Category: Help Authoring

1. Choose Tools > Options.
2. On the General tab, select the project you do not want to accidentally open from the Most recently used project area.
3. Click the Delete button (don't worry, clicking the Delete
   button will not delete the project… instead, it will simply remove
   the reference from the recent projects area).

   

4. Click the OK button.

   And just like that, the project that was causing all of the stress will be missing from the recent project list.

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When generating RoboHelp projects, the two most common layouts generated by RoboHelp authors are WebHelp and FlashHelp. Both layouts are cross-platform (accessable by most operating systems including Mac and Windows) and can be used by a vast majority of the world's computers.

WebHelp is a great choice for producing cross-browser, cross-platform Help systems. FlashHelp takes the concept of WebHelp to the next level by employing the prowess of Flash to provide visually stunning Help systems. FlashHelp projects will display correctly across all browsers and platforms, and Help components, such as toolbars, the TOC, the Index and Search, are animated. And unlike WebHelp output, FlashHelp layouts can appear in a vertical orientation, where the Navigation area is stacked above the Help content to save screen space.

Which layout should you generate? Having considered both, I much prefer FlashHelp. Why? Simply put, I think FlashHelp looks really cool. But that's just one Help author's opinion. Having cast my vote for FlashHelp, I'm betting you are licking your chops and will elect FlashHelp as well. Not so fast. First, you should at least consider using WebHelp. Why? Read on…

If you choose FlashHelp over WebHelp, your output will not be 508 Compliant. That's a deal-breaker if your organization is required to provide a compliant Help system. On the other hand, WebHelp output is compliant. (Of course, I've had more than one person tell me that that isn't 100% true, a subject for a future article.)

Even more important to the Flash Player issue is your ability to change the way WebHelp and FlashHelp layouts look when generated. While WebHelp can be easily customized using the Skin Editor (included with RoboHelp), you'll need significant skill using Adobe Flash (and the Flash Developer kit) to make changes to the way a FlashHelp skin looks when generated. Given that significant limitation, I think you'll be happier with WebHelp. Of course, Adobe could make this a very tough decision if they one day include a Flash Skin Editor comparable to the WebHelp Skin Editor in RoboHelp. But that is another RoboHelp version (or two, or three) away.

As I've continued to teach my online RoboHelp class to students who attend from all over the world, one recurring issue has been confusion over the following three RoboHelp features: the start page, the project title and the default topic. The three files/names are totally different, having nothing to do with each other, but are commonly confused.

By the time you are finished reading this text, I'm hoping that the confusion is a thing of the past.

The Project Title: The Project Title is determined when you create the project (you type the name into the "Enter the title of this project" field).

You won't come into contact with the Project Title again until you Generate the project. At that point, the Project Title appears in the browser's title bar (and the tab title if the browser supports tabbed browsing).

You can change the Project Title via the General tab on the Project Settings dialog box (Edit > Project Settings). A Project Title can, and should, contain spaces.

The Start Page: The Start Page is a file that is created automatically by RoboHelp when you generate the project. The start page is the frameset that displays the toolbars at the top of the help screen, the navigation panel at the left and the default topic at the right. The Start Page is, in no way, the Default Topic (which is discussed next). Instead, the Start Page is simply the page that gets your whole system to display once it has been called by an application.

The name of the Start Page is typically the same as your project name (which you determine when you first create the project). However, once the project has been created, you can easily change the name of the Start page via the Properties of your layout (on the Single Source Layouts pod) by typing a new name in the Select Output Folder and Start Page field (name.htm). The name of the Start Page can never contain spaces.

The Default Topic: Once the Start Page has done its job and the Help System opens, the Default Topic open and appears at the right side of the Help System. By default, the Default Topic will always be the first topic you created when you first created the project. However, you can easily change the Default topic via the Properties of your layout (on the Single Source Layouts pod).

And there you have it… the Project Title, Start Page and the Default Topic all work together in a generated project. While the Default Topic and Start Page can be changed in the same basic place (the Properties of a layout), I am hoping that any confusion is now a thing of the past.

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RoboHelp allows you to quickly create and use variables. What are variables and how can they help you? Variables can contain information that occurs frequently in your project, such as a product name, company name or copyright notice. After creating the variable, you can insert it into any RoboHelp topic or onto a template by simply dragging and dropping.

Let's say you want to have your company name appear throughout the project. You could accomplish the task the old-fashioned way by typing the company name over and over again. Or you can create a variable called CompanyName, whose definition is your actual company name. After creating the variable, it's a simple matter of dragging the CompanyName variable into any topic.

Now here's the cool part. Assume your company name now appears throughout your project, and now you want to change it. Without the variable, you would have to search your entire project and update the company name. Thanks to variables, all you will need to do is update the definition of the CompanyName variable and you will change the displayed company name project-wide in just a few seconds.

Create a Variable

1. Show the User Defined Variables pod by choosing View > Pods > User Defined Variables.

   By default, the User Defined Variables pod is empty. Let's create a variable that will link text to your corporate Web site.

2. At the top of the User Defined Variables pod, click the Create a new variable button.

   

   The New Variable dialog box appears.

3. Type a name into the Variable Name field (no spaces allowed).
4. Type your company name into the Variable value field.

   

5. Click OK.

   Your unformatted variable text appears in a panel to the right of the variable list. You will add a hyperlink to the variable text next.

   

6. Highlight the variable value (your company name).
7. Right-click the selected text and choose Insert Hyperlink.

   The Hyperlink dialog box appears.

8. Select Web address from the Link to drop-down menu.
9. Type your corporate Web address into the field to the right of http://

   

10. Click OK.
11. Save your work.

Insert a Variable into a Topic

1. Open a topic.
2. Drag your variable from the User Defined Variables pod into your topic.

   The variable value will appear in the topic. The value will be formatted to match the CSS attached to your topic and contains a hyperlink.

3. Drag the variable into more topics.
4. Save your work.

Edit a User Defined Variable value

1. At the right of the User Defined Variables pod, double-click the linked text to your company.

   The Hyperlink properties appear. If the Web address you typed a while ago was incorrect, you could fix it now.

2. Click OK.

   Anywhere you used the variable (two times or 10,000), the value instantly updated. How cool is that?