miniTOC proxy formatting

[nickatwork]

Hi all,
Just playing around with some of the Proxy options for WebHelp master pages.

I'm trying to set the font size and color for the miniTOC proxy, and it ins't working. So far I can set the font type and thats it. None of the other changes I make to the CSS, font size etc are working.

Is this controlled somewhere else? or inherited somewhere that I dont know about?

I was able to change the breadcrumbs font size etc, but this miniTOC aint budging.

Thanks,
Nick

[LTinker68]

The MadCap|miniTOC style is just for the container. Look at p.MiniToc1, p.MiniToc2, etc.

[nickatwork]

Thanks for that.

A few more things - I can't find how to set a mouse-over colour, and a post-click colour for the links? All that changes so far is the standard colour. I found a few hover style controls, but nothing that affected the miniTOC.

As well, is it possible to fix this to the bottom of the page for short topics, don't like how it looks half way up the page.

Is it possible to set the miniTOC to display topics that are at the same level in the same folder. I can see the minitoc just displays the content within a lower directory or folder, but nothing showing things in the same directory. Can it even be done?

Thanks.
Nick

[LTinker68]

I can't find how to set a mouse-over colour, and a post-click colour for the links? All that changes so far is the standard colour. I found a few hover style controls, but nothing that affected the miniTOC.

By default, the miniTOC uses the base <a> tag's pseudo-classes styles. If you want the miniTOC's mouseover effects to be different, you have to create a miniTOC class under the <a> tag, which will in turn create pseudo-classes that you can modify (just make sure you modify them in the correct order -- link, visited, focus, hover). The name for the new <a> class should be MiniTOC1 for the top-level items. You'd need to create a MiniTOC2 for second level items and so on.

As well, is it possible to fix this to the bottom of the page for short topics, don't like how it looks half way up the page.

You'd have to create a DIV class in the stylesheet that has the positioning and fixed elements specified, then you'd need to put the miniTOC proxy inside that DIV. Although Flare puts the miniTOC inside a DIV when it generates the output, I don't think you can specify the class of DIV to use. Or maybe you can in the miniTOC Properties screen. I don't have Flare running at the moment, but I think the class option in that screen is for the miniTOC entry, not the whole proxy.

Is it possible to set the miniTOC to display topics that are at the same level in the same folder. I can see the minitoc just displays the content within a lower directory or folder, but nothing showing things in the same directory. Can it even be done?

No. The miniTOC only works on children topics, not sibling topics. You'd have to put the miniTOC proxy up a level to get the siblings and set the number of levels to 2 or 3 to get the children to appear, too.

[NorthEast]

As well, is it possible to fix this to the bottom of the page for short topics, don't like how it looks half way up the page.

You'd have to create a DIV class in the stylesheet that has the positioning and fixed elements specified, then you'd need to put the miniTOC proxy inside that DIV. Although Flare puts the miniTOC inside a DIV when it generates the output, I don't think you can specify the class of DIV to use. Or maybe you can in the miniTOC Properties screen. I don't have Flare running at the moment, but I think the class option in that screen is for the miniTOC entry, not the whole proxy.

What properties would you use though?
I know you can use positioning to fix it to the bottom of the page, but it would be fixed and not scroll with the topic; i.e. it'd appear over the topic text.

(Also, if you want to set positioning properties for the miniTOC, you don't need the extra step of putting the miniTocProxy inside a div; you could just set the properties on the style MadCap|miniTocProxy.)

[nickatwork]

I know you can use positioning to fix it to the bottom of the page, but it would be fixed and not scroll with the topic; i.e. it'd appear over the topic text.

what properties of the proxy would be changed for this? would love something to fix it to the bottom, but all Position properties that I change dont budge it.

[NorthEast]

I know you can use positioning to fix it to the bottom of the page, but it would be fixed and not scroll with the topic; i.e. it'd appear over the topic text.

what properties of the proxy would be changed for this? would love something to fix it to the bottom, but all Position properties that I change dont budge it.

