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HTML5 Help Center Styling

You can create HTML5 help center layouts that produce a stylish, modern help center. With the default settings in place, the help center has a "hub" homepage that provides links to topics.

You can also use Multi-Publication Portal which is a help center that contains several other publications. For example, you could have a main "hub" homepage that provides links to user guides for several different products.

To customize and style a help center, you can edit the settings in the Layout Editor, Style with CSS and Style with JavaScript.

help-center-default.jpg

The tree of items you can choose to style in the Layout Editor is divided into several sections. Each section is described below, with the items you can style and the options available for them.

Many of the items and options are self-explanatory and have explanations right in the Layout Editor. So only the items that may not be immediately transparent are explained below.

Tip

Learn how to set the footnote appearance for HTML, HTML5 and SCORM output, see Footnote Settings (HTML).

Category

Description

Use titleabbrev in breadcrumb titles

Use to control whether Paligo uses the full title in the breadcrumb links or an abbreviated title. The abbreviated title comes from the text in a titleabbrev element which you need to add to your topics. For details, see Use Title Abbreviations.

SEO-friendly Output Filenames

Enable if you want SEO-friendly link names based on the names of the topics in your output, instead of unique ids.

The link will also stay permanent if the topic name stays the same (the topic title is irrelevant).

You can change the name of a topic without changing the filename that is produced in the output. This is useful if you need to keep the existing URL for a page. To change the topic name but keep the existing filename, add the xinfo:outname attribute to the section element of the topic. Set the value of the xinfo:outname to the name of the file (not the full URL path) and do not include the .html file extension.

If the title used to be "Introduction to ACME", the auto-generated output file name would be "introduction-to-acme.html". If you now change the title to "Introducing ACME", that would change the output file name to "introducing-acme.html". You can then add xinfo:outname with a value of "introduction-to-acme" (no extension) to keep the previous output file name.

Use a short and flat URL structure for output files

If you have SEO-friendly Output Filenames enabled, output paths will have a nested folder structure, by default.

Enabling this option will instead create a flat URL structure, generating shorter URL paths. (Always enabled automatically if you select Ajax loading below)

Default: Disabled

Use output file names made from id and SEO name

When flat URL structure or Ajax loading is enabled, the output file name is based on the title. If you enable this setting, the output file name will be a combination of the topic id and the title instead, for example, '123-my-topic.html'.

Default: Disabled

Allow reserved characters in output file names

Some characters, such as commas and semicolons are classed as "reserved" characters. Use this setting to control whether reserved characters can be used in output file names. Set it to Enabled to allow reserved characters or Disabled to prevent them being used.

Default: Disabled

Reader-friendly fragment identifiers (hash links)

Enable this feature if you want links to subsections to use reader-friendly names instead of unique id names (UUIDs). For example, www.acme.com/docs/introduction.html#getting-started. Note that you also need to have the SEO-friendly Output File Names feature enabled,

Disable this feature if you want the output to use unique id names.

Default: Disabled

To find out more, see Reader-Friendly URLs for Subsections.

Preserve legacy anchors if using reader-friendly fragment identifiers

Enable this feature if you are using reader-friendly hash links and you want to support:

  • Existing links to subsections, where the links use the UUID of the subsection not the new reader-friendly URL

  • New links to subsections, where the links use the new reader-friendly URL.

Disable this feature if you are using reader-friendly hash links and you do not want to support existing links that use the UUID. If there are links that use the UUID, they will no longer work.

Default: Disabled

To find out more, see Reader-Friendly URLs for Subsections.

Multiple publication portal prefix

Enable this setting if you:

  • Publish multiple publications in one help center portal

and

  • Have publications that reuse other publications (i.e. have reused subpublications).

When this setting is enabled, the output names for the sub-publications are unique, as Paligo adds the publication id to the output file name.

Disable this setting if the two points we have described do not apply to your content.

Default: Disabled

Use resource name instead of title for HTML output filename

Use to control whether Paligo uses the topic name (resource name) or the title name when it creates the output file name for topics. Set to Enabled to use the topic name or Disabled to use the title.

Note that this setting applies to all topics. If you only want certain topics to use the topic name, you can give those topics the xinfo:outname attribute instead. Then set the attribute value to the name of the topic.

Default: Disabled

Keep the letter case of the title for the HTML output file name

Use this setting to control whether output names are all lower case or can use upper case letters too. By default, the output file names only use lower case letters, for example, my-topic.html.

Set to Disabled for lower case only or Enabled to allow upper case letters. We recommend that you only set this to Enabled if you have a specific reason for using upper case letters.

Default: Disabled

Ajax load content

When enabled, the HTML content will be dynamically loaded for each page, making the page switching very fast.

Note that you have to publish the output on a server for this to work.

Default: disabled.

Enable local context-sensitive help

You do not have to enable this to get context-sensitive help. It is by default enabled, but the default requires the content to be published on a web server, which is the most common.

If, however, you have a requirement to have the context-sensitivity work on a local help package without a web server, you can enable this option.

Default: Disabled

Custom meta tags

Enter global custom meta tags as key-value pairs (name/content) here.

E.g to add a 'noindex' tag, to exclude web site from search engine indexing, you would enter 'robots:noindex, follow;' End each key-value pair with a semi colon.

Note

Only for global tags. Specific meta tags can be added directly in your topic. Meta keyword tags can be added through a keywordset element with keyword elements in your topics. And meta description tags can be added by using an abstract element (inside an info element after the title).

If you use the abstract to output meta description tags, you may also want to add custom CSS to not display it, unless you want that abstract to appear also in the content page itself. Use filtering by outputformat if you don't want it to appear in other output, such as PDF.

Default: Disabled

Custom meta tag separator

Use to change the meta tag separator character from a colon to a different character.

Paligo uses the colon character as the meta tag separator by default. If your meta tag pairs use the colon character in their names or values, you will need to change the separator character.

Custom meta tag pair terminator

Use to change the meta tag terminator character from a semi-colon to a different character.

Paligo uses the semi-colon character as the meta tag terminator by default. If your meta tag pairs use the semi-colon character in their names or values, you will need to change the terminator character.

Output info elements

This setting only applies to HTML5 Help Center Layouts.

If enabled, this sets all info elements to be hidden in the output. If disabled, all info elements are visible in the output.

Info elements are elements that, in Paligo, are children of the info element, such as copyright, edition, and author. To learn more about the info element and its children, see Supported Info Elements.

Output info elements filter

This setting only applies to HTML5 Help Center Layouts.

If you have enabled Output info elements, Paligo will include all "info" elements when you publish. By using the Output info elements filter, you can tell Paligo to hide specific elements, but include the rest.

Enter the names of the elements you want Paligo to hide. Separate the names with a semi-colon, for example:

authorgroup;releaseinfo

Create a title topic for reused publications

If you reuse publications within another publication, you can select whether that publication should be treated as a top-level topic, or if only its child topics should be reused, see Layout Settings for Parent Publications and Choose Publication Topic Behavior.

This setting needs to be enabled for the filtering to work for the parent publication.

Default: Enabled.

Only create topic for reused publications if no top-level topic

With this option enabled, you can mix reused publications where there is a top-level topic in some (in which case no title topic will be created for the publication), together with publications that have no top-level topic (in which case a title topic will be created for the publication).

