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September 8, 2009
Answered

Split in topic?

  • September 8, 2009
  • 2 replies
  • 2820 views

Hi there.

I have been given the task of writing the help files for our companies software.

I have had no experience with this before, but I have heard of Robohelp, and I decided to give it a try so I'm currently in the 30 day trial.

I just wondered, is there any really quick way to have a split in the topic so that the title stays at the top of the topic all of the time while the user can scroll down the content? I'd also maybe want to give it a different backgroud colour too.

Thanks

Craig

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Captiv8r

    Hi again

    What you seem to be asking how to achieve is something we help authors knew as a "Non-scrolling Region" back in the WinHelp days.

    There are essentially two ways to achieve the same thing in the HTML world.

    Use a Frameset - You define a frame with one topic as the header and another as the body segment. The frameset pulls the two together. Sorta kludgy to implement and maintain.

    Use CSS. With CSS you define areas in the topic an use something called an "Overflow" attribute. Fellow Adobe Community Expert Roger Nilsson has some information on this at the link below.

    Click here to view

    Cheers... Rick

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    2 replies

    September 8, 2009

    As you're starting from scratch anyway I'd suggest using ordinary topics and keeping things as simple as possible. If a topic gets too long then maybe you should be creating another topic.

    Willam van Weelden
    Inspiring
    September 8, 2009

    Hi,

    To keep thing simple, don't use the non-scrollable region and don't use a frameset for this. The frameset is way to much work and the non-scrollable region is an ugly fix for Internet Explorers crappyness. It was the only solution, just don't use it anymore as it won't work for 'good' browsers such as Firefox.

    To achieve the effect you want, pick an element you want to stay at the top of your page, say Heading 1. In your css, use the following code to fix it to a specific element (such as H1 for Heading 1):

    position: fixed;

    top: 0px;

    left: 1px;

    width: 99%;

    This wil fix the element to 0px from the top of the topic and 1px from the left of the topic. The element will stretch 99% of the width of the topic. You can easily change the values to suit your needs. This will also make your style easily changable. Just add css styling to the element and you're all set up. It even works in the RoboHelp HTML 8 preview and won't pose problems for the WYSIWYG editor. -- One note for all Robo7 users: This will only work with Robo8, not Robo7, due to a feature in IE called quirks mode... It will work for Firefox but not for IE 8 and under ...-- Things like that really make me hate

    IE.

    Greet,

    Willam

    September 9, 2009

    Hi,

    You'd have to test that, but my guess is that it will work. I'm not a HTML help addict, but as far as I know, HTML help uses (elements of) Internet Explorer for rendering. A HTML help guru will probably know how it better than me though.

    HTML help is just a bunch of files bundled in one package. It uses xhtml and style sheets like webhelp, so any style in your style sheet should work the same in HTML help as in WebHelp or a regular HTML file.

    Greet,

    Willam


    Hi William.

    Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the post. I have tried this in the HTML output but it isn't staying fixed at the top.

    It looks ok in the WebHelp output, but I have a feeling we will be using the Microsoft HTML Output for our product, and it doesn't seem to want to stay fixed.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks again,

    Craig

    Captiv8r
    Legend
    September 8, 2009

    Hi Craig

    It depends on what you are using. You might hear that and say "I'm using RoboHelp! I said so!".

    Please read the thread below:

    Click here to read

    Cheers... Rick

    Helpful and Handy Links

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    September 8, 2009

    Hi Rick,

    Sorry about that.

    I am using RoboHelp HTML Version 8.

    Thanks,

    Craig

    Captiv8r
    Captiv8rCorrect answer
    Legend
    September 8, 2009

    Hi again

    What you seem to be asking how to achieve is something we help authors knew as a "Non-scrolling Region" back in the WinHelp days.

    There are essentially two ways to achieve the same thing in the HTML world.

    Use a Frameset - You define a frame with one topic as the header and another as the body segment. The frameset pulls the two together. Sorta kludgy to implement and maintain.

    Use CSS. With CSS you define areas in the topic an use something called an "Overflow" attribute. Fellow Adobe Community Expert Roger Nilsson has some information on this at the link below.

    Click here to view

    Cheers... Rick

    Helpful and Handy Links

    RoboHelp Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form

    Begin learning RoboHelp HTML 7 or 8 within the day - $24.95!

    Adobe Certified RoboHelp HTML Training

    SorcerStone Blog

    RoboHelp eBooks