Building Enhanced HTML Help, with DHTML and CSS,9780130179296

Building Enhanced HTML Help, with DHTML and CSS

by
Edition: 1st
ISBN13: 9780130179296
ISBN10: 0130179299
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2001-01-01
Publisher(s): PRENTICE HALL
Availability: This title is currently not available.
List Price: $39.99

Rent Book

Select for Price
Add to Cart
There was a problem. Please try again later.

New Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

Used Book

We're Sorry
Sold Out

eBook

We're Sorry
Not Available

Summary

The best way to create Help systems for Windows software is with Microsoft's advanced HTML Help system -- and the best way to use HTML Help is to leverage the power of DHTML and Cascading Style Sheets at the same time. Building Enhanced HTML Help with DHTML and CSS is the first book to show you how to use all three technologies together. Written by one of the first developers to create an industrial-strength HTML Help system, it provides a proven methodology and step-by-step instructions for creating world-class help systems that leverage both advanced Web technologies and traditional publishing strategies. Learn how to plan and design online help systems. Discover what HTML Help brings to the table, including a graphical look and feel (managed through CSS) and increased interactivity (managed through DHTML). Learn how to craft HTML templates and individual pages, define your HTML Help project, create navigation, compile and view your Help; then walk step-by-step through creating cascading style sheets and DHTML elements for online help. Klein covers automatic compilation, cross-referencing, tables of contents, and merging modular files into a single online help system. Along the way, she identifies the most common problems that occur in real-world HTML Help construction, and presents detailed solutions.

