Default text in skin header

[Steve Schapel]

Hi. I am a fairly new user. Which I suppose will be apparent from my basic question - I feel like I am missing something I shouldn't miss!

I am publishing my project to WebHelp format. I am using this skin: Integrated IFrames with Header - Green. I have changed the baggage files as per help, and all is well, except ...

On the header there is text like this: "After opening the skin, go to Configuration > Publishing Options > Webhelp > Layout to customise thus frame page ..."

I can't find where this text is so that I can remove or change it. Well, after publishing I can edit the index.html file, which solves the immediate problem, but obviously I don't want to have to do this every time I do an update.

Thanks for any advice.

[Tim Green]

Hi Steve,

Welcome to the forum!

You can edit this text by editing the skin itself. A skin is a special kind of HM project without topics. When you select it, the HTML templates and settings groups it contains replace those in your project, and the ones in the project are ignored. So you need to make the changes the skin.

You can edit a skin just like a normal HM project file and everything is in the same place as in a project. First you need to make a copy of the .hmskin file in your project folder for editing. The original skins provided with HM are stored in the /Templates/HTML Skins folder in the HM program directory, and Windows will not let you edit there. We store them there to make sure you always have unedited copies of the original skins.

To open the working copy of your skin, select .hmskin as the file type in the Open dialog for HM projects. You will then find all the templates and settings in the skin in the Project Explorer on the left in the HM window. Some skins also contain baggage files in the Topic Files > Baggage Files section. These are files that are exported with your project.

The texts you are looking for can be found in the main index.hml page template, which is in Configuration > Publishing Options > WebHelp > Layout.

IMPORTANT WARNING: Never try to switch to the "Simple" tab when editing skin templates! This would delete the custom code in the skin and replace it with a standard template. You will be warned if you try this and if you ignore the warning the skin will be unusable.

Note that all the settings and files that you can see in the skin have priority over those in your project. If there are any matching settings and/or files in your project they will be replaced by those in the skin when you publish with the skin.