Set the properties (in Positioning):

position: fixed
bottom: 0

For info, see: http://www.w3schools.com/Css/pr_class_position.asp

[nickatwork]

Thanks for that.....sort of works, not ideally though, I'm using IE6 (company browser, no way around it) so I'm not sure if its that.

But what happens in that on a page that isnt full of content, the TOC displays at the bottom, however if a page has more content, the links display over the top of the content, rather than being at the bottom of the topic.

I tried it with Absolute, and Fixed positions.

[LTinker68]

Positioning is relative to the window, not the content. The only way you could get it to always appear at the end of the content is to place the proxy in the masterpage and make sure you don't insert a bunch of extra blank lines at the bottom of your topics.

[LTinker68]

(Also, if you want to set positioning properties for the miniTOC, you don't need the extra step of putting the miniTocProxy inside a div; you could just set the properties on the style MadCap|miniTocProxy.)

I couldn't remember how the proxy resolved in the generated content. I know it puts it in a DIV and didn't want to suggest adding positioning to the base DIV since that would affect every DIV. I forgot it converted the style to a class in the DIV, so yes, setting the positioning on the proxy style should work, although I've never tried it to make sure Flare converts it over properly.

[nickatwork]

Yeah I have the proxy on a master page, thats why im setting it up really. So it shows up on all my pages.

Its still causing the issue however, If a topics content is too long, it overlaps on the proxy, which is how CSS should work for this, but there must be a way around. Surely I'm not the only person who has wanted CSS footers on each page. Another thing I'd like to add would be a single line of text with copyright details. I can do this on the master page, and it shows up fine with the proxy, using padding etc I can get it working, but still the overlap of the content is trashing it.

[NorthEast]

Yeah I have the proxy on a master page, thats why im setting it up really. So it shows up on all my pages.

Its still causing the issue however, If a topics content is too long, it overlaps on the proxy, which is how CSS should work for this, but there must be a way around. Surely I'm not the only person who has wanted CSS footers on each page. Another thing I'd like to add would be a single line of text with copyright details. I can do this on the master page, and it shows up fine with the proxy, using padding etc I can get it working, but still the overlap of the content is trashing it.

Yep, that's why I originally replied to say that I couldn't see how it'd work, as using positioning would mean it overlapped the topic text.

What was the problem with having the minitoc proxy below the topic body proxy?
Could you not just add a margin above it to space things out?

[nickatwork]

yeah I could add a margin.

But for those pages where there isnt enough content to fill the page out, it looks so much better when those links, and the coipyright notice sit at the bottom of the page. I know it can be done manually, using the 'css sticky footer' method but I'd like to avoid manual coding in the project as much as possible, and I'm not even sure how it would work with a master page.

[schultza]

I am having problems with my PDF table of contents. Headings at level 4 appear in a larger font, and larger line height. I have checked the styles for minTOC Proxy, as well as p.MiniTOC1-9.

I have everything set to be the exact same font and font size. Anyone have other suggestions?

[lacastle]

the PDF table of contents is just TOCproxy (i don't have flare open in front of me to confirm, but i know it's not miniTOCproxy). see if you have any sizes set in those properties.
miniTOCproxy is for the list of headings in a particular chapter, for example. it shows up on the first page of the chapter if you add that proxy.

[schultza]

@Laura - Thank you! Working with the TOC classes did the trick.

[i-tietz]

Thanks for that.....sort of works, not ideally though, I'm using IE6 (company browser, no way around it) so I'm not sure if its that.

If you work professionally in your company (and I hope you do!) you should be able to check the output on other browsers too - like more current versions of the IE (yes there is an "s" in the end of "version", because you need to check all of them) and Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome ...
ALTERNATIVE:
You add IE 6 to your system requirements ... but taking the age of that browser version into consideration, the users (=your customers) won't like it.

[i-tietz]

Positioning is relative to the window, not the content. The only way you could get it to always appear at the end of the content is to place the proxy in the masterpage and make sure you don't insert a bunch of extra blank lines at the bottom of your topics.

You could also retrieve the height of the proxy (using javascript) and assign that value as padding-bottom to the body (using javascript, too). It's only a few lines of code added to you masterpage ...