Customize Help Viewer???

[panda]

Is there any way of customizing the DotNet Help Viewer to remove most of the menu items?

I've just had a look at what a compiled project would look like, and found the various menus etc on the viewer not just unnecessary, but potentially very confusing for our end-users, especially as it doesn't appear to be possible to put our own application on the title bar or remove other traces of MadCap branding which simply is not of interest to our customers.

For instance - as readers of the Help for our application, why would they want a direct link to this forum via the Help menu on the viewer? All that is necessary is that they should be able to navigate around our help, search and possibly print topics, and move or resize the window.

[Madcap Guru]

They won't let you customize the viewer at the moment, you may want to add a feature suggestion

[panda]

They won't let you customize the viewer at the moment, you may want to add a feature suggestion

We nearly didn't use Flare at all in the beginning because of the branding issue in all help outputs. There is obviously some sort of disconnect at MadCap in understanding what Flare users want to present to their own end users... the result is that DotNet, which otherwise ticks most, if not all, the boxes, has been rejected out of hand as an option. <sigh>

[KevinDAmery]

If you haven't already, let Madcap know about the situation here:

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

I agree that this is a triumph of marketing over intelligence.

[panda]

If you haven't already, let Madcap know about the situation here:

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

Yes, I'll do that. Thanks Kevin.

I agree that this is a triumph of marketing over intelligence.

Triumph of the marketing department perhaps, but consequences not as intended

[RamonS]

It is a complaint since day 1 and I, too, cannot understand why MadCap is so stubborn with this issue. One argument was the advertising effect, but the vast majority of consumers of online help are not technical writers and no matter how much ads they see will never buy anything from MadCap, since they don't need these tools.
I think it is OK to have MadCap branding in there as a default. but it should be entirely replaceable. And yes, I submitted a bug report long time ago.

[panda]

It is a complaint since day 1 and I, too, cannot understand why MadCap is so stubborn with this issue. One argument was the advertising effect, but the vast majority of consumers of online help are not technical writers and no matter how much ads they see will never buy anything from MadCap, since they don't need these tools.
I think it is OK to have MadCap branding in there as a default. but it should be entirely replaceable. And yes, I submitted a bug report long time ago.

They do seem to have confused the [perceived] status of having a branded commodity, such as an iPhone or a Gap sweatshirt, but failed to understand when branding is inappropriate.

End application users are not MadCap's market so they should understand that intruding in this way is inappropriate - it won't make sales but it will (and has) alienated customers from some of their services.... and that is the precise opposite of what marketing should be.

[RamonS]

Fully agree with that. But we have to convince MadCap, not ourselves.

[Robotman]

Fully agree with that. But we have to convince MadCap, not ourselves.

By submitting a bug?

[KevinDAmery]

Not a bad idea:

http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[mamarachel]

I haven't loaded 5 yet. Can the DotNet Help Viewer be customized in Flare 5?

[Madcap Guru]

It does not appear to so in Flare v5

[adlangx]

This is still an issue apparently. I just talked with support and there is no way to remove their "Help Community" drop down option. In addition if a user clicks "Help on Help" a madcap viewer comes up with a madcap icon?!?

If this isn't fixed the product is useless to us.

[alex]

I have logged requests for the last few versions... If MadCap doesn't fix it, surely someone out there must be able to figure out a way to work around this. We have some code geniuses lurking around these parts Come out and help us, please!

[RamonS]

I have logged requests for the last few versions... If MadCap doesn't fix it, surely someone out there must be able to figure out a way to work around this. We have some code geniuses lurking around these parts Come out and help us, please!

For that one would need the code, which MadCap doesn't provide. I have no idea why they didn't change the viewer, but I guess it is mainly because almost nobody uses it.

[LTinker68]

I have logged requests for the last few versions... If MadCap doesn't fix it, surely someone out there must be able to figure out a way to work around this. We have some code geniuses lurking around these parts Come out and help us, please!

For that one would need the code, which MadCap doesn't provide. I have no idea why they didn't change the viewer, but I guess it is mainly because almost nobody uses it.

That or they're taking their cue from Microsoft who hasn't modified their HTML Help viewer in how many years?

[doc_guy]

For that one would need the code, which MadCap doesn't provide. I have no idea why they didn't change the viewer, but I guess it is mainly because almost nobody uses it.

Which is because nobody wants the MadCap logo on their help output. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? This is a decision that I simply can't figure out. It seems clear that customers don't want to cross brand the help viewer. If they can't re-brand it, they won't use it. So we have an arguably better help option that we can't use because MadCap refuses to allow us to re-brand the help viewer. I just don't get it.

[RamonS]

Neither do I. I also don't get the insistence on providing the viewer as a separate install package. Since it is .NET one should be able to just copy the files to place X and use it. That is one of the features of .NET (one of the many copied from Java). What is even more baffling is that MadCap never gave a sufficient, clear, and honest answer. Even if they'd say they don't care it would keep people from wondering if anything will ever happen.
One round of applause for open-source software!

[alex]

For that one would need the code, which MadCap doesn't provide. I have no idea why they didn't change the viewer, but I guess it is mainly because almost nobody uses it.

Which is because nobody wants the MadCap logo on their help output. It's a vicious cycle, isn't it? This is a decision that I simply can't figure out. It seems clear that customers don't want to cross brand the help viewer. If they can't re-brand it, they won't use it. So we have an arguably better help option that we can't use because MadCap refuses to allow us to re-brand the help viewer. I just don't get it.

Yes, it is quite a vicious cycle... Logo aside (and a BIG aside, that is), the link to the MadCap help community is just absolutely not for end users of our software application.

I've seen people do some rather amazing things without having access to code, so perhaps someone may someday pull a MacGyver on it if MadCap doesn't come through soon.