Webhelp Layout similar to FrameMaker HTML5 output?

[r47926]

I'm currently using FrameMaker with DITA. I've wanted to move away from FrameMaker for a while now, unfortunately, continously appearing obstacles have kept me from tackling that. (But then again, continuing to use FrameMaker is an obstacle in itself as well...)

Anyway, one of the things I'd need from Oxygen would be a webhelp output with a modern look and responsive design, which is based on the well-known CHM layout.
Basically a similar one like FrameMaker has:
https://help.adobe.com/en_US/framemaker ... lcome.html

Is this possible and easy to achieve with Oxygen? The standard output looks quite basic and has the search bar always at the top.
https://www.oxygenxml.com/xml_webhelp/w ... nsive.html

I've already seen this post, where a github with code/plugins is linked.
post70603.html#p70603

However, I don't have Oxygen yet and I'd first like to know what is possible concerning the webhelp output and how much effort and time I'd have to put in it.

[alin]

Hello,

Oxygen WebHelp generates an HTML5 output with responsive layout. The WebHelp Responsive output features 4 page types:

• Main page - the home page
• Topic page - generated for each DITA topic
• Search Results page
• Index Terms page

The layout of the topic pages is somewhat similar to the CHM layout. It contains a Publication TOC displayed in the left side of the page. The main area of the page displays the content of the currently selected topic in the TOC.
Here is an example from our User Manual: https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... mport.html

Oxygen WebHelp provides support for customizing the output to suit your specific needs and obtain a layout that matches the appearance and functionality of the CHM layout.

To change the overall appearance of your WebHelp Responsive output, you can use several different customization methods or a combination of methods.
The most basic way to customize the output is by configuring certain transformation parameters: https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... eters.html
You can style your WebHelp output through your own custom CSS files: https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... h-css.html
Moreover, you can contribute custom HTML content and reference additional resources in the output files: https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... -html.html
If you want to change the HTML content generated for a certain component or if you want to rearrange the components in the output pages you can extend the default processing using XSLT extension points: https://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/versions/ ... mport.html

You can find out more details about how the WebHelp Responsive output can be customized in the following webinar: https://www.oxygenxml.com/events/2022/w ... utput.html

Regards,
Alin

[chrispitude]

Hi r47926,

If you wanted to incorporate additional responsive HTML5 aspects into your WebHelp output, you could use the technique provided here:

Placing topic content into responsive tiles

- Chris

[galanohan]

In the memory pieces of mine, I still remember once there was a Talking Circle Webhelp transformation scenarios came with oxygen xml editor v25.0 or maybe earlier. In the webhelp main page, there was a main page title like "Talking Circle" or something similar in grey. Then after several updates per v25.0, I can't find it in my DITA transformation scenarios. Was there a rollback on this nice little scenario? I was thinking about have a quick comparison between Talking circle and classic Webhelp Responsive, then all of a sudden it's gone, not knowing what I have done to the software. (I did modify some framework folders but not this one I believe)

Is there a way to get it back? @Alin

[Radu]

Hi,

In this Oxygen samples folder "OXYGEN_INSTALL_DIR/samples/dita/talking-circle/" there is a subproject named "talking-circle.xpr", if you open it as a project it has a specific transformation scenario saved at project level.

Regards,
Radu

[galanohan]

Ah, there it is! Thank you!