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Within the body of a help topic, you have the following elements to choose
from to organize and present your information:
Paragraphs are used for bodies of text.
Lists are used for itemized information. There are
several types of lists including bulleted, ordered (numbered), and
plain.
Subheadings let you partion sections within a topic.
Graphics can be included within your text as inline
graphics or displayed between paragraphs as stand-alone figures.
Hyperlinks provide references to related topics. A
hyperlink may lead to a subtopic, deeper in the hierarchy, or branch to
a topic in a completely different part of the hierarchy, or even in
another help volume.
Computer literals are computer-recognized text, such as
file names and variable names, that can be displayed as either separate
example listings or inline elements.
Notes, cautions, and warnings call the reader's attention
to important information.
Emphasis enables you to highlight important words and
phrases within paragraph text.
To start a paragraph | |
Insert a blank line after the previous paragraph or other element.
Or, use the <p indent> element and parameter if the paragraph
is to be indented.
Or, use the <image> element if you want the paragraph to maintain the line breaks that you enter in your source file.
An end tag for <p> is not required. However, the <\image> end
tag is required with the <image> element.
Examples. Here are two paragraphs, separated by a blank line. Because neither
paragraph has any special parameters, the <p> tag does not have to be
entered (it is assumed when you enter one or more blank lines):
Many people prefer online help over printed
manuals because finding information can be
done more quickly. For those people, HP Help
works well on screen.
For people who prefer to read a printed page,
HP Help offers full WYSIWYG printing. Printed
output includes multi-font text formatting and
graphics.
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If you want a paragraph indented from the left margin, include the optional
indent parameter:
<p indent>An indented paragraph can be used
to draw the reader's attention to an idea.
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The following paragraph overrides the automatic word wrap in help windows
and maintains the line breaks exactly as entered in the source file. The
<image> element is especially useful for entering addresses.
<image>
Hewlett-Packard Company
User Interface Technology Division
Corvallis, Oregon
<\image>
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See Also.
To enter a list | |
Use the <list> element as shown:
<list type spacing>
* item
* item
.
.
.
* item
<\list>
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Where type indicates the type of list you want: bullet (default),
order, or plain; and spacing is loose (default) or
tight. Each item in the list is marked with an asterisk (*). Or, to create a labeled list without headings, use the <lablist> element as shown:
<lablist spacing>
\label 1\ item 1 text
\label 2\ item 2 text
.
.
.
\label N\ item N text
<\lablist>
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Where spacing is loose (default) or tight.
Or, to create a labeled list with headings, use the <lablist>
and <labheads> elements as shown:
<lablist spacing>
<labheads> \ heading for labels \ heading for items
\label 1\ item 1 text
\label 2\ item 2 text
.
.
.
\label N\ item N text
<\lablist>
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Examples. Here's a simple list. Because the type isn't specified, it defaults to a bulleted list. Because spacing isn't specified, it defaults to loose, which leaves a blank line between each item.
<list>
* chocolate
* raspberry
* vanilla
<\list>
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To format the same list without bullets or numbers and with reduced spacing
between items, you would use:
<list plain tight>
* chocolate
* raspberry
* vanilla
<\list>
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Here's a list of labeled chapter descriptions. The optional label
headings are not provided.
<lablist tight>
\Chapter 1\ An overview of the system.
\Chapter 2\ How to install the system.
\Chapter 3\ How to use the system.
\Appendix A\ A quick-reference description of all system features.
<\lablist>
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See Also. “<list>” summarizes the use of the <list> element and provides additional examples. “<lablist>” summarizes the use of the
<lablist> and <labheads> elements and provides
additional examples.
To provide subheadings within a topic | |
For midsize headings (slightly smaller than the topic title),
use the following markup:
Or, for small headings, use the following markup:
Subheadings add structure within a topic, but they do not
affect the topic hierarchy.
Example. Here the <procedure> element is used to add a small heading just
before each paragraph.
<procedure>Online Help is Preferred by Many
Many people prefer online help over printed
manuals because finding information can be
done more quickly. For those people, HP Help
works well on screen.
<procedure>WYSIWYG Printing!
For people who prefer to read a printed page,
HP Help offers full WYSIWYG printing. Printed
output includes multi-font text formatting and
graphics.
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To show a computer listing | |
For computer listings that do not contain any special character
sequences that will be interpreted as HelpTag markup, use the <ex>
(example) element as show:
<ex size>
Computer text here.
<\ex>
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For computer listings that do contain special character sequences
used by HelpTag, use the <vex> (verbatim example) element as
shown:
<vex size>
Computer text here.
<\vex>
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The optional size attribute, which
determines the size of the font used to display the example,
can be specified as smaller or smallest.
Line breaks appear where you enter them in your source file. If
the example is too wide for the help window, a horizontal scroll bar
appears so the reader can scroll to see all the example text.
See Also.
To add a note, caution, or warning | |
Include the <note>, <caution>, or <warning> element as
follows:
<note>
Body of note here.
<\note>
<caution>
Body of caution here.
<\caution>
<warning>
Body of warning here.
<\warning>
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To associate an icon with the note, caution, or warning
element, define a file entity that
identifies the graphics file containing the icon. Use one of the
pre-defined entity names:
<!ENTITY NoteElementDefaultIconFile FILE "filename">
<!ENTITY CautionElementDefaultIconFile FILE "filename">
<!ENTITY WarningElementDefaultIconFile FILE "filename">
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If you do not want icons with notes, cautions, or warnings, simply don't
declare the corresponding entities. (Remember, all entity declarations
must come before any other markup at the beginning of your help volume.)
If you include such an entity reference, be sure the graphics file
is in your HelpTag search path (helptag.opt). Sample icons are provided in /usr/vhelp/helptag/icons/.
If you create your own icon images for notes, cautions, and warnings,
be sure to keep them small so they will fit into the area allocated.
Example. If you declare the following entity:
<!ENTITY CautionElementDefaultIconFile FILE "caution.pm">
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and include the following note and caution in your help volume:
<note>
Pay attention -- this is important.
<\note>
<caution>
Don't try this at home!
<\caution>
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then the note is displayed without an icon, and the warning is
displayed using the caution.pm graphic as its icon.
(The caution.pm file must be in
your HelpTag search path, which is specified in your helptag.opt file.)
See Also.
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