Suppressing borders, Modern_Standard_Very_Plain_Webhelp

[Dave Gehman]

As I move my WebHelp to a new skin, I'm having trouble finding where I can eliminate the borders that are very crudely circled below:


The skin:
Modern_Standard_Very_Plain_Webhelp

In other words, I'd like it even plainer...

[Dave Gehman]

I've explored the hmwebhelp.main.desktop.css baggage file for copy of Modern_Standard_Very_Plain_WebHelp that I'm working on. I can see that it contains what looks to be a variable for the color of the lines, %NAVTABS_BORDERCOLOR%. I have a feeling that I can hide these borders by setting NAVTABS_BORDERCOLORS" to #FFFFFF (white).

in PPT, the Variables button doesn't list NAVTABS_BORDERCOLOR.

Where might I find where to specify the color?

...Or is there a better way?
....For example, a way to turn off the borders altogether, which I am guessing are part of the elements' frame attributes.

ALSO - having opened the hmwebhelp_main_desktop., hmwebhelp_index_desktop and hmwelb_toc_desktop CSS files from PPT via the right-click "Edit Baggage File", looked through them, changed nothing, then closed them (in Notepad++), the grid value for each in Baggage Files has turned red -- the red alert that tells me these files have changed. I made no changes in these files.

I've left PPT open awaiting your direction as to what to do about the non-changed changes, that is, whether to save them (and where or how), or just quit PPT and just click on "OK" when I see the alert, "You have unsaved changes in the project. Close without saving?"

EDIT 4 hours later: well, Windows forced a reboot while I was at dinner, so PPT in the changed state got blown away. Luckily, if the skin is goobered, it was a copy and I can start over by making another copy of the H+M supplied template.

Long ago, I grew to hate forced WIndows 10 reboots.

[Tim Green]

In PPT, the Variables button doesn't list NAVTABS_BORDERCOLOR.

This color is actually only the color of the border around the tabs at the top of the navigation pane. You can find the variable for it in the TOC, Index & Search Tabs variables group. Set the filter dropdown selector to "Color Settings" for easier access.

The main border color is in the General Layout group and is the variable GENERAL_BORDERCOLOR. If you want to hide borders it's best to set transparent rather than white. In this skin its the first color in the Current Color Scheme pallet at the bottom of the color picker (the one with the checkered background).

the grid value for each in Baggage Files has turned red -- the red alert that tells me these files have changed. I made no changes in these files.

Yes, that's something I need to look into. Some new change in a recent Windows update is having this effect sometimes when the files are opened without being changed. Just save to close, it won't cause any problems.

[Dave Gehman]

I had forgotten to check for possible dropdown selections...

In this skin, I'm thinking that GENERAL_BORDERCOLOR is designated NAVTABS_BORDERCOLOR ("N_B"). My only options are NAVTABS_ACTIVECOLOR, NAVTABS_COLOR, NAVTABS_BGCOLOR and N_B.

EDIT: well, no, there is a General Layout selection in the dropdown, where GENERAL_BORDERCOLOR lives.. /EDIT

When I right-clicked N_B and selected Edit Variable Setting, no magical edit dialog or capability seemed to appear, so I tried double-click. That brought the Setting cell active. However, there was no color picker, and I didn't find one under either the Edit > Variables or Tools menus.... oh, wait, I found it when I did as told and set the filter dropdown to Color Settings.

EDIT: also had to set IDXDROPDOWN_BORDERCOLOR to transparent as well /EDIT

Maybe some day I'll learn to do as I'm told...

Thanks once again...

[Tim Green]

the grid value for each in Baggage Files has turned red -- the red alert that tells me these files have changed. I made no changes in these files.

Have you updated to Windows 10 build 2004? It appears to be a result of a new bug in Windows in that build, but it would be helpful if you could confirm that that's what you're using.

[Dave Gehman]

It's Version 2004, build 19041.572

[Tim Green]

It's Version 2004, build 19041.572

Thanks. There appears to be a problem there with the file watcher function being used to monitor the extracted edited files. It's firing a "changed" event when the file is created, which isn't supposed to happen and isn't happening in earlier Windows builds. I'll have to see how we can work around that without causing other errors.

For the time being just click on the Save button to clear the highlighted files. After that it will work fine.