Table of Contents

Dedication v
It's Not Just Help, It's HTML Help
Basic ideas & their corollaries
4(2)
The corollaries
5(1)
A note on terminology
5(1)
The enhanced proposition
6(4)
A complete process
7(1)
Basic HTML Help+DHTML+CSS = Enhanced HTML Help
8(2)
Who should read this book
10(2)
What you can learn from this book
12(2)
Limitations
13(1)
Chapter overviews
14(7)
So How Does It Work? Process & Product Overview
What the process looks like
21(1)
Notes on file types & extensions
22(2)
Planning the system design
24(12)
Traditional online help decisions
24(1)
Audience/needs analysis
24(3)
Organization: reference vs. task
27(1)
Navigation model
28(2)
Tools
30(2)
HTML aspects
32(1)
Compiled or not?
32(1)
Graphical look and feel (CSS)
33(1)
Action & interactivity (DHTML)
34(1)
Directory structure
35(1)
Crafting reusable elements & templates
36(13)
Create the reusable elements (graphics, CSS, and DHTML)
37(1)
The graphics
37(1)
The style sheets (CSS)
38(4)
The dynamic HTML (DHTML)
42(3)
Assemble the templates
45(3)
Write the individual pages
48(1)
Creating the HTML Help project
49(12)
Project definition
49(1)
Create the project & add its topic files
49(3)
Specify parameters
52(1)
Window definition: size & styles
53(2)
Building the navigation system
55(1)
Contents
55(3)
Index
58(2)
Compiling & testing the project
60(1)
Merging modular projects
61(8)
Efficiency
61(1)
Merging requirements
62(1)
Setup options
62(1)
Ensuring compatibility & binary index options
62(1)
Specifying merge files
62(1)
Window definitions
63(1)
Merging references
63(1)
Preparing merged tables of contents
63(1)
Using proper cross-file link syntax
64(5)
Bringing It Together: HTML Topics & Templates
Where to author
69(8)
HTML Help Editor
72(2)
HTML Help Image Editor
74(3)
Designing the templates
77(9)
Identifying the necessary templates types
78(3)
Creating reusable elements
81(1)
Fashioning the graphic elements
82(1)
Assembling a screen capture library
82(3)
Writing reusable text
85(1)
Creating the templates
86(4)
What it looks like
86(2)
How it's done
88(2)
Recipes for common HTML
90(18)
Basic syntax
90(1)
Document setup elements
91(1)
HTML
91(1)
HEAD
91(1)
Title
92(1)
Body
92(1)
Local formatting tags
92(1)
Bold & Italic
92(1)
Code
93(1)
Font
93(1)
Center
94(1)
Break
94(1)
No Break
94(1)
Body element tags
95(1)
Headings
95(1)
Paragraphs
96(1)
Images
97(1)
Anchors
98(1)
Lists
99(1)
Bulleted (unordered) lists
99(1)
Numbered (ordered) lists
100(1)
Numbered list with bullet sub-items
101(1)
Definition list
102(2)
Tables
104(1)
Table
105(1)
Table row
106(1)
Table header/table data
107(1)
Writing the HTML topic pages
108(1)
How HTML works with HTML Help---& how it doesn't
109(12)
Titling tricks
109(2)
Author beware
111(1)
Linkages
112(1)
Background basics
113(1)
Links within a single CHM
114(1)
Links between CHMs
115(1)
External links from the CHM
116(1)
External links to the CHM
117(4)
Doing It In Style: CSS [Cascading Style Sheets]
What CSS is & what it does
121(3)
How to do it
124(1)
Browser-dependence
124(1)
Types of cascading style sheets
125(5)
Linked style sheets
125(2)
Embedded style sheets
127(1)
Inline style sheets
128(2)
Creating the style sheet
130(3)
Style definition: the basics
130(2)
The rules of inheritance
132(1)
Selectors
133(3)
Class selectors
133(2)
Pseudo-classes
135(1)
Contextual selectors
135(1)
Anatomy of a value
136(5)
Color values
136(1)
CSS color names
136(1)
RGB color values
137(1)
Hexadecimal values
137(1)
Browser-safe colors
138(1)
Spatial values
139(1)
Absolute: length values
139(1)
Relative: percentage values
140(1)
Keywords
140(1)
Crucial properties for Help
141(24)
Font properties
142(1)
font-family
142(1)
font-size
143(1)
font-style and font-weight
144(1)
font-variant
145(1)
font (shorthand property for font properties)
145(2)
Text & typography properties
147(1)
text-decoration
147(1)
vertical-align
148(1)
text-align
148(1)
line-height
149(1)
text-indent
150(1)
Color & background properties
151(1)
color
151(1)
background-color
151(1)
background-image
152(1)
background (shorthand property for backgrounds)
152(1)
Box properties (margin, padding, borders)
153(1)
Variants & shorthand versions
154(1)
padding-top (-right, -left, -bottom), padding
154(1)
border-top-style (-right-, -left-, -bottom-), border-style
155(2)
border-top-color (-right-, -left-, -bottom-), border-color
157(1)
border-top-width (-right-, -left-, -bottom-), border-width
157(1)
border-top (-right, -left, -bottom), border
158(1)
margin-top (-right, -left, -bottom), margin
159(2)
Classification (listing) properties
161(1)
list-style-type
161(1)
list-style-image
162(1)
list-style-position
162(1)
list-style
163(1)
Printing properties
164(1)
page-break-before (-after, -inside)
164(1)
How CSS works with HTML Help---& how it doesn't
165(6)
Adding the style sheet to the project
165(1)
Areas of enhancement: fonts
166(1)
Arenas of conflict: spacing, inheritance, & split files
167(4)
Making Waves: DHTML [Dynamic HTML]
What it is & what it does
