css has been added to style the content of the "topic holder" section. e.g. content p, content h1, content h2.
  • The Search results page is called "Topic", although it seems to have the correct icon in the Project Setup Pod.
  • There are regular html tags inside the search results layout, e.g. <h2><?rh-msp-search-result-title class="wSearchResultTitle" ?></h2>, <p><?rh-msp-search-result-url class="wSearchURL" ?> </p>

That's just what I've been able to determine from a quick look. I'm really not sure what else may have been done.

I suppose I just want to know if we are setting ourselves up for a disaster somewhere.

Thanks,

Amber

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Willam van Weelden

Oh my, well I guess it's up to me ;-)

  • Extra CSS definitions are not a problem.
  • This will work. However, there is a small bug in the toc tree: if you have a book with a link, you can't collapse it if the image is defined through CSS. Adobe is aware of the issue and I expect a fix within a reasonable amount of time.
  • Not a problem.
  • Whether this will be a problem depends on which divs. Some divs which may not have an immediate use are used by the scripts in the layout. Anyway, it will probably break the editor.
  • This is potentially a problem. All tocnode styles, toctree styles etc are used by widgets. Removing them will remove the styling for the widgets. In this case, your mobile TOC won't have any styling unless your designer worked around this.
  • This simply won't work on RoboHelp 11.0.3. and onwards. Topic contents is displayed in an iframe so you can only style the topic through the project CSS.
  • This is a new thing in RoboHelp 11.0.3. Search results and topic contents are displayed on the same page. This is norma.
  • This is fine. The processing instructions will be transormed into regular HTML. Any extra tags you add there will be fine.

The best way to see whether it works it so quickly generate an output with the changed layout. A word to the wise: even if it works perfectly on different desktop browsers, don't assume real mobile devices will work as you expect. iOS and Android will behave differently and may require extra effort to make it consistent. Also watch out for Samsung devices. Samsung Android doesn't work the same as regular Android. Whatever you do, make sure to test on the devices you plan to support.

Kind regards,

Willam

1 reply

Willam van Weelden
Willam van WeeldenCorrect answer
Inspiring
November 24, 2014

Oh my, well I guess it's up to me ;-)

  • Extra CSS definitions are not a problem.
  • This will work. However, there is a small bug in the toc tree: if you have a book with a link, you can't collapse it if the image is defined through CSS. Adobe is aware of the issue and I expect a fix within a reasonable amount of time.
  • Not a problem.
  • Whether this will be a problem depends on which divs. Some divs which may not have an immediate use are used by the scripts in the layout. Anyway, it will probably break the editor.
  • This is potentially a problem. All tocnode styles, toctree styles etc are used by widgets. Removing them will remove the styling for the widgets. In this case, your mobile TOC won't have any styling unless your designer worked around this.
  • This simply won't work on RoboHelp 11.0.3. and onwards. Topic contents is displayed in an iframe so you can only style the topic through the project CSS.
  • This is a new thing in RoboHelp 11.0.3. Search results and topic contents are displayed on the same page. This is norma.
  • This is fine. The processing instructions will be transormed into regular HTML. Any extra tags you add there will be fine.

The best way to see whether it works it so quickly generate an output with the changed layout. A word to the wise: even if it works perfectly on different desktop browsers, don't assume real mobile devices will work as you expect. iOS and Android will behave differently and may require extra effort to make it consistent. Also watch out for Samsung devices. Samsung Android doesn't work the same as regular Android. Whatever you do, make sure to test on the devices you plan to support.

Kind regards,

Willam

Captiv8r
Captiv8r
Legend
November 24, 2014

Didn't anyone warn you that once you create a little monster like the layouts and whatnot that you are locked into ensuring their well being forever?

LOL, perhaps I should send you the book below for Christmas:

Cheers... Rick

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