You are here: Features > Skins (Windows) > Editing Skin Settings

Editing Skin Settings

After you add a skin to your project (Project>Add Skin), you can open it and edit its settings in the Skin Editor to meet your needs. The skin settings help determine the look and feel of your output window when you build a target.

There are various skin editing tasks for the different online output types in Flare (DotNet Help, HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, WebHelp Mobile). The primary tasks that you can perform are listed below. There are two kinds of skins—Standard skins for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, DotNet Help, and HTML Help outputs; and WebHelp Mobile skins for WebHelp Mobile output.

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

Styles For certain elements of the online output window (e.g., navigation pane, TOC or browse sequence entries, index keywords) you can determine skin style settings. You can edit styles in Standard skins to make changes for WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, WebHelp AIR, DotNet Help, and HTML Help outputs. In addition, you can edit styles in WebHelp Mobile skins to make changes for WebHelp Mobile output. See Specifying Skin Style Settings.
Tabs/accordions/links 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 (except for a glossary, which is included in the TOC as a book). If you are creating DotNet Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR, these elements will display as accordion items in the output window. If you are creating WebHelp Mobile output, the elements will display as simple links. See Specifying Navigation Elements to Include in 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. See Specifying Custom Settings for Topic Toolbars.

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

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.
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.

Tasks for DotNet Help, HTML Help, WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, and WebHelp Mobile outputs only

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.

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

Feedback comments Users can enter comments on your Help topics. These comments may be viewed (and replied to) by all other users viewing the output. See Enabling User Comments in Skins.
Feedback email notifications You can specify in a skin whether end users can see, and therefore select, various email notification options when submitting a comment for the first time or editing their profile. See Displaying Feedback Notification Options to Users.
Feedback profile fields When your end users attempt to submit Feedback 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 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.

Tasks for HTML Help only

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). See Specifying Buttons for HTML Help Output.
Index - binary You can create a binary index for your project. 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.
Index - bookmarks If you want index term links to point to the exact spot in the topic where the index marker has been set, you need to specify this in the Skin Editor. Otherwise, the index term links will point to the topic in general. However, by pointing to the individual index markers, the index may not display the way you want if the index term points to multiple topics and you also have created a binary index. In other words, index entries pointing to multiple topics will display the index terms repeated instead of the topic title. A workaround is to deselect the binary index option in the Skin Editor. However, keep in mind that a binary index is required if you want to merge CHM files. See Including Bookmarks in Index Entries.
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. 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). 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. 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.
Window - user-defined position/size You can let end users control the position and size of the output window by using an option on the HTML Help Setup tab of the Skin Editor. This option causes an HTML Help (CHM) file to save its window position and size after its first use. The next time, it will open at the same window position and size. See Enabling User-Defined Window Position and Size for HTML Help Output.

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

About box You can select a picture to be used for the "About box" in the output window. You can use this About box for any purpose you like. See Selecting a Picture for the About Box.
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.

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

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 output. This shifts the navigation buttons to the left. See Excluding Accordion Titles from WebHelp Output.
Navigation link - standalone topics You can add a navigation link to the top or bottom of topics in WebHelp, WebHelp Plus, or WebHelp AIR outputs. 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.

Tasks for WebHelp and WebHelp Plus outputs only

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 or WebHelp Plus topic, you can specify this in the Skin Editor. See Feedback options—Server or Service and Enabling User Comments in Skins.

Tasks for WebHelp Mobile outputs only

Display number of items Because a mobile device is quite small, a user sometimes cannot see all of the information normally seen in one of the other online outputs. When a user opens a TOC, browse sequence, or index, it is not immediately apparent in mobile output how many items are associated with a particular entry. Therefore, Flare lets you specify that the number of items associated with each entry should be shown. See Specifying the Number of Items Next to TOC, Browse Sequence, or Index Entries .

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. For more information see About Language Support and Editing Language Skins.

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.

WHAT'S NEXT?

After you have finished editing skin settings, you need to make sure the skin is associated with a target that you want to build.