Adobe AIR Help Templates and Skins
What's covered?AIR help is a new form of help from Adobe using .AIR technology.
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The Templates and Skins
The features and appearance depend on the template and skin that you choose. At the moment there are three templates, Classic Help, UniPane and Accordion.
You get different features with each template so you can give your users whatever you deem best for their needs. Within each template there are features that can be turned on or off as you choose. The templates also have different skins that alter the appearance. RoboHelp 9 has an AIR skin editor so that you can customise the skin to match your corporate branding.
- Click here for Ankur Jain's blog incorporating John Daigle's concise video showing the editor.
- Click here here for R Jacquez' video with detailed instructions.
The features within each template are covered in RoboHelp's online help repeated below. Search for Template for the Help Application to see the original.
The Classic Help Template
Don't be misled by the name. It is far from being the way help always worked. It is Classic in the sense of being tri-pane, but it is tri-pane with a turbo!
Here I have adjusted the screen proportions to show what is available.
- The familiar features such as Contents, Index, Glossary and Search are now tabs rather than buttons.
- Users can open multiple topics in different tabs.
- How many users knew what a Browse Sequence was? They understood the CHM toolbar sequence but probably didn't know it as a browse sequence. It is also clear from forum posts that many authors think the webhelp browse sequence buttons are the same as a browser's Back and Forward buttons. If authors are confused about them, it is time for a new name. Note the "How Do I" tab, it is the browse sequence but how much more intuitive. It is much better for creating a series of steps the user should follow.
- RoboHelp 9 adds the option for users to rate topics. Note the stars above the topic.
The Multi Tab Accordion Template
The UniPane Template
Zoom
Note the magnification slider above (bottom right). The screenshot below shows the sharpness at 135%. At 200% the letter E in Experience Bank took up the height of my screen and it was just as sharp. I haven't seen such effective magnification anywhere else.
Take it down to 50% and it is still completely legible. (I have had to shrink this screenshot so that it fits the printed version. Note it is still clear!)
The LNG file
The LNG file accessed from Project Settings allows you to change the text you see in the templates. You could change the How Do I tab to Procedures or whatever you prefer.
Comments
This section describes the Comments pod in RoboHelp 9. Click here if you are using RoboHelp 8.
Comment Pod in RoboHelp 8The comments icon opens the comment pod below the topic.
Clicking Add displays an area to enter a comment related to the current topic. Clicking Add Comments saves the comment.
Then the Comments show by username.
Show enables the user to view just their comments, just the comments for the displayed topic or all comments. There is also a method for Reviewers to use this functionality. Sort is by author, date or topic. Import / Export enables users to share their comments with users on other networks. Sync Enables users to synchronise with the comments on the server. |
Comment Pod in RoboHelp 9
The comments icon opens the comment pod below the topic.
Icons
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Displays the area for entering a comment related to the current topic. |
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The dropdown allows the user to select whose comments they want to view. |
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The options are to view all comments or just the comments for the current topic. |
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Send and Receive comments to a file or to a network location. |
Your own viewer
Your developers can create your own viewer and use that instead of the supplied templates. That could be used to launch more than one help application.
Date |
Changes to this page |
| 04 May 2011 | Added link to Ankur Jain's blog with John Daigle's video. |
05 Apr 2011 |
Updated to cover RoboHelp 9. |
26 March 2011 |
What's covered amended to included RoboHelp 9 link. Note re planned update added. |
20 Oct 2009 |
New Topic |