How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin?

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Dave Gehman
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How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin?

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

I see how to make the topic background color and text different in certain select topics within H+M, but any difference I might set up in the Project Configuration help topic templates won't be reflected in WebHelp output, because the WebHelp output formatting is controlled by the .hmskin.

Either I'm searching on wrong terms or not understanding what's in front of my nose - but I can't see how to make certain topics in the WebHelp different from the default color and font formatting applied to the primary material.

We want to do this so that Exercises are visually different from the main body of our WebHelp. (In US academic terms, the main body / primary material is equivalent to Lecture, while the exercises are equivalent to Lab/laboratory.)

Is there a way to do this?
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Tim Green
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Re: How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dave,

Setting different backgrounds for individual topics with a pre-designed skin is possible, but quite complicated. Also, you need to be using a skin in which changing the color of the topic header actually makes sense. In some skins trying to change the background color would have negative effects on the entire layout. Changing the text formatting isn't something you can do in the skin at all, since that is topic content. You would just need to use different styles in those specific topics for that.

Which skin are you using, and what kind of specific changes did you want to make in the individual topics?
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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: How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Thanks for the quick reply -- we're using a skin that's 99% WebHelp_SlateGrey.hmskin.

Ideally, we'd like to at least change the topic header font color and background color in 17 Exercise topics. It would be nice to change the background of the topic text as well.
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Tim Green
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Re: How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin

Unread post by Tim Green »

Dave Gehman wrote:Thanks for the quick reply -- we're using a skin that's 99% WebHelp_SlateGrey.hmskin.

Ideally, we'd like to at least change the topic header font color and background color in 17 Exercise topics. It would be nice to change the background of the topic text as well.
I'm afraid that's not possible with those skins. Because of the way dynamic browsing is handled in the V3 skins you never actually change the topic page at all after loading the first page. When you browse to new topics only the content of the topic and the header text is changed, the actual page stays in place. That is why browsing is so fast on those skins. What you are aiming for would only be possible in pages where the entire topic page is really replaced when you browse to a new page, along with all its CSS, JavaScript and other assets.

In this case you can only really make the content within the topic itself look different. If you aren't being visited by phone browsers you can use a table with background color to highlight the content, for example. Don't use tables for phone visitors, however, as tables will break the layout there because they can't adjust to the smaller screens.
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: How to change select topic header backgrounds in .hmskin

Unread post by Dave Gehman »

Ah, I see. And yes, some will be coming to us via smartphone.
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