Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help file

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Dave Gehman
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help file

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Came up blank on a search for this...

The help file with HM7 has nifty graphics with overlayed text at the beginning of a number of chapters (e.g., "Welcome to Help+Manual" with the logo; "What's new in Version 7" with text on blurry ?newspaper photo?, etc.)

The sample Helpman.hmxp doesn't seem to contain these attractive headers/topic graphics.

How are they done in HM7?
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Tim Green
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Re: Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help fil

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dave,

These are the "featured images" that you can define for topics in the Topic Options tab. They only work in skins that support them. Currently these are some of the CHM skins included with Help+Manual and the V3 skins for both WebHelp and EWriter included in the current Premium Pack add-on.

You can learn about them in the help here:

http://www.helpandmanual.com/help/index ... images.htm

This is the relevant topic in the Premium Pack help for V3 WebHelp skins (the EWriter skins work the same way):

http://www.it-authoring.com/info/pp3hel ... tured.html
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dave Gehman
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Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 9:05 pm

Re: Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help fil

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Thanks.

So, there's no way (safe for mental health) to make these work in WebHelp other than to purchase the Premium Pack add-on? What about unsafe for mental health methods: direct editing of the html output in WebHelp?

[HM7 Help file possible issue - searching on the Index tab for the keywords "featured images" brings up only the "What's new" and "Tutorial Projects and Templates" material on the featured images. The relevant section under More Advanced...>HTML output... ("Featured Images for Chapter Titles") for some reason doesn't show in the Index. ]
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Tim Green
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Re: Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help fil

Unread post by Tim Green »

Dave Gehman wrote:So, there's no way (safe for mental health) to make these work in WebHelp other than to purchase the Premium Pack add-on? What about unsafe for mental health methods: direct editing of the html output in WebHelp?
You don't need to edit the HTML output, just the HTML template in the skin you are using following the instructions in the help topic. I would be the first to admit that it might be a little tricky, however...

On their own the featured images and the description are just an image and a text associated with the topic, nothing more. Making them work like that requires additional coding, that is the issue.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dave Gehman
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Re: Topic text overlay + graphic a la Help & Manual help fil

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Again, thanks very much
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