Archive for category WebHelp
Help+Manual 9 – New Major Release!
Posted by Alexander Halser in eWriter, Help+Manual, PDF, Skins, Software Updates, Version Control, WebHelp on November 19, 2022
With great pleasure we announce the release of Help+Manual version 9!
This is a major release with plenty of new features, most importantly: support for GIT.
What’s new in Help+Manual 9
- Version Control with GIT Support
- Image Styles
- Figure Tables and Figure Links
- PDF Merging
- Premium Pack 5
- And a lot more…
GIT Support in Help+Manual 9
Click here to learn more about this major update!
If you are currently using Help+Manual 8…
Please note that version 9 uses the same license keys as Help+Manual 8 – your current license keys remain valid! Version 9 is a free update for all users of Help+Manual 8 with active maintenance.
How can you find out if your version 8 license still includes maintenance?
- Start your current version of Help+Manual 8
- In the Help tab, click “License and Maintenance”
- If maintenance includes November 19, version 9 is included as free update
- If it has expired, click “Extend Maintenance Period” to renew it
In Germany: Turn Google Web Fonts OFF
Posted by tim green in Help+Manual, Skins, WebHelp on August 5, 2022
This posting is only for users hosting WebHelp in Germany with Google Web Fonts activated in their Premium Pack V3 or V4 skins. Due to a recent GPDR ruling by a Munich court, users in Germany can “abmahn” and possibly charge website operators for using Google Web Fonts because they send the user’s IP address to Google. If you are hosting anywhere else this posting is not relevant for you and you can stop reading here. Because of this, the rest of the post is in German.
Die Abmahner haben wieder zugeschlagen
Nach einem Urteil vom Landgericht München, verstoßen dynamische Google Web Fonts gegen das DSGVO, weil das System die IP-Adresse des Benutzers an Google übermittelt. Das öffnet Tür und Tor für Abmahnungen und Zahlungsforderungen durch Rechtsanwälte und Privatpersonen. Um mögliche Probleme zu vermeiden, müssen Sie so schnell wie möglich dynamische Google Web Fonts in Ihrem V3- oder V4-Skin von Premium Pack 3 oder 4 ausschalten, die WebHelp neu exportieren und neu hochladen.
Premium Pack 4.4.0 Update
Posted by tim green in Browsers, CHM HTML Help, Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Technical Writing, Utilities, WebHelp on February 1, 2022
Sandcastle Tidy, Caret Browsing, Update Skin Config Tool
We are happy to announce the release of Premium Pack 4.4.0 with three new features and a wide range of other improvements and fixes. Sandcastle Tidy puts your Microsoft Sandcastle documentation import fully under the control of the project stylesheet. Caret browsing support for tabbed navigation in the TOC and header has been added to the V3 and V4 skins. The Update Skin Config tool for transferring your settings from old to new skins has been significantly improved, now showing you only the settings in your old skin that are different from those in the new skin.
How to get the Premium Pack update
You can download and install the updated version with the download link and personal installation password you received when you purchased. If you no longer have these details please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 4 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
Premium Pack 4.3.0 Update: SharePoint Embedding
Posted by tim green in Browsers, CHM HTML Help, Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Technical Writing, Uncategorized, Utilities, WebHelp on September 2, 2021
We have just updated Premium Pack 4 to version 4.3, with a couple of major improvements and some minor fixes and fine-tuning.
SharePoint embedding
The main change in this update is support for embedding WebHelp in SharePoint using the V3 and V4 skins. SharePoint administrators can now host WebHelp created with these skins on SharePoint site pages. This will also work on the SharePoint iOS and Android apps on tablets and smartphones. See Embedding in MS SharePoint in the Premium Pack documentation for details and instructions.
How to get the Premium Pack update
You can download and install the updated version with the download link and personal installation password you received when you purchased. If you no longer have these details please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 4 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
Premium Pack 4.2.1 Maintenance Update
Posted by tim green in Browsers, CHM HTML Help, Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Technical Writing, Utilities, WebHelp on June 23, 2021
We have just updated Premium Pack 4 to version 4.2.1. This is a minor maintenance update that adds one important new feature to the Toolbox utility, which can now edit HMXR style repository projects as well as Help+Manual projects and skins.
How to get the Premium Pack update
You can download and install the updated version with the download link and personal installation password you received when you purchased. If you no longer have these details please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 4 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
Main changes and new features
The main change in this otherwise minor update is the addition of the ability of Toolbox to edit style repository projects (.hmxr). This makes it possible to use the new import/export styles tool on these projects as well. You can also use the other topics tools on these projects.
