Easy HTML Help Examples

#TJEx01#Ex01 Contents

#LJEx01intro#Example 1: Introduction to EasyHTMLHelpT
#LJYou1#What you need to do in this example
#LJExamples#The EasyHTMLHelp Examples
#LJTopics#What are Topics?
#LJLinks#What are Links?
#LJProcess#What does the Process step do?
#LJResults#What does the Results step do?
#LJBuild#What does the Build step do?
#LJHtml#HTML Files
#LJWeb#What is a WEB browser?
#LJHypertext#What is Hypertext?
#LJCompiledHTML#Compiled HTML

#TJEx01intro#Example 1: Introduction to EasyHTMLHelpT

EasyHTMLHelpT (aka EasyHHT) is designed for authors and programmers who want to make the new Windows 98 style Help (#LPCompiledHTML#compiled HTML) and free-standing #LPHtml#HTML pages (aka Web pages) quickly and easily from Word documents. If you are familiar with Word you will be able to produce online #LPHypertext#hypertext versions of your paper based documents in minutes.

EasyHTMLHelp is ideal for bulk documentation projects. You can produce large user manuals, online Help and complete Web sites from one or more documents!

This is the first of a number of #LJExamples#example files included with EasyHTMLHelp. Please take some time to read through these to see how EasyHTMLHelp works. Each example will ask you to perform some simple #LJYou1#tasks to increase your familiarity with EasyHTMLHelp.

Getting started quickly

EasyHTMLHelp is easy if you understand the basic principles but very powerful if you explore the advanced features.

  Four simple steps to HTML:

Click the #LJTopics#Topic button to mark parts of your document as being separate HTML pages.

Click the #LJLinks#Link button to create links to the Topics you have marked and other URLs.

Click the #LJProcess#Process button to create HTML pages (aka Web pages) from the Topics you have marked in your document.

Click the #LJResults#Results button to load your Web browser and look at your generated HTML pages.

#LJYou1# One more step to Compiled HTML:

Click the #LJBuild#Build button to compile your project's HTML pages into the new Windows 98 style HTML Help.

Note. Make sure you delete unwanted HTML files from time to time, because all the HTML files in the 'Web pages output folder' are used when doing a Build (see the Project configuration section in the online Help for details).

If you are not sure which files to delete then delete all the .HTM files in the Web pages output folder and Process your project's documents again before doing a Build.

Chapter 1: Introducing EasyHTMLHelp

Chapter 4: A Quick Tour

Chapter 5: Terminology & Concepts

Chapter 6: Creating Hypertext - Now!

#TJYou1#What you need to do in this example

The Topics and Links have already been created in this example so you only need to Process  this document and then click Results to see the created HTML pages. Finally click Build to see the new Windows 98 style Help (compiled HTML) that is produced from the example documents.

This will show how to create, from a Word document, a set of HTML pages, and verify whether you have installed EasyHTMLHelp correctly.

You should read through and then do the following:

Click the 'Process' button on the EasyHTMLHelp toolbar. A configuration dialog will appear on the screen. For now you can just click the OK button and EasyHTMLHelp will process your document. Wait a few seconds it won't take long.

Click the 'Results' button on the EasyHTMLHelp toolbar.
A configuration dialog will appear on the screen. For now you can just click the OK button and EasyHTMLHelp will load your Web browser with the first Topic, in this document, displayed as a Web page.

Browse the Web page that appears on your screen.
Click on the links in your HTML pages to see how other pages have been created for you and how you can navigate to them via the Links. You will find that clicking on the icon of me in the title of these examples will link to our web site https://www.easyhtmlhelp.com. This is an example of using a full URL to a Web page created by someone else or with a different editor.

Close your Web browser.
When you have finished clicking on the links, close your browser to return to this document.

Click the 'Build' button on the EasyHTMLHelp toolbar.
This will compile your HTML pages into the new Windows 98 style HTML Help file format (.CHM file).

When you are ready you can close this document and open the next example.
The next example document is called #LJex02#EX02.DOC

#LJExamples# #LJExamples#About the other examples

That's it for this example but you might want to read the rest of the information in this file to familiarise yourself with some of the common terms used in later examples.

#TJExamples#The EasyHTMLHelp Examples

#TJTopics#What are Topics?

If you like, you can turn your whole document into a single Web page just by clicking the Process button. However, for long documents it is better to split your document up into separate HTML pages by defining Topics.

A topic becomes a separate HTML file or Web page when you Process!

A topic is a chunk of information that is displayed on your computer screen, and as the name suggests, can be a (separate) subject. If the chunk of information is larger than the screen, scroll bars will appear. In your document the end of a topic is marked by the beginning of the next topic or the end of the document.

