ADA issue - Having focus on topic when first launched

[Ericam]

Hi,
Is there a way to have focus on a link or somewhere in a topic when a user launches a context-sensitive topic? An ADA person has to tab at least 10 times to get to the TOC. The first tab gives focus to the URL line.

[LTinker68]

Not sure what you mean about tabbing 10 times to get to the TOC.

• Do you mean the TOC doesn't appear after a CSH call?
• Or do you mean the TOC isn't synced to the topic that was called via the CSH?
• Or do you mean the TOC appears and it's synced to the topic, but you want the TOC to have focus instead of someone having to tab to get to it, or at least not have to tab so much?

[Ericam]

I know it is confusing. I had to read the client's comments over and over and over to see what they meant. Imagine launching a help system. A person who cannot use a mouse can only use the Tab key. So when you launch the help there is no focus on the screen. As soon as you click Tab, the focus goes to the URL line. Then if you keep tabing in goes through each toolbar item until it finally lands on the TOC. So this is not user friendly. If the focus could land on the topic, perhaps on a link, then the user would not have to tab that many times.

[LTinker68]

Hmmm. You could probably write a simple Javascript to put the focus on the main topic area after the frameset loads, but you'd have to put that script in the default.htm, default_CSH.htm, and default_Left.htm files because they're the frameset files. If that's your only project or customer then you could modify those files in the Flare program files folder, which means the Javascript would appear in all subsequent projects. (Although that's not a bad script to have in all projects.) If you don't want all projects to have that Javascript, then you'd have to manually add it to those three files in the output every time you did a build (or add it to one set then save that set outside the project, then after building the output, you copy your files over the copies in the output folder).

[Ericam]

So basically, Flare does not offer that, and it would mean creating a manual fix. I had a feeling that was the case. I am not sure I want to start tinkering with code, plus my HTML skills are limited. Thank you for your suggestions.

[LTinker68]

You can always submit a feature request at http://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx.

BTW, the behavior you're seeing seems to be browser-dependent. When I open a WebHelp output in Firefox, pressing tab once puts the focus on the first book in the TOC pane. Likewise with Google Chrome. I don't have Safari so I can't test that one. It only seems to be Internet Explorer that behaves the way you're describing (surprise). IE7 anyway -- that's the version I have.

[Ericam]

Hi,
Well that is good to know! Thank you!! Yes, I am using IE7!! The client has to use that too...However, I think Firefox is supported. I wonder if we can tell ADA people to use Firefox. Thanks again for your further research!!

[NorthEast]

Actually, just tabbing to the main topic pane is tricky too.

Tabbing forwards, you go through the TOC and other accordion items, but never seem to get the focus in the main topic pane.

The only way I could get to the topic pane was to tab backwards (Shift+Tab) from the URL bar, and that didn't work every time.