Hi all
I’m pleased to report that the Adobe RoboHelp developers today issued a long expected and desired patch for RoboHelp 8.
If you have been using RoboHelp 8, click Help > Updates and try to upgrade!
Fellow Adobe Community Expert Peter Grainge has details about the patch on his site at the link below.
Until next time… Rick 
Hi all
Yeah, it’s been a while. Sorry for no post. But I have something good for you!
Adobe is good about purchasing other companies. That’s how I became affiliated with them. One such company they purchased was named Serious Magic. (Personally, I think it’s misspelled and should have been called Serious Magick, but that’s the topic for another post.)
Serious Magic produced some way cool tools in the video arena. One of the tools is known as Visual Communicator. (VC)
Click here to visit the Adobe Visual Communicator page.
This tool does some neat stuff. You can create your own videos in a “newscast” style. Amazing effects are possible right out of the box. Based on the forums for Visual Communicator, you might think there aren’t many folks using it. I’m hopeful the activity there isn’t indicative of the user base.
One of the proponents of VC is a gentleman named Rob Zdrojewski. (Call him Rob Z if you like.) This guy does some cool stuff with VC. He even has some training videos on using VC. Haven’t ponied up yet, but I am planning to.
Anyhoo, if you are into VC, you will be interested in joining his new Google Group to learn more about it!
Until next time… Rick
http://www.TeachMeVC.com
Greetings and salutations!
Yes I’m keenly aware that the blog is in need of updating! Life has a way of getting in the way, no?
Okay, onto the meat of the post. This one will be RoboHelp HTML focused.
When RoboHelp authors create web based output such as WebHelp or FlashHelp, we sometimes find that folks grow extremely confused between the start page and the default topic. This post is intended to provide some insight into this common mystery.
Broken down it’s pretty simple. The Webhelp Start Page is the HTML page that launches your WebHelp system. The Default Topic is quite simply the first topic that is presented to your end user after things load up and settle. Pretty straightforward, huh?
Unfortunately, all too often we find that folks will attempt to name these two HTML pages using the same file name. When that happens, RoboHelp sees a conflict and will rename your Default Topic. The name it changes to usually bears a trailing _1.htm. This happens because it’s quite common for the Default Topic to be stored in the same general location as the WebHelp Start Page. Because as the final configuration you are instructing RoboHelp HTML to name the WebHelp Start Page identically to the Default Topic, something has to give and RoboHelp does its best by renaming the Default Topic and amending all references to it internally. As a best practice, I normally advise folks to consider naming this page index.htm.
This type of naming has benefits. If you have many different help systems it may become cumbersome to determine what the start page is for each one. Things are simplified if all you do is look for index.htm. Additionally, if you are placing the help in a folder on your web server, the URL that opens the help may omit the start page name. This is because it’s a standard Web Server behavior to serve up the index.htm page if a page hasn’t been specified in the link. I like simple things.
On the flip side of things we also see where confusion reigns and folks are unsure which page to link to after they upload the files to the server. And often we find that in this confusion they point a link to the Default Topic. And when this occurs, they are nearly always surprised when they fail to see the nice frameset surrounding their topic. All they see is the miserable Show link in the upper left corner of the page.
Until next time. Remember the Golden Rule. They that have the gold, rule!
I blogged about linking a couple of months ago and advised why certain links fail. Click here to read the earlier post. This post is intended to shed further light on other types of links and offer a method to overcome the issue.
Often Captivate authors desire to insert links that open Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF documents. And almost as often, these types of links fail as well. What’s quite a mystery about all this is the fact that when you are viewing via the web browser, if you observe the address bar of the browser, the path and file name are exactly what they should be to open the document. To deepen the mystery even further, if you but click in the address bar and press enter, the document loads right up. Strange, huh?
I’m not even sure what possessed me to try it or why, but in search of a workaround to this issue I decided to try using a now defunct application called Menubuilder. If you have Captivate 3 or earlier installed on your PC, Menubuilder is there.
Menubuilder was created back in the days when eHelp corporation held the rights to what we now know as Captivate. In those days it was called RoboDemo. eHelp saw a need to present a handful of movies and created this Menubuilder application. It created what you might call a “one slide wonder“. In these situations, all action occurs on what would be a single slide if you did it in Captivate.
What I discovered was that if I created a small Menubuilder output in SWF format and used the Insert > Animation option of Captivate, my links began working without issue!
So if you have Menubuilder at your disposal, here are the steps.
