Is it possible to really customize our online help interface

[ktbCA57]

I have a project that is about ready for release with the next release of our product. Our PM would like our UIX dev to rework the styles to make it a more cleaner look. Our UI person is exceptional.. and has done some mock-ups that we really liked. However, he says now that he's looking into what he can and can't do in Flare, it's not as "open" as he hoped and he doesn't see how he can make the sorts of changes he hoped to with my content.

I'm attaching his mockup vs my original so you can see where he's trying to go... maybe someone out there can tell me how he might go about achieving this... My understanding when we had a demo was that the interface was completely configurable and customizable...

THANKS!

[cdschroeder]

It's true that there are limits to what you can and can't do directly through the Flare interface (i.e., using skins and the stylesheet editor). But if you know CSS and some jQuery, Foundations, and/or Flexbox, there's very little you can't do one way or another. You just might need someone with web development skills to achieve it.

If your UI person is a web dev and they still find Flare too limiting, you can choose to create a skinless or a clean XHTML output instead. My understanding is that clean XHTML is good for pushing to an existing platform like Salesforce or Zendesk (it removes all Flare-generated components), while skinless just removes the skin and lets you use CSS and Flare-generated components to build your site (anyone can feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong - I haven't personally used either of these approaches).

But speaking specifically to your mockup (and granted, I'm only going by what's on the surface), it shouldn't be too difficult to reproduce in Flare. Modify the search bar styles via the skin, then use dropdowns to create the components below. If you don't know where to start, take a look at MadCap's sample Girard template (https://www.madcapsoftware.com/download ... templates/) - with a little styling, their home page dropdowns could be adapted to look just like your mockup.

[ktbCA57]

Thanks so much... i've forwarded your info to our PM and UIX Dev... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

[cdschroeder]

Happy to help!! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

[NorthEast]

Most of the mockup looks pretty straightforward.

My only question would be around the accordion menu in the middle (Getting started, etc.). Are you manually creating that, or is that supposed to be the menu/TOC navigation?
If it's static, then you can easily create that using a dropdown or toggler. If it's supposed to contain your TOC navigation, then that's more tricky, as Flare doesn't provide an accordion menu control (other than the side nav skin, but that is fixed on the left).

[ktbCA57]

The timing on this was spot on.. walked in this morning and this is EXACTLY what he's trying to figure out...

[NorthEast]

Some options to consider then:

1) Set the target to use a side nav skin, and use CSS/scripts to hack the side nav accordion menu so it appears where you want.

2) Set the target to use a top nav skin, and display the hidden side nav accordion menu - set div.sidenav-wrapper { display: block; } to see what I mean. Then use CSS/scripts so it appears where you want.

3) You can insert a menu proxy, although this will show your TOC/menu as a static list.

[ktbCA57]

Dave.... THANKS SO MUCH... i think there was some talk about an issue with jquery... so I'm hoping your solution will work!

THANK YOU! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

[NorthEast]

I do loads of stuff with jQuery, so that shouldn't be a problem - you just have to work with the version of jQuery that Flare includes; e.g. Flare 2018r2 includes jQuery 3.3.1.

[ktbCA57]

Thanks...AGAIN! I have forwarded this info to our UI/UX dev... THANKS!