Breadcrumb navigation not working in HTML5 Indigo layout. :(

[Billy_H_]

Hi there,

I've combed through the Adobe RH forums for the answer, and have only found discussions around this subject that advise you to download the latest Indigo layout or update their version of RoboHelp.  I think I have done both but may need some further guidance?

The issue is, when using the Responsive HTML5 'Indigo' layout, the 'breadcrumb' navigational feature at the top of the articles are not working, or occasionally lead to incorrect mapping.  (see my screenshot below)  Everything else on the page (sidebar navigation etc.) works like a charm.

Here are the specs of our RoboHelp, just recently updated:  RoboHelp 2017 Ver 13.0.2.334

I need to deliver this project for a major government project and I'm still feeling my way through RoboHelp (self-teaching myself as I go along)  This forum has been an incredible resource, thank you all so much for your advice!  (go easy on a newbie)

Cheers,

Billy

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, so you loaded the updates, but did you re-import your layout again & give it a new name? Then customize/re-generate again. That may be the trick you're missing...

[Billy_H_]

Hi Jeff,

Thanks a lot for taking a stab at my issue, yes - I figured out how to download and re-import the new Indigo layout from the Adobe site into my RoboHelp project and gave it a new name.  The breadcrumb navigation issue is still persisting, it just doesn't respond at all or leads to an incorrect destination when I test it.

Anyone else run into this issue and found a way around it?

Really appreciate any tips!

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

How are you "doing" breadcrumbs? Master page placeholder, globally? There's a couple of different ways to do them - your screen shot isn't really clear as to how things go sideways with the breadcrumb...

[Billy_H_]

Hi Jeff,

Basically, the breadcrumb trail I am referring to is the built-in feature within the HTML5 Indigo layout, appearing right at the top of the page. To explain, for example in my screenshots below, On my main project landing page, I have a number of folders, one of which is titled 'Immunizations'

#1

Then within the Immunizations folder, I have some additional sub-folders (titled 'Reference Guides' etc.)

#2

Finally, within the 'Reference Guides' sub-folder, I have a number of Topics, for example 'View Client Imms Profile' etc.

#3

When you click on the 'View Client Imms Profile' Topic, the following page comes up. You will then see the default 'breadcrumb' navigation for the Indigo layout at the top of the page:

#4

I need the user to be able to click on the 'Reference Guides' link in the breadcrumb navigation, and have it jump back to the 'Reference Guides' sub-folder as shown in the #3 Screenshot shown above. Currently when I click on the breadcrumb navigation, it doesn't navigate anywhere at all, in other folders, it takes me to a seemingly random, incorrect Topic.

To answer your question, I haven't played around with setting up Master Pages for my project yet. I have basically just created Folders, sub-folders and Topics within those folders.

I hope that makes more sense!  Thanks again for your patience.

cheers, Bill

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Just as a quick test, try generating your project as a WebHelp output and see how those breadcrumbs work with it - it it behaves, then we know that it's an HTML5 output issue; if it doesn't, then we know there's a problem (potentially) with your project. In that case, try generating to HTML5 using one of the sample projects. See if that works or not - if it does, then it really reinforces that something is off in your project; if it doesn't work, then we're probably looking at an HTML5 layout limitation.

[Billy_H_]

Ok, I tried generating my project in the WebHelp output, and the breadcrumb navigation did not work.  I then went ahead and tried one of the sample RoboHelp projects ('Travel the Whirls') in HTML5 format.  The breadcrumbs didn't seem to be working 100% there either. Occasionally they would get you close to the destination target, but often it was just a null result - nothing.

Interesting experiment, thank you for the troubleshooting. Anything else we could try?

[Peter Grainge]

How did you update the layout? I am checking but I think the download at RoboHelp screen profiles and layouts is not the latest. In your SSL click Gallery and select the layout there, adding something to make the name unique.

---

See www.grainge.org for free RoboHelp and Authoring information.

@petergrainge

[Billy_H_]

Hi Peter, Great to 'meet' you, I've been following your posts with interest here in the RH Community for the last few months, you're a legend!

I tried the route you suggested, selecting the Indigo layout in the Gallery and renaming it to 'IndigoNew', but the breadcrumb trail is still not working unfortunately.

Thank you.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

I would try the sample project as a WebHelp one - if that works, then it indicates that there's an issue with HTML5 (& probably your project too, since you indicated that it fails on WebHelp also).

[Billy_H_]

Hi Jeff, I just tried outputting the 'Employee Care' Adobe sample project in the WebHelp format as a test, and the breadcrumb navigation is not working properly there either. Very strange..

Does Adobe offer any sort of troubleshooting / help ticketing service at all for RoboHelp?  Is it worthwhile to open a ticket in your opinion?

Thanks all for your suggestions and feedback, it's much appreciated.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

Ok, I just played around with my EmployeeCare sample - what I'm noticing is that once I navigate to one of the topics within a TOC book, using the breadcrumbs to navigate back to the intermediate level will only show the first topic in that TOC "book" - it doesn't put you back into a "TOC-like" page to perform further navigation. I think it's always done that, so I would suggest logging a wishlist item with Adobe using the Tracker link on the main RoboHelp forum page.

[Billy_H_]

Wow, Great detective work Jeff, and yes - you are absolutely right. This is the exact behavior that is happening on my end as well with the breadcrumbs. I find it very odd that Adobe would offer a default 'built in' breadcrumb navigation that doesn't allow you to navigate back by folder levels.(?) Hoping this answer will satisfy the powers that be for this project, but it doesn't fix the problem unfortunately. 

I guess I'll log a wishlist item with Adobe and see where it goes if there isn't any other suggestions to get around it?

Thanks again for all your help.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

Perhaps it may be helpful in understanding breadcrumbs as they relate to RoboHelp?

Breadcrumbs come in two flavors. Historical and hierarchical. RoboHelp uses the latter.

Note that RoboHelp also offers the ability to arrange your project in any folder structure you like. Likewise, you can do the same with the Table of Contents (TOC). Now in many cases, the TOC will mimic or mirror the folder structure. But it doesn't have to. So you might have a folder structure that looks like this:

Root

--> Folder A

----> SubFolder A

--> Folder B

--> Folder C

But you may want the TOC to be arranged as follows:

Home

--> Book 1 (maps to Folder B topics)

--> Book 2 (maps to Folder A topics)

----> Book 4 (maps to SubFolder A topics)

--> Book 3 (maps to Folder C topics)

Unless you have topics mapped directly to the Books in the TOC, my guess is that the RoboHelp output will simply present the first topic in the book, since there is no actual topic to be presented.

I suppose you may consider creating topics that you would then assign to each book. Normally topics like that will provide and overview as well as links to the topics inside.

Cheers... Rick

[Billy_H_]

Thanks Rick, I think I understand (basically) what you are getting at, interesting suggestion.  I will try playing with assigning the topics specifically with the TOC books, and see what happens to the Navigation breadcrumbs.  So far, I've just been using the automatic 'Auto-create TOC' button to generate the Table of Contents.

Thanks for your suggestion, I'll keep you posted.

cheers, Billy

[Billy_H_]

Hi all,

Just an update, I tried Rick's suggestion (assigning a Topic manually to the TOC Book, rather than using the auto-assign feature) and the situation still is the same, it's not fixed. Using the breadcrumbs to navigate back a level will only show the first topic by default in that TOC Book.

I guess I'll just have to make a suggestion to Adobe on their wishlist.

Thanks all.

Billy