How would you format this?

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navoff
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How would you format this?

Post by navoff »

We have this project that was imported from Robohelp. This document is delivered as both online help and as a PDF file. Some of the topics include references to other topics and were originally coded as ordinary hyperlinks (in many instances in the document, the content was written as if the only audience were those using the online help). Currently, the default setting for hyperlinks is the blue, underlined text. The nice thing about that is that in a PDF file, just like online help, it tells the user, "Hey!I'm a hyperlink. Click me to go to this link."

In some cases, however, the user may be operating from a printed copy in which case, the hyperlink is useless as a tool. In most cases, I've tried re-wording paragraphs and using a cross reference. When formated for online help, it would say, "See <name of topic>." and look like an ordinary hyperlink but for printed output it would say, 'See "<name of topic>" on Page x'. Since a plain hyperlink doesn't offer the ability to include page numbers, xrefs seemed the most logical choice. However, in some introductory topics for a chapter it will list the subtopics that are covered. For example:
list-subtopics.png
Now, if I apply our default cross-reference, we get this:
list-subtopics2.png
Blech. As you can see, the title of the documents being linked to, differ slightly than the original hyperlinked text.

Now, I could create a new class of xref that gets rid of the "See" and the period at the end. I've also considered a mini-TOC proxy but I'm not sure that would necessarily work in some of the instances which may be linking to items not in the current directory/chapter. So, I thought I'd ask around to see if anyone else has a better/different suggestion as to how they would approach something like this. Whatever solution I use, it needs to work well as both an online help and as a PDF/printed document.
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JRP
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--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
KevinDAmery
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by KevinDAmery »

What you need to do is modify the xref class so that instead of referencing the file it references the paragraph text. It looks like you have this in the online output, but not for print.

If you need to, post the code for the xref here and we can help you debug it.
Until next time....
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navoff
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by navoff »

KevinDAmery wrote:What you need to do is modify the xref class so that instead of referencing the file it references the paragraph text. It looks like you have this in the online output, but not for print.

If you need to, post the code for the xref here and we can help you debug it.
Actually, that's what it's set as:

See {b}"{paratext}"{/b} on page {b}{page}{/b}.

The problem is that the first heading level in the topic is what is shown in the second example. There is a sub-heading level that matches the first example but that heading doesn't display in the bookmark options because it's set to not display in the TOC. I had to manually add a bookmark in order to select the second heading level and use its text in the cross reference. Most of the time, I want to use the first heading level of a topic. Because there are so many topics and headings within them, most of the sub-headings within my topics are set to not display in the TOC and hence, don't show up as a heading option when you're selecting a place to link to.
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
KevinDAmery
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by KevinDAmery »

Ok, I'm confused: I thought the problem was that it was truncating off the rest of the topic title. Is that not what the problem is? If it is, the same method that worked for online not working?

(Or, is your first example *not* an xref at all? It isn't really clear to me looking at it whether those are your old hrefs or if they are the online generated xrefs.)
Until next time....
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navoff
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by navoff »

KevinDAmery wrote:Ok, I'm confused: I thought the problem was that it was truncating off the rest of the topic title. Is that not what the problem is? If it is, the same method that worked for online not working?

(Or, is your first example *not* an xref at all? It isn't really clear to me looking at it whether those are your old hrefs or if they are the online generated xrefs.)
Sorry, no. the first example was a regular hyperlink, not an xref (that's how it was coded in Robohelp). I was just trying to figure out what options I have for modifying it so it's more useful for both online help as well as a printed document. Using the xref was one option I was considering (though I would have to create a class that was specific to this kind of usage).
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
LTinker68
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by LTinker68 »

Are you asking if there's a way to set it up so that when the PDF is viewed on a monitor they're hyperlinks but when that PDF output is printed then they change to cross-references?
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mattbnh
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by mattbnh »

Not sure if you are already doing this but...

We use stylesheet mediums to style the xrefs differently for online and print (PDF).

In the print medium we have an "on page " {page}

In the online medium we do not, and we style it like a standard hyperlink. underscored blue

You create the xref using insert cross-reference, but then you edit Madcap | xref + ,your xref name> to customize the mediums in the stylesheet editor.

Example:
for print - {color #0000ff}{paratext}{/color} on{color #0000ff} Page {page}{/color}
for help - {color #0000ff}{paratext}{/color}

There is no way to pick a medium in the Insert Cross Reference dialog box, so it might not be intuitive.

One limitation is that I have not seen an easy way to have the text different than the link text, the way you can in a hyperlink. Maybe doing so is not a 'best practice' anyway, and I should learn to make better titles. :wink:

Hope this helps.
navoff
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by navoff »

LTinker68 wrote:Are you asking if there's a way to set it up so that when the PDF is viewed on a monitor they're hyperlinks but when that PDF output is printed then they change to cross-references?
If you mean, have different appearances, frankly, I wouldn't think that would be possible (after all a PDF is a PDF and whether you view it or print it, is irrelevant to the medium). While it might not be as readily apparent to a user (depending on how the link is styled), any link, whether plain hyperlink or an xref, will create a hyperlink in a PDF. Some savvy users will clue into this naturally. Others may require a little primer on when text phrase is an indication of a link they can click.

My inclination at this point is to create a new style of xref that is differently styled between default and print medium. Since I'm relatively new to working with a single source used for both online help and print, I wasn't sure if there might be another option that might work as well or better. I'm still feeling my way around some of the features available within Flare.
JRP
"How many slime-trailing, sleepless, slimy, slobbering things do you know that will run and hide from your Eveready?"
--Maureen Birnbaum, Barbarian Swordsperson
KevinDAmery
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Re: How would you format this?

Post by KevinDAmery »

All Flare xrefs can do that - all you have to do is find the xref style you're using and change the formatting in the Print medium. So changing them from bold to something else is just a matter of some css coding.

What will be more problematic is if you need the xref to create more verbose text than the referenced headings. Xrefs that use paratext will reproduce the text of that paragraph. You could add the extra text into the xref class, but then it will be used for every xref that uses that class.
Until next time....
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