Default: Disabled

Sort glossary automatically

Use to control whether Paligo automatically sorts your glossary entries alphabetically.

For details, see Sort Glossary Alphabetically.

Bibliography style

Use to control whether bibliographies use the normal structure or the ISO-690 structure, see Set Up an ISO 690 Bibliography.

Bibliography auto numbering

Use to control whether Paligo applies automatic numbering to bibliography entries, see Bibliography Auto-Numbering.

Bibliography auto-title

Use to control whether Paligo adds a "Bibliography" title for your bibliographies.

If you have a bibliography in a separate topic and it has two "Bibliography" titles, you should disable this feature. (The two titles are because one title is for the topic and the other title is auto-generated for the bibliography).

For details, see Deactivate Bibliography Auto-Titles.

Format output

Usually not required, but if desired, HTML Tidy will be applied on the output to ensure strict XHTML format.

Copy anchor URL on click

When enabled, a link icon appears when you hover over a heading in the middle of a page. Clicking it copies the anchor url to the clipboard for easy sharing of a section.

copylink.png

Default: Disabled

Update URL on scroll

When enabled, the url in the browser address field will update as you scroll down a page to sub sections. This makes it easy to copy the url for any part of the content and improves usability.

This is normally a good idea, and the default is only disabled for backward compatibility. Default: disabled.

Company name

This setting only applies to HTML5 Help Center Layouts.

Enter the company name that Paligo will use in copyright information. For example, Acme Products.

Copyright year

This setting only applies to HTML5 Help Center Layouts.

If your publication topic contains the copyright element, Paligo will automatically use the current year as the copyright date. To use a different year, enter the year in the Copyright year field on the Layout.

Note

You can manually enter a year inside the copyright element in your publication. Your manual entry will override any Copyright year that you set in the Layout.

Last modified date

If you add a date format here, the last modified date for each topic will be output in the page footer.

E.g 'm/d/Y' (no quotes) for '03/25/2018', 'Y-m-d' for '2018-03-25', or 'F j, Y' for 'March 25, 2018'.

Leave empty to exclude the date.

Today's date for publication date

Use to set the date format for the publication (pubdate element in a publication topic). Leave empty to exclude the date.

For details, see Change Publication Date and Time Format (HTML5).

Use translatable publication date

If the publication date is set to use a full text format, Paligo can automatically translate the date into other languages. For example, Wednesday in English is replaced by Mittwoch in German and Mercredi in French.

For details, see Change Publication Date and Time Format (HTML5).

Use leading zero padding

Use to control whether single digit dates have a leading zero, for example, 03 instead of 3. For details, see Change Publication Date and Time Format (HTML5).

Color-mark non-approved translations

If the source language has changed since last translation, you can have this indicated with blue highlighting in the output (for draft publishing).

Category

Description

Use cookie consent popup

If you are using any of the integrations below you should enable this popup to comply with global regulations regarding cookies, see Enable or Disable Cookie Consent Popup.

Privacy policy link

If you use the cookie consent popup, you must enter the URL to your privacy policy, see Enable or Disable Cookie Consent Popup.

Google Analytics

Add your property id (or "tracking id") to connect Google Analytics to your HTML5 output. Also select whether you want to use the analytics.js tag or the global site tag (default), see Connect Google Analytics.

Mixpanel tracking

If you want to integrate with Mixpanel analytics, see Connect Paligo to Mixpanel.

Disqus comments

To get a section at the bottom of each topic with discussion threads, where users can add feedback, enable this with your Disqus domain.

Intercom chat

If you use Intercom, you can add the chat widget here to communicate live with your customers as they browse your help site, see Connect Paligo to Intercom.

Use Lightbox for images

If enabled, clicking images in the HTML5 output will enlarge them to full size. Default: disabled for legacy HTML5, enabled for the Help Center output, see Lightbox for Images.

Use thumbnails for all mediaobject (block) images

If enabled, every image in the HTML5 output will be rendered as a small thumbnail (for content where you want to reduce the space images take up), see Thumbnail Images.

Category

Description

Output taxonomies

When enabled, taxonomies will be part of the output, and is automatically propagated as class names. If this option is enabled, taxonomies can also be used for filtering and more below.

Default: Disabled

Value structure for taxonomy class names

You can set whether class names from taxonomies should output the value and all its descendant values in a taxonomy tree, just the value itself, or the value and its parent.

Default: Value and descendants

Underscore delimiter for taxonomy class names

When enabled, an underscore ('_') will be used to separate the parts of a taxonomy value output for class names in HTML5, instead of a dash ('-').

For most common purposes this is not necessary, but can be useful if you need to further process the separate parts of the value.

Default: Disabled

Taxonomy filtering strategy

You can set whether taxonomies should be used for filtering, and whether to output the value and all its descendant values in a taxonomy tree, or just the value itself.

If you want to enable taxonomies for filtering, the most recommended value is to select "Descendants" to take advantage of the hierarchy of a taxonomy.

Default: Disabled

Relationship taxonomy

Select any taxonomy to create relationship links.

Enter the exact name of the taxonomy node (usually the root of a sub tree right under Taxonomies). Separate multiple names with a semicolon. Leave empty if you don't want to use taxonomies for relationship links.

See TOC and Chunking for options how to output the related topic links in your output.

Default: none (empty)

Create HTML meta tags from taxonomies

Creates meta tags with the root (name) of the taxonomy tree as the name attribute, and the value as the content attribute. Multiple values will be separated by a comma. The 'Output taxonomies' option must also be enabled.

Default: Disabled

Output role attribute as class names

If enabled, you can get your role attributes into your output as class names for further processing (e.g by css and javascript).

Output profile/filtering attributes as class names

If enabled, you can get your profile/filtering attributes into your output as class names for further processing (e.g by css and javascript), such as creating "on-the-fly" filtering.

Use xml:lang as profiling attribute

If enabled, the language attribute xml:lang can be used for filtering on language (natural languages like Swedish, Japanese, etc)

Glossary popovers

When enabled, glossary terms will display the definition in a pop over in HTML5 Help Center output, when the user hovers over it.

Note: This currently has no effect on legacy HTML5.

Default: enabled for Help Center output.

Category

Description

Enable cross-reference auto-title customization

When enabled, the cross-reference auto-title customizations below can be used. Otherwise legacy cross-reference auto-text is used, or any stylesheet customization you may have.

Default: Disabled

Cross-reference auto-title

Determines the format of the generated text for cross-references.

See Cross-Reference Settings for options available.

Default: 'title page', which produces a format like 'My Topic Title (page x)'.

Cross-reference auto-title for formal elements

Determines the format of the generated text for cross-references for formal elements (like tables, figures, examples).

See Cross-Reference Settings for options available.

Default: 'default', which produces a format like 'Example 5, "My Title"'.

Cross-reference label/title separator

Punctuation or space separating label (if used) from title in cross-references, when the auto-title parameter above is set.

Note

For a space, use 's' (without the quotes).

Default: ':s', which produces a format like 'Example 5: "My Title"'.

Category

Description

Logotype

Add your logotype to replace the Paligo logo in the output. Use CSS to style it.

For the Help Center output this is only used in the content pages. Set the portal page logo below.

Help Center portal page logotype

Set the logo to use for the portal page.

This can be different than the one used on the main content pages to match the theme.

Logo link

By default, the logo in your HTML5 output will go to the main home page of the help itself. If you want it to go somewhere else, such as to your company home page, enter a URL here.

