For me, an absolute gamechanger would be something in H+M that allows me to have one version of an image, but be able to annotate it in multiple ways depending on the topic - a bit like the current hotspot feature, but on steroids. Something like these examples of using open source image annotation tools
http://bashooka.com/coding/jquery-image ... n-plugins/
No more editing an image in SnagIt and saving multiple copies with annotations, and then when the ever so lovely developers decide to change something at the last minute, having to recreate all these screenshots...
Imagine if in addition to single source text content we could single source the image content too!!!
A boy can dream!
Image Annotation Holy Grail
Moderators: Alexander Halser, Tim Green
Image Annotation Holy Grail
David Scott
Documentation Infrastructure Consultant
https://www.sourceone.co.nz
SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
Documentation Infrastructure Consultant
https://www.sourceone.co.nz
SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
- Tim Green
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23186
- Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
- Location: Bruehl, Germany
- Contact:
Re: Image Annotation Holy Grail
This already exists in Help+Manual.itexnz wrote:A boy can dream!
All you need to do is create your images in Impict, save them in Impict's IPP format and activate the option to store the texts in a separate linked XML file. Then you can edit or translate the text in the image without even opening the image (provided the new text fits...) by editing the text in the XML file. In addition to this, saving your images as IPP reduces the need to redo your screenshots for other reasons, since all the objects are stored on separate layers, in the same way as in Photoshop. For example, if a dialog changes you just need to replace the screenshot of the dialog itself in the image, you don't need to redo any callouts, shapes etc.
You can insert IPP images directly in Help+Manual or keep them as an editing version and use Impict's Export feature to update the versions used in your project when you make changes.
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.
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)
Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
Re: Image Annotation Holy Grail
Had little play ... almost what I wish for... but I can't see how a single .ipp file could have annotations in different places and text - e.g. consider:
H+M Topic1 (shows screenshot with annotations on a particular buttons or fields)
H+M Topic2 (shows the same screenshot but with annotations on different buttons or fields)
etc, etc.
It's kind of like I need alternative ipp.xml files that can be specified when an ipp image is inserted into the topic - e.g.
topic1 - insert screenshot.ipp but use screenshot.ipp.A.xml
topic2 - insert screenshot.ipp but use screenshot.ipp.B.xml
(and the xml file would need to be able to specify where the annotation is located, not just the text)
H+M Topic1 (shows screenshot with annotations on a particular buttons or fields)
H+M Topic2 (shows the same screenshot but with annotations on different buttons or fields)
etc, etc.
It's kind of like I need alternative ipp.xml files that can be specified when an ipp image is inserted into the topic - e.g.
topic1 - insert screenshot.ipp but use screenshot.ipp.A.xml
topic2 - insert screenshot.ipp but use screenshot.ipp.B.xml
(and the xml file would need to be able to specify where the annotation is located, not just the text)
David Scott
Documentation Infrastructure Consultant
https://www.sourceone.co.nz
SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
Documentation Infrastructure Consultant
https://www.sourceone.co.nz
SourceOne. Documentation, engineered.
- Tim Green
- Site Admin
- Posts: 23186
- Joined: Mon Jun 24, 2002 9:11 am
- Location: Bruehl, Germany
- Contact:
Re: Image Annotation Holy Grail
No, you can't have different versions for the same file, sorry. That's not what this feature is for. It's designed to enable easy editing and translation, not conditional output.
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.
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)
Private support:
Please do not email or PM me with private support requests -- post to the forum directly.
- Martin Wynne
- Posts: 2656
- Joined: Mon May 12, 2003 3:21 pm
- Location: West of the Severn, UK
Re: Image Annotation Holy Grail
Hi,
An alternative approach which you might like to experiment is to use your Impict image as a table background. See this old topic: https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 638#p20638
One detail not mentioned there is that for HTML-based outputs it's a good idea to set table-layout:fixed in the CSS for the table. This prevents the usual HTML re-sizing of cells if the content doesn't quite fit.
regards,
Martin.
An alternative approach which you might like to experiment is to use your Impict image as a table background. See this old topic: https://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewto ... 638#p20638
One detail not mentioned there is that for HTML-based outputs it's a good idea to set table-layout:fixed in the CSS for the table. This prevents the usual HTML re-sizing of cells if the content doesn't quite fit.
regards,
Martin.