HTML Help - Tips

HTML Help Tips & Tricks

Topic status automatically displays here - do not remove.

Bookmark me!Bookmark this topic  Print me!Print this topic

Some strange behaviour has been noticed when attempting to create jumps between HTML helps. In particular, some jumps don't work as expected. See Jumping to bookmarks within other helps.

Under certain circumstances, the index of a compiled HTML help will display bizarre or unexpected behaviour, and the only explanation is that HTML help has a bug.  See Indexing problems.

The HTML help standard tripane viewer adopts the background colours of the current settings of the Windows system, however, some HTML Help background elements can indeed be changed by design. See Changing the background colour of the HTML Help viewer.

Back to Top

Jumping to bookmarks within other helps

Do not create bookmarks which contain spaces in their name as HTML help does not appear to recognise them.

The scenario is:

When linking to bookmarks within topics within external HTML helps, by using the ms-its protocol, HTML help doesn't appear to recognise the bookmark (if it contains a space character in the bookmark name).

xyzExample

Back to Top

Indexing problems

Indexing can cause concerns at the best of times, however, when you add an HTML Help bug into the picture, it makes the matter worse.

 

Back to Top

Duplicated primary index entries

Do not create duplicate primary index entries as HTML help does not appear to recognise the one in the index file resulting in the improper display of the HHK index primary entry as a jump to the first topic of the project topic file list.

The scenario is:

If the primary index entry displays multiple destinations, something's wrong. By design, our HTML help primary index entries (which have no children) should jump to only one destination topic, and those HTML help primary index entries (which do have children) should not jump to a topic and should display a popup message to select one of the children entries. The primary index entry (which has children entries) displays an alternative dialog prompting the user to select one of the listed entries for the primary entry (not one of the children entries). This primary entry in the HHK index file displays in the popup selection list as a jump to the first topic of the project topic file list for the HTML help project.

This situation occurs when you happen to have a primary entry for an index in the HHK index file for the help, AND an identical primary index entry for the index in the topic, AND you auto-index by creating the index from keywords during compile, then the index will not work as expected.

The solution is to remove one of the primary entries, either from the HHK index file or from the topic as appropriate.

Back to Top

Changing the background colour of the HTML Help viewer

The color of the standard tri-pane HTML help viewer frameset is determined by the system colors of the user's computer, and HHW does not permit the help author to change it directly. You can, however, define the background color of a help topic using a suitable style in the topic itself or in a linked stylesheet; and you can also define the background color of the TOC using the Contents properties styles tab (although if you do, you'll have to forego the use of the plus-minus box and connecting lines, as their backgrounds are the default white).

There does not appear to be a way in HHW to set the background color of the index, search or favorites navigation pages. If you must, it appears that you can create you own custom frameset for the HTML help viewer and add the HTML ActiveX object to provide navigation. That should provide you with control over the frameset colouring, however, you're still stuck with the HTML Help object parameters and its color limitations.

Back to Top

See Also

Jump to site home page Lotech Solutions' Tips, Tricks, and Procedures

Back to Top