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db_tw
Participating Frequently
April 22, 2009
Answered

How to make Help view well on both laptops and desktops

  • April 22, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 729 views

Hi -- I'm trying to learn RoboHelp 7 and just created my first WebHelp project. I want to show it to a friend, but don't have a server I can publish it to, so I copied all the files onto my flash drive and put it on my laptop. It all works fine, which is a relief -- however, the custom colors are way off, and some of the screenshots are now too big, so the user would have to scroll (which can be annoying). I created it on my desktop and have been looking at it on a larger monitor (1680x1050), but the laptop is old (1024x768). The thing is, a lot of people might have to view it on 800x600.

I couldn't find any information in RH's Help about how I should have set it up so that it views well on different systems. I'm hoping someone could please advise me as to what I should have done, and if there's anything I can do now to fix it, or point me to some information. I used Arial 10 pt for the text, and now it looks 12 pt. Should I have made it 8 pt? Is there a rule for how large an image should be to be viewed on a laptop and a desktop?

One last thing, it's too large to put on a CD, so is does anyone know how to make this into an executable?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give!

Daryl

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Correct answer RoboWizard

Hi Daryl

I use an eBook compiler to convert WebHelp to an executable file. You might investigate eBook compilers for that bit. However, I'm not sure how that would help you since a compiler will do little more than to take a swarm of WebHelp files and store them in a wrapper to create a single file. Generally you will end up with something that although it exists as a single file, is larger than what is inside.

Are you SURE it's too big for CD? CD will hold 650 megs (700 if you buy the extended types).

On the screen size issue WebHelp itself should adapt fine. Probably it's the images you are concerned with. And the general rule of thumb is to capture images at a reasonable size to begin with. Never EVER just insert a big ole image into RoboHelp and grab the sizing handle to make it smaller. It will still consume a larger amount of space and the quality will suffer badly. So the best approach is to copy the image at a reasonable size to begin with. Something that may fit nicely in the Topic Pane area as it is presented in the space provided by the lowest common denominator. In your case I believe you said that many are still at 800x600.

Your 10 point text will still be 10 points at a smaller resolution. It will just look a bit different.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

2 replies

RoboWizard
RoboWizardCorrect answer
Inspiring
April 22, 2009

Hi Daryl

I use an eBook compiler to convert WebHelp to an executable file. You might investigate eBook compilers for that bit. However, I'm not sure how that would help you since a compiler will do little more than to take a swarm of WebHelp files and store them in a wrapper to create a single file. Generally you will end up with something that although it exists as a single file, is larger than what is inside.

Are you SURE it's too big for CD? CD will hold 650 megs (700 if you buy the extended types).

On the screen size issue WebHelp itself should adapt fine. Probably it's the images you are concerned with. And the general rule of thumb is to capture images at a reasonable size to begin with. Never EVER just insert a big ole image into RoboHelp and grab the sizing handle to make it smaller. It will still consume a larger amount of space and the quality will suffer badly. So the best approach is to copy the image at a reasonable size to begin with. Something that may fit nicely in the Topic Pane area as it is presented in the space provided by the lowest common denominator. In your case I believe you said that many are still at 800x600.

Your 10 point text will still be 10 points at a smaller resolution. It will just look a bit different.

Hopefully this helps... Rick

db_twAuthor
Participating Frequently
April 23, 2009

Thank you so much, Rick! Doh! I don't know what I was thinking about the CD! Yes, it definitely will work. Regarding the images, when you say "copy it at a reasonable size to begin with" I assume you mean resize it in the capture tool before saving it (I use SnagIt, and it has a resize feature), right?

Anyway, thanks again for your help!

Daryl

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