Tips and Tricks
On this page, I'm going to share tips and tricks for working with Madcap Flare, Adobe RoboHelp, and Adobe Captivate. If you have questions or suggestions, please send me an e-mail (rob@userassistance.com).
Flare Tips
Adding print and close buttons to your popups - This tip shows you how to add print and close links to your popup windows using master pages. You could add any kind of Javascript functionality using this method. It's also a good example of how to use master pages for recurring content. Added July/August 2007
Removing or changing the image that precedes a drop-down link - The Flare tip for this month shows you how to change (or remove) the image that precedes a drop-down link. The tip is in a Flare WebHelp project, which also demonstrates a few ways to use drop-downs to layer content. Notice that drop-downs can be used to shorten overviews/introductions, to show/hide screen shots, and to provide additional details about how to do something in a procedure. Added June 2007
Controlling the look-and-feel of topic popups - Learn how to change the background color of a popup topic using master pages. Also, learn how to assign different master pages to topics using your stylesheet (creating a class of the html tag). Added May 2007
Creating breadcrumbs with links - Find out how to make sure your breadcrumbs have links to give the users another way to navigate a help system. From 2006
Changing the order of the accordion tabs - Learn how to reorder the accordion tabs in WebHelp and DotNetHelp by editing the skins. From November 2006
Using multiple master pages in a help target - Learn how to use more than one master page in a single target. From November 2006
Creating a project template - Learn how to create a Flare template for an entire project. From May 2006
How Flare ranks search results - Gain insight into the way Flare ranks topics so you can ensure that your topics give your users the optimal search results. From 2006
RoboHelp Tips
Linking to external files - The RoboHelp tip this month is about linking to external files, including the use of baggage files to bundle external files with the help project. You don't always have to import content that others are maintaining in formats other than HTML files; sometimes you can just link to them. As I discuss in the tip, using the RoboHelp Server even allows your users to search the contents of external files (DOC, XLS, PPT, and PDF) through the regular Search tab. Added June 2007
Using reusable text with variables - Although it's a basic form of reusable text, you can use variables to create reusable blocks of text up to 255 characters long. Variables inherit the styles of the tags where you place them. Added May 2007
Captivate Tips
Linking to PDF and other external files from Captivate - The Captivate tip this month shows you how to link to a PDF file (or any external document). I've gotten a couple of e-mails about linking to external files this month. In a nutshell, the trick is to put the external file on a webserver (it doesn't have to be the same one that contains your Captivate movies), then you create a button or click box that links to the URL for the file. Added June 2007
Making a Zoom Area zoom out and back in again - Find out how to make the Zoom Area feature zoom in after zomming out. Unfortunately, Adobe didn't make this as simple as selecting a checkbox, but this workaround isn't very hard to create and it shows off a cool feature of the Zoom Area--the ability to insert images into the zoom area destination. Added May 2007
Copyright 2007. User Assistance Group, Inc. All rights reserved.