In addition to this, it was found that Help+Manual continues to maintain outdated XSD schema files in some old HMXP projects. This happens when backup or other tools are used that update the XSD file timestamp to the current date, which prevents HM from identifying an outdated file. When Toolbox encounters XSD validation errors it now automatically backdates the XSD, forcing HM to update it next time the project is updated.
Toolbox changes
- Support for editing HMXR projects
- Check for read-only TOC and topic and files in otherwise accessible projects
- Add/Remove prefixes: Error if a topic ID was shorter than the prefix
- XSD validation: Force Help+Manual to update outdated XSD schema file
Skin changes
- The variable for the “Copied!” text in the new code sample boxes was inactive in some skins.
Premium Pack 4.2 Update
Posted by tim green in Browsers, CHM HTML Help, Documentation Authoring, Help+Manual, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Utilities, WebHelp on June 8, 2021
We have just updated Premium Pack 4 to version 4.2.0. This is a significant update with several new features, along with a number of minor fixes and corrections.
How to get the Premium Pack update
You can download and install the updated version with the download link and personal installation password you received when you purchased. If you no longer have these details please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 4 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
Main changes and new features
Version 4.2 includes a general overhaul of a lot of code, also for the update to the latest version of jQuery. Because of this, please don’t try to backport this version to older skins — use the new skins instead. It also brings three major new features:
Code Sample Box
All skins now include a Code Sample Box feature. This enables you to add programming code samples to your documentation in a box with a Copy to Clipboard link that copies the sample code directly to the Windows Clipboard. This even works in CHM files.
Import/Export Styles
The Toolbox utility has a new Import/Export Styles feature, with which you can import individual text, paragraph and table styles to Help+Manual projects from other projects and style files created with the tool. (In Help+Manual itself you can only replace an entire project stylesheet with another one.)
Validate XML against XSD
The Toolbox utility now validates XML against the XSD schema file included with every Help+Manual project. This prevents the accidental creation of invalid HM XML when working on the XML source code, for example with the search and replace tool.
jQuery Update
All skins have been updated to the latest 3.6 version of jQuery. This includes quite a lot of low-level code changes in the scripts, so please don’t try to backport the changes in these skins to older versions. Use the new skins instead.
Toolbox Utility Changes and Fixes
- XML validation against XSD: This checks all projects and skins you open and prevents the creation of invalid XML (see above).
- Import/Export Styles tool: Import individual styles to Help+Manual projects from other projects or style files exported with the tool.
- Normalize Styles: Corrected an error that could incorrectly reset Bold/Underline/Italics formatting when processing some projects.
- Edit Preferences: A message is now displayed in Edit Preferences explaining that all current projects and skins need to be closed to change some options.
- Complex Search & Replace: On some projects the search and replace tool could only be used once if the Autosave feature was active.
- Complex Search & Replace: An error could be generated when replacing in invalid topic files because they were not automatically excluded from searches.
- TOC \Maps folder in uncompressed HMXP projects: Toolbox would crash silently on opening an HMXP project if there were non-TOC files or invalid secondary TOC files in the \Maps folder.
- Plus a number of cosmetic changes, like showing a red explanation that you need to close all projects to be able to edit the disabled preferences in Edit > Preferences.
V3 and V4 WebHelp Skins
- Embedded Help: A new option enables you to leave the WebHelp header visible when opening help embedded in another web page.
- Local without Web Server: Changes in the security features of current browsers caused a number of errors when using these skins in local mode without a web server. These errors have been corrected, along with others caused by some Google Analytics features not being disabled in local mode.
All V3 and V4 Skins
- Image toggle close mode: The Click Inside option for closing image toggles caused an error in some skins.
- Image toggles: Image toggles were inactive when published with Help+Manual 7.
- Search results: Some V3 WebHelp and eWriter skins showed only the project title in the search results instead of the topic title. The incorrect topic title was sometimes shown in the search results in the Advanced skins.
All Skins
- A potential cross-site scripting vulnerability has been corrected in the Zoom Search component. The vulnerability was only available when date range searching was activated. This is only supported the full, standalone version of Zoom, so it was not an issue in WebHelp generated with the version in Help+Manual.
Review of Help+Manual 8 on UA Europe
Posted by tim green in Software Updates, Technical Writing, WebHelp on April 22, 2020
The well-known help technology expert and trainer Matthew Ellison has just published a comprehensive review of Help+Manual 8 on the UA Europe site. As an expert on help authoring, Matthew is uniquely qualified to assess a program like Help+Manual.