171(5)
Building a DHTML script
172(4)
How to do it
176(6)
Linking to an external script file
176(1)
Embedding a script file
177(1)
Adding the external script file to the project
178(1)
Where to author
178(1)
Basic script syntax tips
179(3)
Basic JavaScript terminology
182(12)
Objects
182(2)
Properties
184(1)
Dot notation
185(1)
Naming objects
186(1)
Referencing properties
187(1)
Using ``this'' as a reference
187(1)
Variables
188(1)
Events & event handlers
189(2)
Functions
191(2)
Methods
193(1)
Crucial DHTML elements for HTML Help
194(17)
Common objects & their properties
194(1)
window
194(3)
document
197(1)
image <IMG>
198(1)
anchor <A>
199(1)
style
200(1)
all
201(1)
Date
201(2)
Common events & event handlers
203(1)
onClick
203(2)
onMouseOver
205(1)
onMouseOut
205(1)
onLoad
205(2)
onUnload
207(1)
CSS properties for DHTML
208(1)
zindex
208(1)
visibility & display
209(2)
DHTML recipes for HTML Help
211(9)
Quick & easy tool tip
211(1)
Change text color on mouseover
212(1)
Show/hide text
213(1)
Status bar explanation of an image map
214(1)
Open secondary window
215(2)
Image rollover
217(1)
Alert message using input from a prompt
218(2)
How DHTML works with HTML Help---& how it doesn't
220(7)
Areas of enhancement
220(1)
Single browser/limited versions
220(1)
Focused examples
221(1)
Arenas of conflict
222(1)
Explicitly adding files to avoid lost paths
222(1)
Jumping to other topics
222(1)
Linking to secondary windows
222(1)
Taking care with positioning elements
223(1)
Splitting files
223(4)
Creating Magic: The HTML Help Project File
Setting up the project
227(5)
The trivial New Project Wizard
227(1)
Directory structure
228(1)
File & directory conventions
229(2)
Using the New Project Wizard
231(1)
Refining the project
232(21)
Adding topic & navigtion files
232(1)
To add files to an HTML Help project (in the Workshop):
233(1)
To add files to an HTML Help project (in Notepad):
233(1)
Setting project options
234(1)
Those surreptitious essentials
234(4)
Dealing with window types
238(1)
Creating window types
239(5)
Advanced info: Understanding the project file's window type specs
244(5)
Fun with hex
249(4)
Pulling it all together
253(8)
Save early, save often...and close the Workshop
253(1)
The moment of truth: compiling
254(2)
Compiling from the command line
256(1)
Previewing & troubleshooting the results
256(5)
Navigating the Waters: Table of Contents
Choosing the editing environment
261(1)
The Workshop's graphical interface
262(6)
Understanding how the Workshop tabs work
262(1)
Creating a TOC on the Contents tab
263(5)
Automatic generation
268(4)
Understanding how the automatic TOC works
268(2)
Creating an automatic TOC
270(1)
Editing automatic TOCs
271(1)
Manual TOC creation
272(4)
Basic TOC settings
276(2)
Setting up the TOC in the Workshop
276(1)
Setting up the TOC manually
277(1)
Graphic considerations
278(2)
Changing the TOC font
278(1)
Available styles
279(1)
Binary or not?
280(2)
Perils ahead
282(7)
The unfixables
282(1)
TOC workarounds
283(6)
Out of Many, One: Merging Modular Files
What it is & what it does
289(3)
The HTML Help author's experience
290(1)
Benefits
291(1)
Merging requirements
292(4)
Meeting the requirements efficiently
295(1)
Procedures for merging
296(9)
External procedures
296(1)
Main module settings
297(4)
Global settings
301(4)
Perils ahead
305(8)
General troubleshooting tips
305(3)
Troubleshooting the TOC
308(5)
Accelerating Links: Cross-Referencing Options
Indexes
313(15)
How it works
313(1)
Binary vs. sitemap indexes
314(3)
Location, location, location: Where to put keywords
317(1)
Setting up an index
318(1)
To create a binary index
318(2)
To create an index file (sitemap or binary index)
320(4)
Troubleshooting index settings
324(4)
Cross-references
328(4)
Available options
328(1)
To create cross-referencing links
329(3)
Full-text search
332(7)
How it works
332(3)
Search vs. index
335(1)
Setting up full-text search
336(1)
To enable full-text search
336(2)
To create a stop list
338(1)
Shortcuts
339(8)
To create a shortcut in a topic file
340(7)
Making It Happen: Distribution & Installation
What it is & what it does
347(4)
HHUPD.EXE: The standard approach
351(2)
Getting the version right
351(1)
Running HHUPD.EXE
352(1)
Internet Explorer 5: an alternate approach
353(2)
Looking ahead: Windows 2000
355(2)
Windows 2000
355(2)
Index 357

An electronic version of this book is available through VitalSource.

This book is viewable on PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, and most smartphones.

By purchasing, you will be able to view this book online, as well as download it, for the chosen number of days.

Digital License

You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.

More details can be found here.

A downloadable version of this book is available through the eCampus Reader or compatible Adobe readers.

Applications are available on iOS, Android, PC, Mac, and Windows Mobile platforms.

Please view the compatibility matrix prior to purchase.