Flare File Size/Compression

[elizabethc]

I am wondering if there is any way to shrink down or compress the Flare file so the file size is smaller? Or if there is a way to change the properties of a madcap capture to make the image files smaller, thus making the overall file size smaller.

Thanks for you input!

[KevinDAmery]

Could you let us know which specific file you're talking about?

[elizabethc]

They are .jpeg image files and .flprj flare project files.

[KevinDAmery]

Not sure why you'd need to make the .flprj file smaller, since it's already 1kb. In any case, the .flprj contains the Flare project information and is not included in what you send to the customer, so compressing it won't affect your final output.

For the images, you'd have to change the settings in capture for the compression ratio. You can do that in the capture profile you're using. Note that you would have to re-save the images for the change to take effect.

[elizabethc]

Sorry for the confusion, we were trying to compress the .CHM file not the .flprj file. Do you have any suggestiosn for this?

[KevinDAmery]

Ah, ok, that makes more sense.

Unfortunately, Madcap hasn't exposed any means of fine-tuning the CHM compression settings. And I agree with you that the file size could be better. Unfortunately, I haven't got a solution for it. I'd recommend submitting a feature request for more control over the compression - the more people ask for something, the more likely Madcap is to implement it. You can make a feature request here:

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

(And in case you're wondering, you don't need to have a maintenance contract to submit feature requests.)

[Pete Lees]

Hi, Elizabeth,

You may be able to compress your help file a little more by recompiling it with KeyTools, which is available from here:

http://www.keyworks.net/keytools.htm

This is what KeyTools' help file says about the recompile feature:

The compression that HTML Help provides for .chm or .its files is quite good. However, KeyTools can increase the compression rate and decrease the size of your help system and create even smaller files.

You don't need to recompile every help system you create. If all you're gaining is a few bytes, then the possible risk of using a recompiled help system may be higher than is justified.

Important: We've taken every precaution in testing the recompile feature. Nevertheless, be sure to test on as many computers as possible before distributing a recompiled system.

KeyTools was developed by Ralph Walden, formerly Microsoft's chief developer of both WinHelp and HTML Help, so it comes from a very good source. In my experience, the recompile feature is quite safe to use.

Pete

[RamonS]

If HTML Workshop allows for setting the compression then you can do the following:
- open the HTMl Workshop project in the temporary folder that was created in the output folder
- change the settings
- compile CHM using HTML Workshop

What Flare basically does is first craft a help project for HTML Workshop, which is then compiled using Microsoft's compiler. There is no direct CHM output from Flare (although it seems so), because CHM is a proprietary format and the only tools available are the ones created in Jurrassic Park from Microsoft.

[Pete Lees]

Hi, again,

Unfortunately, the compression level in HTML Help files isn't customizable at all. This is another of those examples in which functionality that was available in the old WinHelp (.hlp) format was dropped from HTML Help.

Edited to add: if the size of your help files is an issue — and these days it usually isn't, unless you plan to make them available for downloading by people who may have slow Internet connections — the best course of action is often to review your use of images. Decreasing the colour depth of your images, cropping them where appropriate, and omitting unnecessary ones can drastically reduce the size of your help files.

Pete

[GregStenhouse]

As mentioned, you could reduce the compression of the JPGs, which will make them smaller, but will make the quality worse. You could also go with GIFs - they are limited to 256 colors (which suits most applications with the exception of gradients on title bars), and would also reduce the file size.

Another option is to think about how you are using screen captures. Could you limit their use? Is it possible to capture part of the window, rather than the whole window?

Finally, have a look at the output folder (... Temporary\MyHtmlHelp\Content) of Flare and see what is being compiled into the CHM. You could even use a small utility called DiskFrontier (do a Google search) to see a graph of how big files are. That may identify files or graphics that are being compiled when they are not used, or at least point you towards where the size is coming from.

Cheers
Greg