Note

This option should only be used if you are not using the portal page, or have another (customized) home link, as there will otherwise be no way to get back to that page.

Leave empty to use the default.

Open external logo link in the same tab

If you have selected a logo link (see Logo link setting), the link will open in a new tab by default. But you can change that behavior by using the Open external logo link in the same tab setting. Choose enable to open the link in the same tab or disable or default to open the link in a new tab.

CSS

Upload your own CSS to modify the default layout.

Persistent custom CSS filename

By default, your custom CSS file will get a unique name, everytime you upload a new update. The unique name is generated when you publish.

To keep the same CSS file name and prevent it from changing, set Persistent custom CSS filename to Enabled. The CSS file name will then be set to 'layout-custom-style.css' and it will not change.

Default: disabled.

Help Center portal page background image

This image will be used for the header banner (or "hero") section of the portal page.

Custom javascript

You can upload your own javascript to add functionality to your HTML5 output

Global custom javascript

Use this option to add a reference to a file called 'user-custom-script.js' to every HTML file in the output. You can then add the 'user-custom-script.js' file to the output after it is published.

In most cases, it is more convenient to upload your custom JavaScript file to the layout (using the Custom javascript option. But if you want to use the same javascript with a number of different layouts, you may prefer to use the Global custom javascript feature instead, so that you do not have to upload and update it separately for every layout.

Select jQuery version

Use to choose the version of jQuery that Paligo should use for the output.

The default is 3.4.1 but you can change to another version if you need:

  • javascript plugins that need a specific version

  • special browsers or browser configurations

  • security features that are only available in specific versions.

Place scripts at the end of the body tag

Use to control where scripts are added in the HTML output. Typically, you would only change this setting if you are using javascript that has to be run after the body of the page has loaded.

For details, see Position the JavaScript References.

Avoid cached JS and CSS on republishing

Choose enabled if you have made changes to the CSS or JS for your help center and you need these changes to apply immediately when you publish. Note that the CSS and JS files will be given different filenames to those used previously.

Set to disabled or default if you do not want the browser to reload the assets and apply the recent changes. For example, if you have a custom webserver configuration that handles caching.

Add a Favicon

Upload an .ico or .png file here to use as your favicon. Even if you use .png, make sure to name your file 'favicon.ico' for it to be recognized. The favicon will only be visible when published on a web server.

Custom favicon path

If you publish your help to a subfolder on a domain, enter the path to the folder of your help here. Use either an absolute web URL or a slash to specify the root of the server.

Leave this field blank if you publish your help to the root of the web domain.

Add a robots.txt file

Upload a robots.txt file here to give instructions about your published site to web robots. The file will be placed in the root folder of your published output.

For details, see Upload a Robots.txt File.

Create sitemap

Use to set Paligo to generate a sitemap.xml file for SEO and search engine crawling. When using this feature, you also need to provide the Publishing destination path. For details, see Create a Sitemap for your Help Center.

Publishing destination path

If you want to publish a sitemap.xml file, you also need to add the final destination domain where you will publish your content. Paligo will use this to provide the full absolute path of each topic in the sitemap.xml file.

For example: http://www.acme.com/acme1000/onlinehelp/

Add canonical URL link

Use this option if you need to:

  • Consolidate duplicate URLs with a canonical URL link

  • Drop "index.html" from the URL on the landing page (for HTML5 help centers)

For details, see Set Canonical URL Links for your Help Center.

Category

Description

Use voting panel

Note

This option is currently only available for the Help Center output (Only for the main Help Center output, not available for the 'Preloaded' variant).

If this is enabled, your users will see a panel asking if they found a help page useful or not, with a 'Yes' and 'No' button to respond, like this:

votingpanel.png

Default: Disabled

Allow users to submit feedback (suggest edits)

If this is enabled, your users will be allowed to submit feedback to you or suggest edits to a help page. By default the feedback will be by email. Other types of feedback can be purchased as a customization.

Default: Disabled

Toggle feedback with voting panel

Note

This option is currently only available for the Help Center output (Only for the main Help Center output, not available for the 'Preloaded' variant).

If using the voting panel, choose whether the link to provide feedback should be toggled on 'No', both 'Yes' and 'No', or always visible.

Default: Toggle on the 'No' button.

Email for feedback

Enter an email address here if you want your users to email you feedback.

The term Formal elements comes from the content model. It basically is an umbrella term for elements like lists, figures, tables, equations, examples. In this section you can make general settings applying to all such elements consistently if desired.

Note that any settings you make on a higher level (General) can be overridden if you set another value on a lower level (like "informalexample")

Most options are self-explanatory and not described here.

Category

Description

Use separate styling for label, number, and title in formal elements

If enabled, each part of the title for a formal elements, like a table, example, or figure, will get a span element with a specific class name, so they can be styled differently or excluded, using CSS.

Default: Disabled

Restart auto-label numbering

If enabled, tables, figures, and examples will restart their numbering for each topic, section (including internal sections inside topics), or chunk.

Default: continuous numbering throughout the publication.

Exclude label for abstract

If enabled, the label for an abstract is excluded from output. This is useful if you do not need it, and if publishing to multiple formats where hiding it with CSS does not work.

Default: Disabled

Category

Description

Base theme

There are a number of base themes to choose from for the Help Center output. Choose the one you want to base your own layout on.

Content theme

Besides the main base theme, you can also choose between different content themes, affecting mainly the body content, such as the styling of admonitions, lists, etc.

Sticky header

For the Help Center themes, you can enable a sticky header that is always visible when you scroll. Default: disabled

Full width header

For the Help Center themes, you can make the header in the main content pages full width. Default: disabled

Graphical lists

For the "Help Center" output only: When enabled, graphical numbers are used for procedures, etc (can be further customized by CSS). Default: enabled

If you have a multi-language output, Paligo will by default highlight untranslated content in red and prefix it with the Source Language within square brackets.

You can choose to suppress this feature by deactivating the setting Highlight non-translated content. This setting is available in the Layout Editor for HTML output (such as HTML5, Zendesk, Salesforce, Freshdesk and ServiceNow).

Highlighted_Untranslated_Content_small.jpg

The following instruction shows how to edit this setting for HTML5 output:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select General in the sidebar.

    Layout_General_HTML5_small.png
  4. Scroll down to Highlight non-translated content in HTML5 output.

  5. Use this setting to control whether untranslated content should be highlighted or not. Select:

    • Enable to highlight untranslated content in red and prefix it with the Source Language (for example [en]). Default

    • Disable to suppress the visualization of untranslated content.

    Highlight_Non-translated_Content_HTML5_small.jpg
  6. Select Save.

Category

Description

Image title attribute

Use to output a title attribute on the image in your output. The title appears in a tooltip when you hover over the image (in the output).

Default: Disabled

To find out more, see Hover Text using the Image Title.

Use lightbox for images

Use to enable or disable the lightbox feature for images in your output. When Lightbox is enabled, you can select an image in the published output and the image will display at full size. If Lightbox is disabled, selecting the image has no effect.

Default: Enabled for HTML5 help center. Disabled for legacy HTML layouts.

To find out more, see Lightbox for Images.

Use thumbnails for all mediaobject (block) images

Use to control whether every image in the HTML5 output appears as a small "thumbnail" image. Enabling this feature is useful if you want to reduce the amount of space that images use on the page. But note that this setting applies to all images.

