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, 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. 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.
The Multi Tab Accordion Template
The UniPane Template
This is a Vista lookalike.
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!)
Comments
The comments icon opens the comments panel 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.
Your own templates and skins
You can create your own browser and use that instead of the supplied templates, this can be used to launch more than one help application. To produce your own themes and skins you will need the services of a Flash Developer.
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Changes to this page |
| 20 Oct 2009 | New Topic |