WebHelp Table Cell Padding

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Rainer Oehry
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WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Rainer Oehry »

(Probably a question that has been asked before, but I did not find a solution:)

When exporting tables in a WebHelp project, everyting works fine — borders, colors etc. —, just not the cell padding, the content always start right at the border of the cells. (I also tried to export as a PDF, just to see whether it works there, and it works as it should, so my table settings should be okay …)

I tried it with several WebHelp skins, but to no avail.

Is this supposed to work at all in WebHelp format? What do I do wrong?
Regards,

Rainer
Head of Technical Writing & Knowledge Management
TIG Technische Informationssysteme GmbH, Rankweil, Austria
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Tim Green
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Re: WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Rainer,

You may be running into issues with the recent change from inline CSS to stylesheet CSS for tables, which was requested by many users but is still being fine-tuned. Please try the current stable beta and see if it helps you:

https://www.helpandmanual.com/download/ ... p-v740.exe

If you still have problems, please mail me a small demo project with a couple of sample tables at support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) and we'll get onto it right away.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Rainer Oehry
Posts: 102
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2017 12:47 pm

Re: WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Rainer Oehry »

Hi Tim,

what I have found out when using 740:

When I create a table, the Default style is applied, and the export works as expected in WebHelp.

When I apply a custom style that sets cell borders, cell padding and "fit to page", it is reflected in the editor and applied correctly in PDF output, but ignored in WebHelp output — the table is exported in some internal default minimum style, NOT the Default table style.

When I remove the custom style (selecting the top "empty" table style, not the Default style), the table does not change in the editor, and the it is exported correctly in WebHelp.

If I do not change the custom style, but change the "fit to page" to any of the other two options and then change it back immediately, even without saving in between, the I get the "Apply table style changes" confirmation popup, where I choose "Don’t reset", and then the "fit to page" is applied correctly in WebHelp output (the cell settings are still ignored).

The same happens when changing the cell border or cell padding settings "back and forth" — once they have been "touched", they are applied in WebHelp output.

When I save a topic with a table that has a custom table style applied, and load it in another project, all settings are lost, the table has no style applied and is opened in the same internal default style, NOT the default table style of that project.
A table that had no style applied when the topic was saved is opened without a style, too, but looks exactly as in the "source" project, and all settings are respected in WebHelp output.

It is not that much of a problem, because it is possible to avoid the unwanted behaviour and force the output to be as it should, but it still seems odd and inconsistent.

I wonder whether you can reproduce it …
Regards,

Rainer
Head of Technical Writing & Knowledge Management
TIG Technische Informationssysteme GmbH, Rankweil, Austria
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Tim Green
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Re: WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Rainer,
When I apply a custom style that sets cell borders, cell padding and "fit to page", it is reflected in the editor and applied correctly in PDF output, but ignored in WebHelp output — the table is exported in some internal default minimum style, NOT the Default table style.
We can't reproduce this. Please mail me a small demo project at support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) and I'll have a look at it. Before doing this, please try publishing with an unedited skin from the Help+Manual program directory (\Templates\HTML Skins).
When I save a topic with a table that has a custom table style applied, and load it in another project, all settings are lost,
That is normal, because it is being formatted with a style and that style doesn't exist in the other project. If a table style with that name is used in the other project then it will be applied. The same will happen if the table style is stored in a style repository that is linked to both projects.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Paul Gilman
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Location: Portland, Oregon, USA

Re: WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Paul Gilman »

I am seeing similar behavior, but only when I customize the Default style and then apply it to a table.

If I apply a different style that is either a child of the Default style or not based on the Default style, it is applied correctly in WebHelp.

Thanks,
Paul.
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Tim Green
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Re: WebHelp Table Cell Padding

Unread post by Tim Green »

Paul Gilman wrote:I am seeing similar behavior, but only when I customize the Default style and then apply it to a table.
It would be helpful if you could create a small demo project with just one or two topics illustrating this. Please then mail it to support AT ec-software.com (replace the AT with @) so that we can test it directly.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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