Note

If you want to use thumbnails on all images, you should also make sure you have the Use lightbox for images option enabled.

You may find it more useful to apply thumbnails to only certain images, rather than all of them. To do this, leave this setting disabled and then add a role attribute to the images you want to have thumbnails. Set the role attribute on the mediaobject element and give it the value: img-thumbnail.

Default width for thumbnails is 250px. You can change that in your custom CSS if you want.

Default: Disabled

To find out more, see Thumbnail Images.

Image size

To find out more, see Adjust Image Resolution.

Category

Description

Use Algolia search

If you want to use the high-end Algolia search engine in your help output, enable this. (Requires separate Algolia subscription).

Elastic Search (Swiftype)

If you prefer a crawler-based indexing search engine, Elastic Search (Swiftype) is another powerful option.

To enable Swiftype, add the key (only) from the code snippet in the Swiftype control panel.

Use fuzzy search

If you do not want to use Algolia, and the default search is not your preference, the fuzzy search is another built-in option.

Use multilingual support for default search

If using the default search, but you need support for multiple languages, enable this. Disabled by default since it adds unnecessary files if you don't have the need for multilingual publishing.

Include excerpt snippets

Applies to default search or fuzzy search, if you use one of them you should normally enable it. Disabled by default only for backward compatibility. Algolia search always has snippets by default.

Use breadcrumbs path in search results

If you use the snippets option (required for this option), you will also get a path for the result topic. This can be the exact path with the HTML file name, or a more user-friendly breadcrumbs path with the titles of the topics.

Default: Breadcrumbs made from titles enabled.

Note

Single page outputs do not have a search.

Category

Description

Output classes for styling of tables

It is recommended to enable this setting. The only reason it is not enabled by default is for backward compatibility.

Enabling it will make the publish process output class names and these will be used for e.g borders, rather than obsolete attributes for borders and rules.

Frame options

For either table or informaltable, set the frame (the border around the entire table) default.

For no frame, set "void". For frame around the entire table, set "border" or "box".

See this page for more on the options: Table options

Rules options

For either table or informaltable, set the rules (the border between cells) default.

For no border, set "none". For borders between all cells, set "all".

See this page for more on the options: Table options

Re-sort sorted tables automatically on publish

Even if you have sorted a table in the editor, re-sorting them on publish can be useful for example if you publish to multiple languages (in which case the sort order may be different), or if you have missed updating the sort before you publish.

Note

This will only affect tables that you have sorted with the sort commands in the editor first. 

Default: enabled.

Extra responsive table features

Use to give tables extra responsive features. These include a column filter button so that readers can control which table columns are shown and a sticky table header.

You can use the features for all tables, selected tables only, or turn the extra responsive features off. To find out more, see Enable Column Filter and Sticky Header.

Default: Disabled

TOC settings are for controlling options for the Table of Contents in your HTML output.

Chunking settings are for controlling the size of your topics in the HTML output. They define whether a topic appears on a page on its own, or can be a subsection of another page. To find out more about using chunking, see Use Chunking to Control Subsections.

Category

Description

Standalone TOC

If enabled, the Table of Contents will not be created inside each HTML file, but rather as a standalone file, inserted by javascript when rendering the page. This makes HTML files smaller and so they will load faster in the browser. Faster page loading times are better for SEO.

For details, see Include TOC or Load Standalone TOC.

Default: Disabled

TOC section depth

Use to define the number of levels in your table of contents. For example, if you set it to 4, the table of contents will show links for topics that are at level 1, 2, 3, and 4 in your publication. The levels are nested in your table of contents to reflect the publication structure. Any topics that are at a lower level than that are not shown in the table of contents, but still exist in your output.

Default: 3.

Only include chunks in TOC

If enabled, only those topics which become chunks (according to your settings) will be included in the TOC. Chunks are topics that are on their own web page and cannot be subsections of other topics.

If you enable this setting, any internal section elements in a topic will not be included in the TOC.

Default: Disabled

Chunk section depth

A chunk is a topic that is always on its own web page in the output. With the Chunk section depth setting, you can set all topics to be a chunk up to a certain level in the publication. For example, if you set the chunk section depth to 4, all topics from levels 1 to 4 in your publication will be on their own page.

Once the chunk section level is reached, any lower-level topics will be added as subsections of their immediate parent topic.

Each section element can have an xinfo:chunk attribute that controls whether that section is a chunk. It can be set to yes, no, or default. This takes priority over the Chunk section depth setting in your layout.

Note

If you have publications nested inside other publications (sub-publications), each level of publication also counts as a chunking level. For example, let's say you have a publication, a sub-publication, and four levels of topics in the sub-publication. You want the topics to be chunked at two levels. For this, you would set the Chunk section depth to 4 (1 for the publication, 1 for the sub-publication, 1 for the top-level topics in the sub-publication, 1 for the second-level topics).

Default: 3.

Chunk first sections

If enabled, a chunk will be created for the first top-level section elements in each component. Otherwise, that section will be part of the chunk for its parent.

Default: Enabled.

Use legacy section chunking

This should in most cases be disabled. But if you want to enable legacy chunking, where any section element, whether an internal element in a topic or not, would be treated just like a topic, you can enable this.

Default: Disabled

Collapsible TOC

Use to control whether the TOC is collapsible. This option is designed for use with Theme 2 and may need additional JS to work with other themes.

Focus on current section on click

Use this setting to control the behavior of the table of contents (TOC) in the published output.

If you set this to enabled or default, and then select a sub-level topic, the TOC will collapse all "sibling" topics (topics at the same level as the topic you have selected). For example, let's say you have a TOC with 5 levels of topics. If you navigate down to the 5th level and select a topic, the TOC will update and show Levels 1-4 open, but level 5 closed.

If you set Focus on current section on click to disabled, it creates a "sticky menu". This is where all levels of the TOC, from the top level to the topic you select, are opened. The TOC does not collapse the "sibling" topics.

Note

If you want to disable this setting, you will also need to enable Ajax load content in the General settings.

Ajax loading only works on a web server. If you want to test locally, you will need to start a local server on your computer.

Collapse section in TOC when clicking on the link title

Use to control the collapse behavior of the table of contents. You can set it to collapse and expand when a user: selects an entry's chevron or the title. Alternatively, you can set it to only or only when they select the chevron.

  • Selects an entry's chevron or title

  • Select an entry's chevron.

For details, see Control the TOC Collapse Behavior.

Use H1 headings for topic chunks

Use to control whether topic headings:

  • Follow the structure of the publication, so most topics will start with a heading lower than H1

  • Must start with an H1 heading, irrespective of the topic's position in the publication structure.

For details, see Use H1 Headings (HTML).

Default: Publication hierarchy.

Use section TOC

Use to enable or disable section TOCs. These are tables of contents that appear at the top of topics that contain subsections. The TOC contains an entry for each subsection. For details, see Enable Section TOC (HTML5).

Use a separate list of related topics

If you want the list of separate topics to be separate from the "Section TOC" (list of child topics), this should be enabled.

See for selecting a taxonomy to use for selecting related topics.

Default: Enabled.

Include child topics in related topics section

If you are categorizing topics as related, and some of these topics happen to also be child topics of a related topic, you can choose to exclude such child topics here. Otherwise, if you also use the "Section TOC", which by default lists all child topics, you might get duplicate topics.

