One of the three most common features of any help
system is the Table of Contents (the Index and Search features are the others).
However, even while most Help Authors take the time to create a detailed and
seemingly helpful TOC, most Help System customers will not look to the TOC first
when they are trying to get help. Instead, customers they will typically look to
Search the Help System or use the Index.
Why don't Help customers look
to the TOC first when looking for Help? As helpful as the TOC might seem to a
Help author, the TOC is typically laid out in a logical order that's only
logical to the person who created the TOC.
If customers saw the topic
they were looking for on the TOC, there's a good chance they would click the
topic on the TOC and open the topic. The problem is that a typical TOC might be
made up of books inside of books inside of books. There is simply very little
chance that the topic in question is open for the customer to
click.
RoboHelp's Synchronize Table of
Contents feature will automatically show where a topic is located on the
TOC while customers use the Index or Search feature to get help.
On the
Single Source Layouts pod, show the Properties of either FlashHelp or WebHelp.
Click the Next button and select Synchronize Table of Contents and then select
Automatically from the drop-down menu at
the right.
Generate and view your project. Use either Search or
the Index to find a topic that is on the TOC. The topic will be highlighted on
the Table of Contents. Believe it or not, the more your customers see the topic
on the TOC, the more likely it will be that they will use the TOC to find and
open the topic in the future.
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