open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

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jfraher
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open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by jfraher »

When clicking the Help link in our product's GUI, the Help now opens in a new tab instead of a new (separate, detached) window. Naturally, this makes it impossible to view the Help while also looking at the GUI. With tabs, you can only view one at a time. For normal web use, this is good, but not for using Help. Is there a setting in Flare that I need to configure to make the Help appear in a new window instead of a new tab, or is it something that the GUI developers need to add to the link? BTW, this recently became a problem, so I'm wondering if there's a new setting in Flare 4 that I now need to set that I didn't in previous versions of Flare. Thanks - Joe
lacastle
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Re: open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by lacastle »

That is usually a setting in a user's browser (for at least Firefox 3 and IE7 under Tools > Options).
RamonS
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Re: open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by RamonS »

You can try and use the target parameter in the hyperlink. For example

Code: Select all

<a target="HelpWindow">http://www.myserver.gov/myhelp/default.htm<a>
should open a new window. You may have varying success with this. Looking at the basic web UI guidelines opening links in new windows is considered a no-no, but I think for the special case of application help it is a valid use. Usually, it should be up to the user to decide how they want links to open, so if this works as expected make sure that you allow for this being optional. Especially screen readers have often problems with new browser windows opening out of nowhere.
LTinker68
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Re: open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by LTinker68 »

RamonS wrote:

Code: Select all

<a target="HelpWindow">http://www.myserver.gov/myhelp/default.htm<a>
If you're making a standard HTML call, then it would be:

Code: Select all

<a href="http://www.myserver.gov/myhelp/default.htm" target="_blank">http://www.myserver.gov/myhelp/default.htm</a>
The target="_blank" being the property that tells it to open in a new window. Whether or not it's really a new window or a tab in the same window depends on which browser is used and how it's set up.
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Lisa
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RamonS
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Re: open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by RamonS »

Lisa is right, I got my syntax wrong (playing too much with Wikis), but you should be able to put a name for the window in the target parameter, which will cause any subsequent help calls to go to that window and not open yet another new one as target="_blank" will do.
jfraher
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Re: open WebHelp in a new window, not in a new tab

Post by jfraher »

Thanks, Laura, Lisa, and Ramon. I'll make sure the right tag is being used. I'll also add a note in the Help explaining how to change the browser settings if the Help topics are opening in a new tab but you want to open them in a new window instead. I think that with the right code and a note, we'll have the issue covered. I truly appreciate your help. - Joe
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