See for selecting a taxonomy to use for selecting related topics.

Default: Disabled

Use page TOC

Add a small page navigation (Table of Contents) for only the headings in the current page that highlights when you scroll, see Enable Page TOC.

pagetoc.png

Note

If you enable this, you should normally also enable 'Only include chunks in TOC', so headings in a single page are not displayed in the main navigation.

This is currently only available for HTML5 Help Center theme 1 and 2 (not the "Preloaded" version).

Default: Disabled

Top navigation

If you want to use a top navigation menu in your Help Center theme, enable this. You can select topics by using role attribute set to 'top-nav-link' or a taxonomy value named top-nav-link or Top nav link.

For this to work, you have to Enable Output Role Attribute as Class Names or Enable'Output taxonomies. If you only want external links, you set them below. Both types of top nav links can also be combined

Default: Disabled

Hide Top navigation links from Category Panel

Use to control whether links that appear in your top-navigation menu can also appear in the Category Panel section of your Help Center's portal page. For details, see Hide Top-Navigation Links.

Hide Top navigation link from TOC

Use to control whether links that appear in your top-navigation menu can also appear in the table of contents. For details, see Hide Top-Navigation Links.

Top navigation depth

If top navigation is enabled, and topics have been selected as top nav links, select the depth of links here. If a topic has child topics that are chunked, the child topics will become a dropdown menu.

Default: 2

External top navigation links

If you have enabled top navigation and want to use links to external sites, add them here in the format text:MyLinkText, url:https://www.myurl.com;. (Make sure you don't use extra spaces, and note the separators).

Separate text and url with a comma, and end each link with a semicolon. These characters are special characters and must not be used in the text or url themselves.

Default: none (empty)

Use translation strings for external top navigation link text

For external top navigation links, it is possible to have some such strings translated automatically.

These strings need to be available in the default translation strings configuration, or added to a customization (on applicable plans).

For example, if this option is enabled, using the string contact.support will generate the text "Contact support" in the language currently being published. Not all languages are supported for all available strings. Contact support to request if a string translation can be added.

Default: Disabled

Section numbering

If you want section numbering in your HTML5 output, enable this option.

Default: Disabled

Appendix section labeling

Use to control whether appendix labels appear on all sections in your appendices. The section labels only apply if the Section numbering setting is also enabled. For details, see Appendix Labels on Subsections.

Section numbering max depth

When section numbering is enabled, you can select the depth for which numbering is applied.

Default: level 8

TOC sidebar placement (single page HTML5 only)

For the single page HTML5 output, the TOC sidebar is place on the right by default. Select whether to place the Table of Contents sidebar on the left or right here.

Default: Right

Note

The chunking options have no effect on single-page HTML5 outputs, as the output is all one large chunk in that case.

Use chunking to control which sections will become a separate web page in an HTML / HTML5 output. The term "chunk" means that a topic has to be on its own and will always appear on a separate web page. By using the Layout editor, you can set the:

  • TOC section depth that defines the topic levels shown in the table of contents (TOC).

  • Chunk section depth that defines the topic levels that will appear on a separate web page in the HTML / HTML5 output. This is by default set to 3, which means that all sections from level 1 to 3 will appear on their own web page. Any lower level topics will appear as subsections of their immediate parent topic. To learn more, see TOC and Chunking.

    Default_ChunkSectionDepth_small.png

Tip

You can override the Chunk section depth by adding the element attribute xinfo:chunk to a topic. The topic will then appear on a separate web page, even if it is on a lower level than defined in the Chunk section depth, see Use Chunking to Control Subsections.

Caution

If you set the Chunk section depth higher than the TOC section depth, the topics on the lowest level will not be included in the TOC and will be harder to find.

The following will explain the possible settings when adding the element attribute xinfo:chunk to a section.

Note

Only topics are counted in the Chunk section depth. Subsections or components (reused sections) in a topic are not counted. They are always considered as subsections in the parent topic.

Value

Description

xinfo:chunk="yes"

Means that the section starts a new HTML page and merges child sections as subsections on the same page.

xinfo:chunk="yes"

If above the Chunk section depth, a page is created for the chunk section, but not for the subsection at Chunk section depth.

xinfo:chunk="yes"

If below the Chunk section depth, a page is created for the chunk section and it will not be part of the page at Chunk section depth.

xinfo:chunk="yes"

You can add it on a subsection or reused section in a topic to create a new page.

xinfo:chunk="no"

Means that the section will be a subsection on the previous page.

xinfo:chunk="no"

If above the Chunk section depth, a page will not be created and the section will be a subsection in the parent page.

xinfo:chunk="no"

is below the Chunk section depth, it will have no effect, as all sections below Chunk section depth are already subsections of the previous page.

xinfo:chunk="default"

Means that the chunking will follow the defined Chunk section depth for the HTML / HTML5 layout. Same as for value No.

Category

Description

Highlight verbatim elements

Enable syntax highlighting for code elements.

Highlight theme

Select the theme for your syntax highlighting (many different background colors and highlighting themes)

Use Font Awesome glyphs for code callouts

If you use calloutlist for annotating code samples, you can use Font Awesome for the "callout bugs". This is the default for HTML5.

Use graphics for code callouts

If you'd prefer, you can use a graphic for the code callout, an svg image will then be used. Max 30 callouts with this option.

Use unicode symbol for code callouts

Another option is to use a unicode symbol for callouts. If this is set a symbol similar to the graphic and Font Awesome version will be used. Max 20 callouts with this option.

Note

If all of the above code callout options are disabled, a simple plain text output will be used for the callouts. By default a number within parentheses like this (1), but this can be modified in your CSS.

Use code switcher for API style layout

Enabled by default. Only disable e.g if you need to mix programming languages in the same output and always show all samples without the user switching.

Graphical rendering of keycap

Use this if you want the keycap elements to render as a keyboard key, like so: AltShiftV.

When you publish to an HTML-based output, Paligo automatically adds class names or IDs to many of the HTML elements in the output. This is so that they can be styled using CSS.

But you can also add your own class names if needed. This is especially useful if you want some elements to be styled differently. For example, you can add it to:

  • a table element to create different-looking tables (such as information tables and parameter definition tables).

  • a mediaobject element if you want different types of images to behave differently.

There are two ways to add class names:

Note

You do not add class names directly to the HTML. Instead, you add class names to the Paligo XML that becomes the HTML when you publish. Paligo then includes your class name when it generates the HTML output.

Warning

Only add your own class names if there is no other way. Otherwise, you might end up with unstructured content as every topic can have unique roles.

To style elements with your own class name:

  1. Select the topic or component in the Content Manager to open it in the Editor.

    Content Manager in Paligo. It shows the Documents section contains an Acme 100 Topics folder. Inside the folder there is a publication and many topics, including "Connect to Network (100).

    Alternatively, you can Create a Topic and edit that.

  2. Select the element that you want to style in the Element Structure Menu.

    For example, to style a table differently from other tables, select its table element.

  3. Add the role attribute in Element Attributes Panel and enter the class name as the value.

    Add_Own_Class_Names_small.jpg

    Note

    Use a role class name that does not clash with any of the other names already used by Paligo, see Role Attribute Values.

    We recommend that you create unique names that are easy to understand and are specific to your organization, for example, "acme-leadtable". This will help to avoid clashes with existing or future class names.