Tip Besides using the 'Topic' icon on the toolbar to mark a topic you can use a keyboard shortcut by pressing 'Ctrl+Shift+T'. And if you prefer to use the menus you will find the topic function on the EasyHTMLHelp pull-down menu.

Tip Most EasyHTMLHelp functions have shortcut keys to access them quickly from the keyboard - look on the EasyHH menu!

Tip Plan your document first, then format it using styles such as: Heading 1, Heading 2, Normal, Normal Indent, Bullet, Num List. This will create a well structured and neat document. Then create topics, and finally create your links. If you are putting links in topic headings always mark the heading as a topic first!

With the topic function you can mark a new topic or edit an existing one. If your text cursor is in the title paragraph of an existing topic you will be able to edit the topic.

There are four basic types of topics:

A jump topic. A jump topic is the most common and can be thought of as a jump to another Web page that has name of TopicName.HTM. The .HTM file extension is automatically added. This will be marked in a green colour in your document.

A popup topic. These are not available in EasyHTMLHelp yet, but are included for future compatibility. At the moment these act in the same way as jump topics, except that, by default, the topic title is NOT underlined in the output HTM file. This will be marked in a blue colour in your document.

An inline jump topic. A demonstration of the use of inline topics can be found in the ATOZ.DOC example file. It is a position part of the way down a Web page that can be jumped to by clicking on a link. This will be marked in a dark cyan colour in your document.

An inline popup topic. Useful, for example, when you want to use a definition, which forms PART of a main topic as a separate HTM file in its own right, without having to redefine it. It marks an area in a jump topic (Web page) that is also extracted to create a separate Web page.  This will be marked in a grey colour in your document.

Tip The colours used to mark Topics and Links can be changed by editing the EASYHH.INI file. Read the EasyHTMLHelp Help file for details.

More about topics later.

#TJLinks#What are Links?

Links navigate to a topic. A link is normally associated with a word or phrase in your document. The words hypertext links, hyperlinks, URLs or hot spots are often used to describe links.

Tip Besides using the 'Link' icon on the toolbar to mark a topic you can use a keyboard shortcut by pressing 'Ctrl+Shift+L'. And if you prefer to use the menus you will find the link function on the EasyHH menu.

Tip Most of the shortcut keys used by EasyHTMLHelp use the same technique of holding 'Ctrl+Shift' down (use your thumb and finger) and pressing a single letter.

With the link function you can mark a new link or edit an existing one. If you have highlighted the text of an existing link you will be able to edit the link.

There are two types of link:

A jump link. This will be marked in a dark red colour in your document. A jump link is the most common and can be thought of as a jump to another Web page. A jump link should always link to a jump topic.

Jump links are also used to link to an inline jump type of topic.

A popup link. This will be marked in dark yellow colour in your document. At the present time, these links operate in a similar way to Jump links.

Popup links are also used to link to an inline popup type of topic.

Tip The colours can be changed by editing the EASYHH.INI file. Read the EasyHTMLHelp help file for details.

More about links later.

#TJProcess#What does the Process step do?

Process creates, from your topics in Word format, separate HTML files (Web pages). If you have not created any topics at all in your document, Process will create one HTML file only.

Your original document always remains a Word document!

You can use EasyHTMLHelp to mark-up your Word document with topics and links in such a way that you can print off your document exactly as it is shown on your screen. The Process step takes your document and creates a set of individual HTML pages.

#TJResults#What does the Results step do?

Results launches your preferred #LPWeb#Browser and opens the Web page created from the first Topic in your document.

#TJBuild#What does the Build step do?

Build compiles all the HTML files in your project's Web output folder into a new Windows 98 style, HTML Help file.

#TJHtml#HTML Files

HTML files are ASCII files with embedded tags that can be used with a WEB browser. With EasyHTMLHelp you do not need to know the format of these complicated tags, simply use the features of Microsoft Word to author your documents.

What is a WEB browser?

You use a WEB browser to view your HTML files.

Two of the most popular browsers are:

Internet Explorer

Netscape

What is Hypertext?

Ted Nelson, a guru of alternative uses of technology, picked up the concept of hypertext in the late 1960's. The term is used to describe 'non sequential text fragments linked together with hot spots called hypertext links'.

With the addition of multimedia capabilities, hypertext becomes hypermedia.

The Microsoft Help engine and the World Wide Web are examples of hypermedia browsing systems.

Compiled HTML

Compiled HTML is the new Windows 98 style Help format.