Start Menubuilder – Most likely you will be clicking File > Record/Create > Menubuilder Project…
Once you have done this, you should be greeted with a MenuBuilder dialog. Choose the Blank project option and click OK.
You should now be inside MenuBuilder.
From here we will set the size of the project by clicking Options > Project Options…
The smallest size you are able to define is 320 pixels wide by 200 pixels tall. Configure for this size and click OK.
Click Insert > Clickbox… and insert a Clickbox object.
Type only the file name of the Word or PDF document and ensure you place a check mark in the “Save file with project” check box. Then click OK.
MenuBuilder will likely post what looks like a catastrophic warning at this point. This is because you just typed the file name and you didn’t browse to the file. Ignore the warning and click No.
Now size the Clickbox so it covers the MenuBuilder edit area.
Now click File > Export… and MenuBuilder will prompt you to save the MenuBuilder project file. This is the equivalent of the Captivate .CP file. It really doesn’t matter what you call it or where you save it. But the step must be completed to continue. Click the Save button to continue.
Choose Flash Movie as the type of file and click Next>.
Name the file and choose the location. This step is pretty important. You are creating a SWF that you will be inserting into Captivate to do the linking for you. Name the file something you recognize easily, such as LinkToPDF or LinkToWord. And save in a location you can easily find later. I find the Desktop is a good place for my workflow.
Click Finish and close MenuBuilder. You are now finished using it.
Now inside Captivate, edit the slide you wish to link from and click Insert > Animation… and point at the SWF you created using MenuBuilder.
I have no clue why this works to open a PDF or Word document while the links Captivate creates on its own fail so often. But work it does. And as long as I have a workaround, I’m a happy Captiv8r.
I’m sure this comes off making me sound like we should accept what software companies give us and never complain. Should we have to do this to link properly? Absolutely not! But I’m a realist and recognize that it is what it is. I can grouse about it but all that will do is put me in a bad mood.
What I CAN actually do is to report it to Adobe so they can factor it into the next build. And if enough of us do that, it’s likely we will see action. The likelihood of that happening is directly proportional to the number of Bug Reports they receive on the issue. So if you are reading my little blog, please consider reporting this issue to Adobe. Here, I’ll make it as easy for you as I can.
Okay, I’m in a weird mood. There’s nothing unusual about that, though.
Here where I live they sell some supposedly intelligent food choices in the grocery stores. But I have to seriously question this one!
Looks like this one was a slow learner to me! The “smart” one’s are still walking around and clucking, aren’t they?
Man I hate to eat the remedial students!
Hello all
This post is intended to shed some light on a Captivate phenomenon that is reported time after time after time in the support forums.
Okay, so what am I talking about here?
Normally what happens is the Captivate developer inserts a Button or a Click Box object that is intended to be used to link to a Microsoft Word Document, PDF, Web site or other file. They preview using F4 to preview in Captivate and the links work just dandy. But upon previewing using the web browser or viewing immediately after publishing, the links fall flat and just refuse to work.
What gives?
Like an overprotective parent, the Flash Player is likely blocking the link without your knowledge. Normally when links like this are present Flash will issue a warning alerting you.
Unfortunately (and I’m unsure as to exactly why) this dialog doesn’t always present itself. Instead, the Flash Player lurks on your system and silently blocks the linking, leaving you scratching your head and wondering why the Buttons or Click Boxes aren’t working as they should.
The trick to correcting things is to open the Flash Player Settings panel and pointing at the location where your files exist to mark them as being safe to work with. If you get the dialog above, you may conveniently click the Settings… button to open the Settings Panel. However, if the dialog isn’t being presented, that’s probably a bit of a stretch!
I’ve had a small tutorial on the web for a long time now that has been successful in walking folks through the basic process. While it’s not my proudest work to date, it does seem to get the mission accomplished. You may view it at this link.
Note that fixing things so the links work for a preview may prove to be a bit problematic. This is because when you preview, you are viewing from a temporary location. So it’s best if you can Publish. Then mark the Publish location as being safe.
Since this post first appeared I’ve created a related post. You may view it by clicking this link.
Hello world!
I’m guessing you probably thought I forgot about my blog! No, things just got really busy for me. I’ve been traveling a bit and spreading Captivate and RoboHelp joy across the United States.
So what is this new trick you speak of?
Here’s the deal. During one of the recent classes I was facilitating, one of the participants mentioned something about a specific desktop display setting she should be concerned with. She said that the person advised her to configure it specifically in order to achieve the best Captivate output.
