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Skin Editor

This editor is used to develop a skin to be used with one or more targets in your project. A skin is a file that contains information about the appearance of the output window (such as its size and positioning, which buttons or tabs it should include, and style settings). The Skin Editor consists of several tabs. For more information, see About Skins.

You can accomplish many things in this editor. Some of the primary tasks that you can perform are listed below.

Tasks for all online output types (DotNet Help, HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR) 

• Caption You can enter the caption that you want to be used at the top of your online Help window (e.g., in the title bar of the browser window or HTML Help viewer). See Specifying the Caption for the Output Window.
• Comments If you want end users to be able to enter community-wide Feedback comments in the online output and view recent comments, you need to open the skin associated with the target and select the appropriate option(s). See Enabling User Comments in Skins.
• Feedback profile fields When your end users attempt to submit Feedback community-wide comments in your output for the first time, they must first register by completing the Create Feedback Service Profile dialog (unless you enable anonymous comments for your output via the external Feedback Explorer). In your Flare skin, you can customize that Create Feedback Service Profile dialog, including which fields end users must complete and the way it looks. Two fields are always required in the Create Feedback Service Profile dialog—Username and Email. In addition to those fields, you can choose from several others to add, such as name, address, fax, department, and more. See Specifying Fields for the Create Feedback Service Profile dialog.
• Preview You can see how your skin settings look in each of the online output types. See Previewing the Skin for a Specific Output Type.
• Size/positioning You can set the size and position of the output window. The size refers to the height and width of the output window. The position refers to the distance that the output window is placed from the top, bottom, left, and right of the user's computer screen. See Specifying the Size and Position of the Output Window.
• Styles You can determine the style settings for certain elements of the online output window (e.g., navigation pane, TOC or browse sequence entries, index keywords). All of these styles pertain to WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR output. Some of the settings (e.g., those that have to do with MadCap Feedback or topic toolbars) also apply to HTML Help and DotNet Help output. See Specifying Style Settings for DotNet Help Output, Specifying Style Settings for WebHelp Output, Specifying Style Settings for HTML Help Output, and Specifying Style Settings for Feedback Interface Elements.
• Synchronize You can customize your output so that users can always see where the current topic belongs in the table of contents (TOC), even if they did not access the topic via the TOC. This can be done by selecting the "Automatically Synchronize TOC" option in the Skin Editor. When users navigate from topic to topic in the output, the TOC automatically changes accordingly, highlighting the topic that is open. See Synchronizing the TOC with Open Topics.
• Tabs/accordions You can determine which navigation elements from your project (TOC, Index, Search, Glossary, Browse Sequences, Favorites) that you want users to have access to in the output. If you are creating HTML Help output, these elements will display as tabs in the output window. If you are creating DotNet Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR, these elements will display as accordion items in the output window. See Specifying Tabs or Accordion Items to Include in the Output Window and Specifying the Default Tab or Accordion Item for the Output Window.
• Topic toolbars In addition to the regular toolbars that can be included in all online outputs (via the Help Viewer or through the use of skins), you have another option for including toolbars. This option lets you insert toolbars anywhere in any topics. This feature is available for any of the online output formats (DotNet Help, HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR). See Specifying Custom Settings for Topic Toolbars.

Tasks for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, and HTML Help outputs only

• About box You can select a picture to be used for the "About box" in the output window (for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, or HTML Help). You can use this About box for any purpose you like. See Selecting a Picture for the About Box.

• Toolbar settings You can specify toolbar settings for WebHelp, WebHelp AIR, WebHelp Plus, and HTML Help output. This includes determining which buttons are displayed in the toolbar. You can also add custom JavaScript for the toolbar. See Specifying Custom Toolbar Settings for WebHelp Output and Specifying Custom Toolbar Settings for HTML Help Output.

  Note: Although you cannot specify buttons for DotNet Help in the regular toolbar (because the buttons are automatically included in the DotNet Help Viewer), you can specify buttons for customized topic toolbars in DotNet Help output. See Specifying Custom Settings for Topic Toolbars.

Tasks for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, and WebHelp AIR outputs only

• Accordion title You can exclude the accordion title from and output. This shifts the navigation buttons to the left. See Excluding Accordion Titles from WebHelp Output.
• Browser settings You can specify which features will be used in the output window when a browser is involved. See Specifying Browser Settings for WebHelp Output.
• Comments - bottom of topics If you want MadCap Feedback comments to be displayed automatically at the bottom of each WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR topic, you can specify this in the Skin Editor. See About MadCap Feedback and Enabling User Comments in Skins.
• Navigation link - standalone topics You can add a navigation link to the top or bottom of topics in any of the WebHelp outputs (WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR). This navigation link will not display unless the output topic is opened as a standalone (outside of the main navigation framework of the Help system). By clicking the link, a user can view the standalone topic in the main navigation framework. See Showing Navigation Links in WebHelp Standalone Topics.
• Navigation pane You can specify navigation settings for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR output. The navigation pane is used to hold the TOC, Index, Search, Glossary, Browse Sequences, and Favorites in an accordion-type structure. See Specifying Navigation Pane Settings for WebHelp Output.

• Buttons You can select the Help buttons that you would like to include in the output window (e.g., Hide, Forward, Back, Print, customized buttons). These buttons pertain to HTML Help output. See Specifying Buttons for HTML Help Output.
• Index - binary You can create a binary index for your project (if you are producing HTML Help). Binary indexes are intended for merging multiple CHM files when you build a target. The index keywords in the CHM files are sorted alphabetically and numerically for display in the output. See Creating a Binary Index.
• Navigation pane You can specify navigation pane settings for HTML Help output. This includes setting the width of the navigation pane and determining whether it shown or hidden under different circumstances. The navigation pane is used to hold elements such as TOCs and indexes. See Specifying Navigation Pane Settings for HTML Help Output.
• TOC - binary You can create a binary table of contents (TOC) for your project (if you are producing HTML Help). Binary TOCs are intended for very large compiled Microsoft HTML Help projects, reducing the amount of time it takes to load a TOC. See Creating a Binary TOC.
• TOC - look You can specify the look and feel of your table of contents (TOC) for HTML Help output. This includes adding plus/minus squares next to entries, changing the book/folder icons, adding border around the TOC, and more. See Specifying How the TOC Looks in HTML Help Output.
• Toolbar You can add a Web toolbar that displays at the top of each topic in HTML Help output. This toolbar is added automatically if you have enabled MadCap Feedback in the target, but you can add the toolbar manually in the Skin Editor, even if you are not using MadCap Feedback. See Adding a Web Toolbar to HTML Help Output.

Note: If you want to display the output user interface in a particular language, you can modify styles in a language skin instead of a regular skin. When you generate output, Flare first looks at the Skin Editor. If it does not find manually entered settings in that editor, it uses those from the Language Skin Editor. If it does not find settings in either editor, it uses the default skin settings. For more information, see About Language Support.

Note: You can download a variety of free skins with different looks from the MadCap Software website. Simply go to http://madcapsoftware.com/downloads/utilities/flareskingallery.aspx. After downloading the skin, you can import it into your project. See Importing Skins.

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