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Subject:Re: Win95 Help questions From:Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET> Date:Wed, 12 Jun 1996 07:01:00 EST
At 01:48 PM 6/11/96 -0700, you wrote:
>It's almost time for the big convention and I have to make my help file
>this week. Before I do I have a quick question for anyone who has made
>Windows standard help.
>First, is that yellow and tan color really the Win95 standard? It is
>considered uncouth to change your help colors to match your company's
>colors?
Forget colors. The user can set his colors to whatever scheme he wants
anyway, so color is a nonissue.
>Second, has anyone tested the size of the window to find the perfect ratio
>for all screen types?
There isn't any such standard. The "golden rectangle" is 3X5, but that
doesn't help much when the dialog box you're snapping is 2X3. And besides,
most users have by now wasted their older VGAs and (shudder) EGAs and have
gone to SVGA. Set up for VGA resolution and you'll be fine. But recognize
that users can change the window size at will, so it may be a nonissue for
you, too.
>Third, should the help window display in the center of the screen, or can I
>move it off to the side?
Yep, that can be set. Almost the entire range of options for a main window
can be set, including opening size and position. If you're doing all this
manually, it's done in the [windows] section of the HPJ. But again, position
can be instantly changed by the user. My typical approach is to open the
thing in the center of the screen and let the user move it if he wants to.
Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support ForeHelp support
Makers of DuoFrame, giving you online help and paper
documentation from a single parent FrameMaker document.
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