HelpStudio 2011.1.91 released - long list of new features

Yesterday (5th July 2011) we released an update 2011.1.91 for both Document! X and HelpStudio. This update contained a number of new features and enhancements. In fact, the list was so long for this particular update that we thought a forum post would be helpful to draw attention to some of the key new features. If you have HelpStudio 2011 installed, just use Check for Updates from the Start Menu Group to download and install the update.

Add as Keyword context menu command: Select some text in the content editor, right click and select "Add as Keyword" from the context menu to create a new index keyword for the selected text.

Create / Insert Glossary Reference: Select some text in the content editor, right click and select "Create Glossary Reference" to create a new Glossary Term from the selected text. If the term already exists an "Insert Glossary Reference" is provided instead. Executing this command will surround the selection with the Glossary reference delimiters ($$) and "Create Glossary Reference" will additionally open the Glossary Editor for you to author the definition of the new Glossary Term.

Replace with Thumbnail: Right click a full size image in the content editor, right click and select "Replace with Thumbnail" to generate a thumbnail version of the image (if one doesn't already exist) and replace the full size image with a Dynamic Image Widget using the new thumbnail with just one click.

Last Built Gallery: Right next to the Build button on the ribbon you can now find a "Last Built" button. When clicked, this will drop down a list of the last build outputs generated by each of your projects Build Profiles and Booklets, including date and time stamps. This makes it really easy to open and view the results of your last build after you have closed the Build Results window.

Close All But This: Right click on a document window tab header and click "Close All But This" to close every other window.

Full Screen Mode (F11): Press F11 or click "Full-Screen Mode" on the Tools\Window Layouts ribbon drop down to toggle Full Screen Mode. In Full Screen Mode all docking windows are temporarily hidden and the Ribbon collapsed to maximize the document window area. This allows you to instantly maximize authoring screen space without having to re-arrange or collapse dock windows. Press F11 again to show all the dockwindows and restore the Ribbon again.

Custom Html Help (CHM) Window Settings: A set of new fields on the Output Type page in the Build Profile Editor allow you to customize features and functionality in generated Html Help (CHM) output, including which buttons are displayed, the initial size of the window etc.

Foreground and Background color pickers: For those who would prefer to apply foreground or background colors without using the Style Builder or creating re-usable style rules, there are now pickers on the Content Authoring ribbon tab for convenience. These pickers apply the chosen color as an inline CSS Style Rule.

Design / Source View Hotkeys: 2 new hotkeys have been added for switching between views in the content editors. Shift+F7 will switch to the next view (e.g. from Design to XHTML). Shift+F6 will switch to the previous view (e.g. from XHTML to Design).

Ribbon KeyTips: KeyTips have been added to every command on the Ribbon, and for each Ribbon Tab. You can now use Alt key combinations to execute any command on the Ribbon or to switch Ribbon tabs.

Paste Image from Clipboard: Images can now be pasted into the content editors directly from the clipboard. When you Paste with an Image on the clipboard (e.g. from a browser or Word document) you will be prompted to provide a filename for the image. The image will then be saved, added to the project, and inserted into the content editor in one operation.

Locale Specific Other Files: When building output for secondary locales, a locale specific path will be checked for each other file (script, stylesheet image). For example if you have an image with a file name of images\screenshots\mainscreen.png you can put the translated image for the German locale in this location: images.de-DE\screenshots\mainscreen.png or images.de\screenshots\mainscreen.png (checked after the full locale identifier). You do not have to replicate the entire set of other files - only those files that exist in the locale specific path will be used during the build and any that are not found will use the main file version.

Mini Toc Widget: This new widget type allows you to include an Html representation of a portion of the Table of Contents in your content.

Authoring Note Widget: This new widget type will not appear in any output so is useful for authoring notes in the content (e.g. notes that might be helpful for future maintenance by authors).

List Start Number: For Numbered Lists you can now set a custom start number using a new field in the Style Picker window. This makes it simple to create continuous numbering across two or more separate numbered lists.

If you have any questions about the new features, or any suggestions for other features you would like to see implemented, please drop us an email to support@innovasys.com.

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