  4. Select Save. Save icon.

  5. Repeat this process for any other elements that you want to style differently.

  6. Publish your content to generate an output with your custom class name(s) included.

When you publish, Paligo will add the class name to the HTML element. You can then use CSS to style that class, see Style with CSS.

Use the HTML5 Layout Editor to control the format of the publication date for HTML5 Help Center outputs.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select General in the sidebar.

    Layout_General_HTML5_small.png
  4. Define the date format for the pubdate element in the Today's date for publication date field.

    Which date format to select depends on whether the setting Use translatable publication date is enabled or not.

    Todays_Date_Pub_Date_small.jpg

    Note

    Be aware that:

    • If you add an empty pubdate element to your publication topic, Paligo will automatically insert the date when you publish. It will use the date format you set in the Layout.

    • If Today's date for publication date is left empty, the publication date will not appear in the output.

    • If you have a pubdate element and it contains content inside it, such as a text date or a variable, that content takes priority. Paligo will ignore the Today's date for publication date value.

    • If the format you define in Today's date for publication date is not supported, Paligo will include the format value in the output.

  5. Use translatable publication date to control whether a full-text date format for the pubdate element should automatically be converted into other languages.

    For example, you could have 28 March 2024 in English. For a Swedish output, Paligo would translate the date to 28 mars 2024.

    Use_Translatable_Pub_Date_small.jpg

    Select one of the following options:

    • Enabled to activate the auto-translation. Use EXSLT Date Format in Today's date for publication date.

    • Disabled to deactivate the auto-translation. Use PHP Date Format in Today's date for publication date.

    • Default to inherit the value for this setting from the base Layout. The base Layout is either a built-in Layout provided by Paligo or another custom Layout, see Layout Relationships - Base, New, Duplicate.

  6. Use leading zero padding to control whether the date should have a leading zero for single-digit dates (when using EXSLT Date Format).

    Use_Leading_Zero_Padding_small.jpg

    Select one of the following options:

    • Enabled to use a leading zero (for example 03).

    • Disabled to use a single digit (for example 3).

      Use the PHP Date Format. It supports leading zeros by the use of different codes.

    • Default to inherit the value for this setting from the base Layout. The base Layout is either a built-in Layout provided by Paligo or another custom Layout, see Layout Relationships - Base, New, Duplicate.

  7. Select Save.

When you publish with this Layout, the output will use the publication date settings you have chosen.

Use the following codes in settings where you need to specify a date and time format in the EXSLT date format:

Code

Description

Example of output

a

Day abbreviation

Mon

A

Day name

Monday

b

Month abbreviation

Aug

B

Month name

August

c

ISO data and time, including UTC offset

2024-02-27T10:01:40-05:00

Where T is a delimiter between the date and time.-05:00 is the offset from UTC, in this example, 5 hours behind UTC.

d

Day in month

12

H

Hour in day

10

j

Day in year

164

m

Month in year

08

M

Minute in hour

29

S

Second in minute

18

U

Week in year

33

w

Day in week

(Sunday = 1)

2

Y

Year

2024

Use the following codes when you need to specify a date and time format in a setting that requires the PHP date format:

Character

Description

Example of output

d

Day of the month, 2 digits with leading zeros

01 to 31

D

Three letter representation of the day

Mon to Sun

j

Day of month without leading zeros

1 to 31

l

Full text of day of the week

Monday to Sunday

N

ISO 8601 numeric representation of the day of the week

1 for Monday through 7 for Sunday

S

English ordinal suffix of the day of the month, shown as 2 characters

st, nd, rd, or th

w

Numeric representation of the day of the week

0 for Sunday to 6 for Saturday

z

Day of the year, starting from 0

0 to 365

W

1SO 8601 week number of the year, with weeks starting on Monday

42

For 42nd week in the year

F

Full text of month

January

m

Numeric representation of month, with leading zeros

01 to 12

M

Short text for month, three letters

Jan through Dec

n

Numeric representation of a month, without leading zeros

1 through 12

t

Number of days in the month

28 through 31

L

Leap year

1 if leap year, 0 if not a leap year

o

ISO 8601 week-numbering year.

This has the same value as Y, except that if the ISO week number (W) belongs to the previous or next year, that year is used instead.

2024

X

Not supported in Paligo

N/A

x

Not supported in Paligo

N/A

Y

Full numeric representation of a year. Has at least 4 digits or - for years BCE

-0055, 1999, 2024

y

Two digit representation of a year

03 or 24

a

Lowercase Ante meridiem (am) and Post meridiem (pm)

am or pm

A

Uppercase Ante meridiem (am) and Post meridiem (pm)

AM or PM

B

Swatch Internet time

000 through 999

g

12-hour format of an hour, no leading zeros

1 through 12

G

24-hour format of an hour, no leading zeros

0 through 23

h

12-hour format of an hour with leading zeros

01 through 12

H

24-hour format of an hour with leading zeros

00 through 23

i

Minutes with leading zeros

00 to 59

s

Seconds with leading zeros

00 to 59

u

Microseconds

Note that date() will always generate 000000 since it takes an int parameter.

DateTime::format() does support microseconds if DateTime was created with microseconds.

654321

v

Milliseconds.

Note that date() will always generate 000000 since it takes an int parameter.

DateTime::format() does support microseconds if DateTime was created with microseconds.

654

e

Timezone identifier

UTV, GMT, Atlantic/Azores

I

Indicates if date is in daylight saving time

1 for Daylight Saving Time

0 for not Daylight Saving Time

O

Difference to Greenwich Meantime (GMT). No colon between hours and minutes.

+0200

P

Difference to Greenwich Meantime (GMT). Colon between hours and minutes.

+02:00

p

Difference to Greenwich Meantime (GMT) but returns z instead of +00:00. Colon between hours and minutes.

z or +02:00

T

Timezone abbreviation, if known, otherwise GMT offset.

EST, MDT, or +05

Z

Timezone offset in seconds. Timezone offsets west of UTC is always negative. East of UTC is always positive.

-43200 through 50400

c

ISO 8601 date

2024-02-12T15:17:21+00:00

r

» RFC 2822/» RFC 5322 formatted date

Thu, 21 Dec 2024 16:01:07 +0200

U

Seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)

1769548800

This table is based on information on php.net.

To connect Google Analytics to your HTML5 output:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Analytics and other integrations in the left menu.

    Analytics_and_other_integrations_Layout_small.jpg
  4. Add your property id in Google Analytics property id (tracking id) or container id.

    Google_Analytics_Property_id.png
  5. Select a tracking code in Google tracking code type from the menu.

    Google_Tracking_Code_Type.png
    • Google Tag Manager

    • Global Site Tag (gtag.js) Default

    • Analytics.js

  6. Select Save.

With Context-Sensitive Help (CSH), your users can select a part of your product interface to display the relevant help page. For example, with a software product, you could have an "Info" icon next to a "Balance" option. When the user selects the "info" icon, the help page about the "Balance" feature is opened automatically, so they are taken directly to the relevant information.

Traditionally, context-sensitive help is made by creating a mapping file. The mapping file, sometimes known as a header file, is used to match an id in your product to the id of a page in your documentation. Paligo uses this type of approach for HTML5 outputs and creates the mapping file automatically, as long as you have certain attributes in place.

To set up context-sensitive help, we recommend that you first Create a Mapping File for CSH and then Create a Fallback Page for CSH.

Note

If you need to publish any other type of context-sensitive help, please contact support for assistance.

To get Paligo to automatically create the mapping file for context-sensitive help:

  1. Get the ids for the application components in your product.

  2. Select the topic or component in the Content Manager to open it in the Editor.

    Content Manager in Paligo. It shows the Documents section contains an Acme 100 Topics folder. Inside the folder there is a publication and many topics, including "Connect to Network (100).

    Alternatively, you can Create a Topic and edit that.

  3. Select the section element in the Element Structure Menu.

    Close up of Element Structure Menu. It shows the section element is selected and the Go to element option is selected.
  4. Select Go to element.

  5. Add xinfo:appid attribute in Element Attributes Panel and enter the id of the relevant application component in your product.

    If there are multiple components calling the same topic, separate them with semicolons. For example: imagedialog_123;imagebrowser_234

    Element attributes panel shows a section element has been given the xinfo:appid attribute. The value of the attribute is set to imagedialog_123.

    Tip

    Adding the xinfo:appid attribute to the top section element is the typical use case. It is also possible to put xinfo:appid on a sub section inside a topic. The only requirement is that the sub section also has an xml:id, which it would normally have by default.

    If you mark up a sub section, the context sensitive help will open the topic at that location on the page, rather than at the top.

  6. Select Save. Save icon.

  7. Publish your publication. This creates a JSON file that automatically maps any url requests to the relevant topic.

  8. In your product, your developers can call the context-sensitive help using the internal application id's as a string parameter. For example:

    www.youronlinehelp.com/en/index-en.html?contextId=imagedialog_123

    where:

    • www.youronlinehelp.com is the domain where you host your published documentation. In reality, you will have something different, such as your organization's website URL.

    • en/index-en.html is the folder and index file for an English version of your documentation.

    • ?contextId=imagedialog_123 is the context-sensitive help reference.

    The call needs to specify the language folder and the help's index file before the context-sensitive help reference.

Note

To test the context-sensitive help, either:

  • Publish it to your server or a test server (local or web server). This is because the function of fetching data from JSON requires the content to be on a server for browser security requirements.

  • Select to enable local context-sensitive help in the Layout Editor (under General). You can enable this temporarily while testing, and then disable it again when you are ready to publish to your server.

We recommend that you create a fallback page, in case there is a problem with one of your context-sensitive help links or pages. The fallback page will be shown if the target page of the context-sensitive link cannot be found.

To create a fallback page for context-sensitive help:

  1. Select the topic or component in the Content Manager to open it in the Editor.

    Content Manager in Paligo. It shows the Documents section contains an Acme 100 Topics folder. Inside the folder there is a publication and many topics, including "Connect to Network (100).

    Alternatively, you can Create a Topic and edit that.

  2. Select the section element in the Element Structure Menu.

    Close up of Element Structure Menu. It shows the section element is selected and the Go to element option is selected.
  3. Select Go to element.

  4. Add the attribute xinfo:appid in the Element Attributes Panel and set the value to not_found.

    Element attributes panel showing that the section element has the xinfo:appid attribute. The value of the attribute set to not_found.
  5. Add the attribute role in the Element Attributes Panel and set the value to notintoc.

    This role will prevent the fallback page from appearing in the table of contents.

    Note

    This is an optional, but recommended step.

  6. Select Save. Save icon.

  7. Publish your publication.

    When you publish your publication, the topic will be used as the fallback page. If the browser cannot find the topic for a context-sensitive help link, it will display the fallback page instead.

All tables in Paligo's HTML5 outputs are responsive by default and will adapt to the available space on the reader's device.

Even so, large tables can be difficult to use on smaller screens, especially wide tables with lots of columns. To prevent this, you can enable Paligo's extra responsive table features for HTML5 layout. When enabled, you get:

  • Column filter - This adds a Filter button above the table. Readers can select it to display a list of the columns, and can then choose which columns the table shows. They can make the table smaller by setting it to only show those columns that they need at that particular time.

    Table with filter options at the top. The reader can choose which columns they want the table to show.
  • Sticky header - The header of the table will be shown at the top, even when the reader scrolls down. This is especially useful with very long tables where the reader wants to scroll down the table, but still needs the header visible so that they can understand the context of each column. As they scroll down, the table header "sticks" in place at the top, so only the table rows scroll up and down.

    Table with sticky header. The header is fixed so that it is always visible, even when the reader scrolls up and down the table.

To enable "extra responsive table" features:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Table Styles in the sidebar.

    Select_Table_Styles_small.jpg
  4. Use the Extra Responsive Table Features setting to control the table column filter and the table sticky header.

    Extra_Responsive_Table_Features_Layout_small.jpg

    Choose:

    • Disable (or Default) to turn off the table column filter and table sticky header for all tables.

    • Select a number from 3 to 15 (the number of columns) to turn the extra responsive features on and define when they will appear.

      For example, if you set it to 5, the table column filter and table sticky header will only be used for tables that have 5 columns or more.

    • Only selected if you only want to use the table column filter and table sticky header on certain tables.

      You will need to use the role attribute to specify which tables should use the extra responsive features, see Apply Column Filter and Sticky Header.

  5. Select Save.

Important

This only applies if you have chosen Only selected in Enable Column Filter and Sticky Header.

To apply column filter and sticky header to specific topics:

  1. Select the topic or component in the Content Manager to open it in the Editor.

    Content Manager in Paligo. It shows the Documents section contains an Acme 100 Topics folder. Inside the folder there is a publication and many topics, including "Connect to Network (100).

    Alternatively, you can Create a Topic and edit that.

  2. Position the cursor inside the table.

  3. Select the table element in the Element Structure Menu and choose Go to element.

  4. Add the role attribute in the Element Attributes Panel and set the value to extra-responsive.

    Element attributes panel. The role attribute is added and it has a value of extra-responsive

    Important

    If there are images in your table, select the imagedata element for each image and make sure that it does not have a width attribute in the Element Attributes Panel.

    If there is a width attribute, delete it. This is because some extra-responsive table features cannot work correctly if images have a fixed width.

    delete-width-table-image.png
  5. Select Save. Save icon.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are recommendations for making the web more accessible for everyone, see WCAG. In Paligo, you can enable WCAG settings for the HTML5 output in the Layout Editor.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Universal Access in the sidebar.

    Universal_Access.jpg
  4. The following WCAG settings are available:

    • Include WCAG CSS file - Makes the text darker to improve the contrast. Disabled by default.

      Include_WCAG_CSS_File.jpg
    • Admonitions use strong instead of h3 - Replaces the default HTML h3 element for admonition titles with the strong element, which is recommended for accessibility. Disabled by default.

      Admonitions_use_strong_instead_of_h3.jpg
    • Include inline styles for Skip Navigation - This option adds an inline style element for this to reduce the Total Content Shift (any time something on the page visibly changes position within the frame). A hidden element links to the main body content for keyboard navigation and screen readers. Enabled by default.

      Include_Inline_Styles_for_Skip_Navigation.jpg
    • Use class rather than ID for features - Makes elements use class instead of element IDs. Certain IDs are duplicated in default HTML5. This option will replace those IDs with class values to avoid validation problems affecting accessibility tools. Disabled by default.

      The ID values that will be replaced by class values are:

      • logotype-pageheader

      • navbar

      • navbar-collapse

      • header-navigation-next

      • header-navigation-prev

      • aa-search-input

      • content-wrapper

      Use_Class_rather_than_ID_for_features.jpg

      Important

      If this setting is enabled, custom CSS and / or JavaScript referencing the removed ID values must be updated to reference class values instead.

  5. Select Save.

When you publish a multi-language publication to your HTML5 help center, a language switcher appears in the bottom-right corner of the start page.

If you want to be able to switch languages without returning to the start page, you can activate the setting Add Page Language Switch in the Layout Editor. It makes the language switcher appear on all pages.

Page_Language_Switch_small.jpg

Note

This feature only works on publications. It does not work if you publish a stand-alone topic.

If you want the language switcher to appear on all pages, you have to activate the setting Add Page Language Switch in the Layout Editor.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select CSS, JS, logos and other assets in the sidebar.

    CSS_JS_logos_and_other_assets.png
  4. Enable Add Page Language Switch.

    Add_Page_Language_Switch.jpg
  5. Select Save.

You can significantly improve the page loading times for HTML5 help centers by enabling Ajax loading. With this feature enabled, when you open a new topic in the published output, the browser will load only the content of the new topic, rather than every part of the web page (header, navigation features and more).

Ajax loading is available for HTML5 help centers only and you can enable it on an HTML5 help center layout. But note that if you enable Ajax loading, links in your content will not work when you view the content locally. But they will work as expected when you host your content on a web server.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Search Engine in the sidebar.

    Search_Engine_Layout_Editor.jpg
  4. Select General in the sidebar.

    Layout_General_HTML5_small.png
  5. Select Enable to activate Ajax load content.

    ajax-load-content.jpg
  6. Select Save.

Note

There is a HTML5 Help Center Preloaded layout template that also provides fast page loading times. This layout also uses an Ajax variant, but it works offline without publishing to a web server. This type of layout can be useful for smaller outputs, where you provide your help center on a local computer. But it does not support all of the help center features.

If you have larger publications, with hundreds or thousands of pages, use the main HTML5 Help Center layout and enable ajax instead.

You can set the footnote appearance for HTML, HTML5 and SCORM output in the Layout Editor.

This instruction shows how this is done for HTML5 output.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Footnote formatting in the sidebar.

    Footnote_Formatting.png
  4. Choose a number format for General footnotes from the menu.

    Default value is 1.

    General_Footnotes.png
  5. Choose a number format for Table footnotes from the menu.

    Default value is a.

    Table_Footnotes.png
  6. Select if the footnotes are to be Enclosed in square brackets.

    Default value is Yes.

    Enclose_Footnotes_In_Square_Brackets.png
  7. Select Save.

Note

In this article, we use the term "info elements" to refer to all elements possible to insert inside an info element. These include copyright, edition, volumenum, author, and abstract, see Supported Info Elements.

By default, Paligo only includes some info elements in your Publication Topic for HTML5 output.

If you need other info elements, you can add them as hidden content in a footer. You can then use your CSS to control whether they are visible and to style them. This is useful if there are specific info elements that you want to display, such as edition or volumenum.

If you choose to include the info elements, Paligo adds them inside <div class="info-elements"> in the footer-content div and they are set to be hidden by default.

HTML5 code for a topic. It shows <div class="info-elements" aria-hidden="true"> and inside that, there are divs and spans for the info elements.

Paligo creates a div for each info element and include a class name that matches the element name in Paligo XML. For example, the copyright element in Paligo XML becomes <div aria-hidden="true" class="copyright"> in the HTML. Paligo will also create <span> elements in the HTML, where appropriate.

Note

The info elements are limited to the title pages of the publication.

To be able to add the info elements on other pages, a customization will be needed. Please contact Paligo customer support.

To include info elements as hidden elements in the HTML5 output:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select General in the sidebar.

    Layout_General_HTML5_small.png
  4. Set Output info elements to:

    • Enable - To set Paligo to include the info elements as hidden content in the HTML5. By default, it will include all info elements.

    • Disable - To prevent Paligo from including the info elements in the HTML.

    • Default to inherit the value for this setting from the base Layout. The base Layout is either a built-in Layout provided by Paligo or another custom Layout, see Layout Relationships - Base, New, Duplicate.

    output-info-elements.png

    Note

    This setting only works with HTML5 Help Center Layouts.

  5. To exclude certain info elements, enter their names in the Output info elements filter field. This field is empty by default.

    Output_Info_Elements_Filter_small.jpg

    Use a semi-colon to separate each info element, for example:

    authorgroup;releaseinfo;

    Paligo will exclude any info element that you have listed in the field.

  6. Select Save.

When you publish with this Layout, Paligo will generate an HTML5 output that includes the info elements that you have selected.

You can then use CSS to display the info elements and to style them, see Browser Inspection Tool and Upload Customized CSS. You could also use JavaScript to manipulate them, see Upload Customized JavaScript.

Note

When using CSS or JavaScript with info elements, note that some pages in your HTML may include the elements in the main body as well as the footer. For example, copyright may be shown in the body as well as the footer. They will have the same class name, and so you may need to use more specific CSS selectors to tell the browser exactly which element to target.

For HTML outputs, Paligo has a Minify assets feature that will remove any unnecessary characters from Paligo's CSS and JavaScript files. The minification process makes the script files more efficient, and can improve load times by reducing the traffic between the server and clients.

The minification process can change the names of variables used in the Paligo scripts. So if you have created custom CSS or JS files that reference the variables in a Paligo script, you may need to disable the Minify Assets feature.

Note

The minification does not apply to any custom CSS or JavaScript files that you upload to the HTML5 layout.

The Minify assets feature is disabled by default, but you can enable it on the HTML layout.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select CSS, JS, logos and other assets in the sidebar.

    CSS_JS_logos_and_other_assets.png
  4. Scroll down to Minify assets and set it to:

    • Enable to activate minification that makes the script files more efficient and improves page load speeds (and SEO).

    • Disable to turn it off. Default

    Minify assets setting from an HTML layout. It has options to enable or disable the feature.
  5. Select Save.

The HTML help center output is designed to reference some external services via the Internet. These services include MathJax and advanced search engines such as Algolia and Elastic / Swiftype. But if you need to use a help center without an Internet connection, that is possible too, although you will not be able to use Internet-dependent services.

For an "offline" help center, you should:

  • Disable the Internet-dependent services in the layout for your publication

  • Store videos and other external files on a static network address that is the same for all users.

To set up an "offline" HTML help center output that calls no external resources:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Search Engine in the sidebar.

    Search_Engine_Layout_Editor.jpg
  4. Disable Use Algolia Search, see Enable Algolia Search.

    algolia-search-disabled.jpg
  5. Make sure that the Use Elastic Site Search field is empty (blank):

    elastic-site-search.jpg
  6. Select Analytics and other integrations in the sidebar.

    Analytics_and_other_integrations_Layout_small.jpg
  7. Disable Use cookie consent popup.

    cookie-consent-disabled.jpg
  8. Disable Enable MathJax equation rendering.

    mathjax-disabled.jpg
  9. Select Verbatim (code and software) in the sidebar.

    Verbatim_Code_and_Software.png
  10. Disable Highlight verbatim elements.

    highlight-verbatim-disabled.jpg
  11. