New to responsive design concepts in general? How to do responsive design in MadCap Flare and Adobe RoboHelp? Take a look at my presentation from Lavacon 2014.
3. Who Am I?
Neil Perlin - Hyper/Word Services.
– Internationally recognized content consultant.
– Helps clients create effective, efficient, flexible
content in anything from hard-copy to mobile.
– MadCap-certified Flare trainer/consultant since
pre-alpha in 2005.
– Using/training/consulting on RoboHelp since
1991, eHelp/Macromedia/Adobe-certified
since 1997.
4. The Issues
What is responsive design?
Why is it important?
How does it work?
How to create it in a HAT if you’re not a coder.
– Using two major HATs, Flare and RoboHelp
6. What Is Responsive Design?
Creating one web site/help output that can detect
a display device’s properties and automatically
reformat itself accordingly.
– Vs creating one site/output for each device.
Developed by Ethan Marcotte in 2010.
– See http://alistapart.com/article/responsive-web-
design/
For example…
10. Why It’s Important
In general – Makes it easier for web pages to
address the growing universe of display devices.
In tech comm – Lets us create content to run on
any display device (within reason) readers may
have.
– IMO, the biggest thing to hit the output side of
tech comm since HTML in 1997.
11. Why It’s Important
Why not just
develop a
separate site/
output for
each device
out there?
» 99designs.com
13. How It Works – Uses…
Relative formatting for text, images, and tables.
– Use % or ems (or the newer but less supported
rem) rather than points.
– Lets the browser dynamically resize elements.
14. How It Works – Uses…
“Fluid grids” to reformat blocks of content as
device size (or another property) changes.
From this –
To this –
Controlled through the CSS “float” style – no
more table-based layouts.
15. How It Works – Uses…
“Media queries” – formulas that test whether a
device meets certain property values and
reformats the content if it does, such as:
– @media screen and (min: width) 320px
– Tests whether the device is a screen and is at
least 320px wide – “320px” is a “breakpoint”.
16. Conceptual Summary
So doing this calls for some knowledge of CSS,
HTML, and good coding practice.
What if you’re not a coder?
HATs let you create responsive design now with
no coding but with some early limitations and
oddities.
– Should be fixed in future releases.
– Should be okay now for typical, simple help
systems.
18. The Tasks
Use relative size units via the CSS.
Create a fluid grid using “float” styles from the
CSS, depending on your content layout
complexity.
Invoke your HAT’s responsive design feature.
Specify the breakpoints.
Design the layouts for each breakpoint.
Generate, view, and test the output.
20. Use Relative Size Units
All formatting via the Stylesheet Editor using
relative size units.
21. “Float” Your Graphics
In the img tag via the Stylesheet Editor using the
float style in the Box functional group.
22. Invoke Responsive Design
Set the breakpoints
on the Skin Editor’s
Setup tab.
– Note that there’s
just one tablet
breakpoint.
23. Set the Breakpoints
Don’t try to set the
breakpoint values
for specific devices.
– You’ll go crazy trying to decide which devices
to base the decision on and only have two
options anyway.
Instead, test your output to find sizes where the
design gets iffy and set your breakpoints there.
24. Set the Breakpoints
To find generic breakpoints, simply resize the
browser window containing the output.
Demo…
25. Define the Mediums (Layouts)
Define the properties for each medium on the
Skin Editor Styles tab.
Note the three output type mediums on the Skin
Editor toolbar.
– Use the UI Text tab to change the wording of
any UI element.
26. Define the Mediums (Layouts)
Click the Highlight option on the Skin Editor
toolbar to highlight the setting for a selected
item on the preview or vice versa.
Demo…
27. Watch Out For…
Local formatting in legacy projects.
Can only define one tablet breakpoint in v. 10.
– May be important if you need to distinguish
between 10” and 7” tablets.
– Hopefully multiple tablet breakpoints in v. 11.
Some skin editor settings are hard-coded – e.g.
logo always left-justified for Web but centered
for Tablet and Mobile.
28. Watch Out For…
Settings hierarchies – ex. Background priority
hierarchy is Image > Gradient > Color.
– Must set image field to None and Gradient to
Transparent for a Color setting to work.
30. Use Relative Size Units
All formatting
via the Styles
pod using
relative size
units.
RH doesn’t
offer % and em
options but
supports them
if you type
them.
32. Set the Breakpoints
Can’t change the default breakpoints through the
GUI.
Must do so through a schema file and the CSS.
– Not difficult but you should be comfortable
working in code.
– If you are and want the instructions, email me.
– Hope to see this changed in RH12.
33. You Can Now Either…
Design the layout, then invoke responsive
design and call the layout, or
Invoke responsive design, then call the/a layout
(and modify it if necessary).
– I’ll show option 1 because I think its workflow
is simpler but the choice is yours.
34. Design the Layout
Add your new layout under Screen Layouts on
the Project
Set-Up pod.
Then right-click
on your layout
and select
Edit – opens
the Layout
Editor.
35. Design the Layouts
Select a layout component.
Then modify
it using the
preview to
identify it on
the Properties
list.
Demo…
36. Invoke Responsive Design
Select Responsive HTML5 in the SSL folder,
click the Select button to pick a layout.
– Or the
Customize…
button to
open and
customize an
existing
layout in
the Layout
Editor.
37. Watch Out For…
Local formatting in legacy projects.
Need to edit a schema file and a CSS file to
change the breakpoints.
Some skin editor settings are hard-coded, such
as placement of navigation options strip.
Can’t modify TOC, index, glossary, or general
navigation differently for mobile and tablet –
settings are “mobile/tablet”.
38. What’s MultiScreen HTML5?
Responsive design creates one output that adapts
itself automatically based on the device.
– With only one set of content, variables, etc.,
since there’s only one output.
Multiscreen supports different output settings
and different content, etc. for each device.
– More device-granular content and design but
takes more work since you must define the
multiple devices individually.
39. Summary – Best Practices
Design your content for “undesktop-first” via
fluid layout grids, relative sizes, etc.
Eliminate local formatting, period.
Images:
– Insert sequential images using the CSS “float”
style – no more table-based insertion.
– Size images dynamically using % or em units.
» But are images legible at smaller sizes. Can you
conditionalize them out? Effect on content?
40. Summary – Best Practices
Use “autofit to window” option for tables.
Define “device class” or “category” breakpoints
rather than device-specific ones.
Consider effects of using
low-res pointers
on the interface
and interactivity.
41. Summary
Lots of new technical, design, and output
challenges.
– Define your terms and platforms.
It sounds daunting, but so did the move by tech
comm to online help and the web in the ‘90s and
still today.
We met those challenges – time to do so again.
42. Hyper/Word Services Offers…
Training • Consulting • Development
Flare • Flare CSS • Flare Single Sourcing
RoboHelp • RoboHelp CSS • RoboHelp
HTML5
ViziApps
Single sourcing • Structured authoring