Click to view the review
on the UA Europe site
Premium Pack 3.50 Maintenance Update
Posted by tim green in Browsers, Documentation Authoring, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Utilities, WebHelp on January 20, 2020
This update adds some significant improvements to Google Analytics configuration and handling to the V3 WebHelp skins. It also includes some other small improvements and fixes in the V3 WebHelp skins and the Toolbox utility.
How to get the Premium Pack update
You can download and install the updated version with the credentials you received when you purchased. If you no longer have this please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 3 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
V3 WebHelp Skins
- Google Analytics updated from the older gat.js system to the new analytics.js system. This should be more reliable. In addition to this you can now configure inclusion of the WebHelp path, named trackers and the titles of the search and keyword index events in your Google Analytics console. See Google Analytics in the V3 WebHelp skins chapter.
- No Server Mode: Demo links in the header menus failed in some browsers because they used the shorthand // protocol instead of http:// or https://. Browsers have become stricter about resolving links using the shorthand protocol reference since this feature was created.
- No Server Mode: Anchor links in the TOC and keyword index failed as an unintended result of another change in recent updates.
- Permalink tool: The “:” colon character for the port reference was included even when the port was the standard port 80 and was not referenced. This was also caused by a change in browser behavior.
- Smartphone mode: Tables tagged with the phone CSS class were hidden in phone mode because of changes in HM HTML output for tables. This is related to CSS for the X-Tables function that was then applied to other tables.
- X-Tables function: Expanding rows lacked borders in some X-Tables in phone mode. This was also related to changes in Help+Manual HTML output for tables.
Toolbox utility
- Baggage Files — Add File: After adding a Baggage File the column headers of the Baggage Files list were sometimes updated incorrectly.
- Baggage Files — Export File: On some systems the prompt to save the baggage file could appear multiple times when exporting a baggage file.
Premium Pack 3.49 Maintenance Update
Posted by tim green in Documentation Authoring, Scripting, Skins, Software Updates, Utilities, WebHelp on November 29, 2019
We have just released a minor update of the Premium Pack with the improvements and fixes listed below.
How to Get the Premium Pack Update:
You can download and install the updated version with the credentials you received when you purchased. If you no longer have this please contact support@ec-software.com and we will help you out. See the Premium Pack product page for more details on Premium Pack 3 and visit our online store to purchase if you do not yet have it.
V3 Skins (WebHelp and eWriter versions)
- Search highlighting: When the topic already containing search highlighting was selected in the search results after a new search the original highlighting was not removed.
- Google Analytics: Occasionally it was possible for the first topic visited to be tracked twice.
- Google Analytics: Ghostery and other similarly aggressive tracking blockers will no longer cause a critical error in WebHelp. These blockers simply kill the tracking function within the Google script instead of actually blocking the outgoing tracking calls, and this disruption of the script needs to be caught so that it does not terminate all other scripts on the page as well.
- Image toggles: In response to many requests, image toggles are now closed by clicking outside the image in desktop mode. Tablet and phone modes remain unchanged.
- Search results: Breadcrumb trail was not displayed in the header of a topic opened from search results (side-effect of a previous search update).
- Anchor links: Anchor links sometimes did not scroll to the target anchor on internal topic links (side-effect of previous search update).
- TOC: If the last item in the sibling chapter before the current chapter was a sub-chapter clicking the Top button would highlight that sub-chapter instead of the actual parent chapter.
- Android devices: Small script error in some pages corrected. This probably had no effect on performance and only showed up as a JS console message.
- EWriter skins: Removed Android and Google Analytics code that didn’t do anything.
Toolbox utility
- Open new project: The current project will now only be closed if you actually open another project. If you cancel, the current project remains open.
- Save Project button: The save project button now turns green when active for better visibility.
eWriter 2.0 released
Posted by Alexander Halser in HelpXplain, Software Updates, Utilities, WebHelp on October 17, 2019
eWriter is a converter application to turn HTML pages into a self-contained Windows executable or eBook. This output format is integrated into Help+Manual as well (and will soon become available in HelpXplain). The eWriter converter application is the free stand-alone version.
Redesigned Runtime Viewer
The viewer for eWriter eBooks is now a stand-alone app. We have completely rebuilt the viewer app with this version and made it (optionally) available as a separate installer. The viewer looks more modern, but more important is the new code base which it is built on: it is more or less platform-independent.
The eWriter Viewer app is currently available in 32 and 64 bit versions, and it is listed in the Microsoft Store: