Underlines not Updating in Published Versions

Please post all questions and comments regarding Help & Manual 7 here.

Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green

Post Reply
Sean Godley
Posts: 92
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:10 am

Underlines not Updating in Published Versions

Unread post by Sean Godley »

Hi all,

I have an issue with links and other underlines not updating in the published versions of my manuals. For instance, I went through all of my documentation and removed the underlines from links. However, when I publish to Webhelp, the underlines are still there, despite the text not being defined as underlines in the Help and Manual project. Is this a known bug, and how should I fix it? I wanted to remove all underlines from my manuals as they display very badly in certain browsers.

Thanks,

Sean
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Underlines not Updating in Published Versions

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Sean,

There isn't enough information here to be able to answer your questions, but it is definitely not a bug. We need to know what your output format is (PDF, CHM, WebHelp etc.) and how exactly you are "removing the underlines". The method you are using to remove them is probably the cause of the issue.

Note that in PDF active links and underlines are defined in Configuration > Publishing Options > PDF > PDF Layout, not only by the formatting of your links in the topics. In WebHelp and CHM how the links behave depends on the CSS formatting in the skin you are using for your output, in addition to whether you are activating simple link formatting mode or not when defining the links.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Sean Godley
Posts: 92
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2016 6:10 am

Re: Underlines not Updating in Published Versions

Unread post by Sean Godley »

Hi Tim, thanks for the quick reply.

I am simply highlighting the links and then clicking the "Underline" option that is displayed in the 'Write' tab within Help and Manual - and it goes from being enabled to being disabled. The underline is still visible in the text though, and still present when I publish it to Webhelp. Is there a fast way to update all links in the documentation using styles or something like that? If not, is there an effective way to do what I am trying to do?

Thanks,

Sean
User avatar
Tim Green
Site Admin
Posts: 23156
Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
Location: Bruehl, Germany
Contact:

Re: Underlines not Updating in Published Versions

Unread post by Tim Green »

Sean Godley wrote: Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:46 pm I am simply highlighting the links and then clicking the "Underline" option that is displayed in the 'Write' tab within Help and Manual
You can't control the underlines of hyperlinks like that without switching off their link attribute because they are not normal text. Particularly not when they are active hyperlinks in HTML, because then their appearance and behavior is determined by a set of CSS definitions for each of their states (passive, mouseover, click, visited). In addition to this most skins also have a separate set of CSS definitions for each link type (topic links, file links, internet links, script links, popup links).
The underline is still visible in the text though, and still present when I publish it to Webhelp.
You need to double-click on the link and change its mode from "Link" to "Text" in the Insert Link dialog. That will display the link as plain text that you can then "format" in the topic editor as you have been doing. That will apply inline formatting to the links that will override the CSS formatting applied by the skin. That is not recommended, however, because then you lose dynamic formatting for the links. For example, you will no longer have the ability to have the link become underlined or a different color only when the mouse pointer is over the link.

It is generally better to leave the links formatted as "Link" and NOT apply any manual formatting to them. Then you can control their formatting entirely with the CSS in the skin. If you let me know which skin you are using I can tell you how to find the CSS for it, which looks like this:

Code: Select all

/* Hyperlink colors and behaviors */
a.topiclink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.topiclink:visited {color: blue;}
a.topiclink:hover {color: blue; }
a.weblink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.weblink:visited {color: blue;}
a.weblink:hover {color: blue; }
a.popuplink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.popuplink:visited {color: blue;}
a.popuplink:hover {color: blue; }
a.filelink {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.filelink:visited {color: blue;}
a.filelink:hover {color: blue; }
a.scriptlink{color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.scriptlink:visited {color: blue;}
a.scriptlink:hover {color: blue;}
a.inline-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.inline-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.inline-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
a.dropdown-toggle {color: blue; text-decoration: underline;}
a.dropdown-toggle:visited {color: blue;}
a.dropdown-toggle:hover {color: blue; }
Is there a fast way to update all links in the documentation using styles or something like that? If not, is there an effective way to do what I am trying to do?
Not with styles or in any other way globally within Help+Manual. You would need to do a search and replace on the XML source of your topics with an editor or grep tool that has multi-file search and replace abilities.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Post Reply