Needless to say this was news to me and I was more than interested.
Mind you I’ve known for years that Windows offered something referred to as “Font Smoothing”. Personally, I don’t like the effect and I regularly turn it off. I suppose this may partially account for why I’ve never noticed it having any effect on the Captivate movies I produce. However, I’ve noticed that when I open PowerPoint and watch the latest “Best pictures of 2008″ PowerPoint that has arrived in my In-Box (which looks suspiciously like the one that had the “Best pictures of 2007″) that upon exiting the presentation PowerPoint ever so helpfully enables the pesky option. So I end up visiting the dialog a LOT to turn the silly feature off!
However, it came as a total shock and surprise to me to discover that this little setting would affect the way Text Captions were rendered in my Captivate movies.
As I so often do, I decided to put it to the test. I wanted something to show and illustrate to future class participants. So that evening in my hotel room I tested and screen captured and tested and screen captured. Below is the result of those tests.
To check or change this setting:
The table below contains images of three different Captivate movies. Below each movie is a magnified image of the text so that you may see the effect.
That’s it for the moment. Hopefully you found this as interesting as I did. You probably didn’t though. I’m pretty much a nerd when it comes to this Captivate and RoboHelp stuff. Folks look at me and their eyes sometimes glaze over when they see how excited I get about it.
Have fun all…
Well here we are a few weeks later and the shiny new Adobe support forums seem to be hummng along quite nicely!
I’m really enjoying (and exploiting) the ability to insert images into forum posts. I know some were wringing their hands about this and didn’t see it as a good thing. But IMNSHO, it is quite good and infinitely helpful.
Unfortunately, as with anything, there is one big ole hickey with the process.
The hickey? The forum users! 
For some reason most of them seem to be missing the fact the image may be inserted inline with the text of the post. Instead, many seem to be using the ability to Attach files.
The problem with this approach is that it causes a couple of issues.
The better approach is to use the little Camera icon just above where you type the thread content.
Using this approach will make the image immediately visible right there inside the thread.
Hopefully this will provide a teensy bit of insight into how some of us forum helpers operate.
Recently I was in Seattle, WA where I assisted Adobe by staffing the vendor booth. These events are always a good time. I get to meet many of you and showcase the amazing new products that Adobe is offering.
One really super cool aspect of this situation is that I get to spend time with some of the fine Adobe folks. This year was no exception. RJ Jacquez was present and demonstrated some wonderful new collaboraton features with the Technical Communication Suite. I also had the pleasure of meeting Dhiren Jani, the new Product Manager for RoboHelp.
I have no recollection of exactly HOW the subject came up, but at one point we began discussing the RoboHelp Start Page. At least that’s what I call it.
I believe everyone I know refers to this as either the RoboHelp Start page or the “RoboHelp Starter”. And that makes total sense. Primarily because in the RoboHelp HTML application, the tab is labeled “Starter”.
Apparently inside Adobe they don’t refer to this page by the same name. The developers refer to it as the “DWS”.
Several things came flooding into my twisted little brain when I heard the term DWS.
Here are just a few:
Now maybe I’m just twisted, but the true meaning of what the Adobe folks call it never came to my mind!
The meaning? Dynamic Welcome Screen.
I believe that all Adobe products are adopting this approach. What remains a mystery is whether all other develpment areas refer to it the same way.
Am I alone in wondering why Adobe would be surprised that I called it what it is labeled?
Hoping your weekend is well…
So here I sit merrily mousing away, working on this and that and suddenly my mouse seems to have become possessed! Doesn’t want to respond with crisp movements. Cursor causing me to curse as it seems to jump all around the screen.
What could it be? Have I fallen prey to a virus attack? My software seems updated. I know I secured my wireless router. Perhaps the battery is becoming weak. But that one normally presents itself in the middle of working on something critical with a nice message from Microsoft advising me: The mouse battery is critically low. Don’t recall seeing that message recently. Hmmm, what a conundrum!
Sometimes I find that I need to remove the USB transceiver from one of the ports on the back of the laptop to one of the ports on the side, very near the mouse. Nope, that trick failed as well. Time to use my favorite F word. FrapDoodle!
So I flip the mouse over and inspect the hole where the light shoots out. Seems okay. I blow into it. Hmmm Further inspection reveals some lint has become accumulated there! After removing the lint the mouse is back in fine working order.
Well, I’m glad I Exorcised my Easter Demons. It’s a good thing too. They were getting kinda flabby!
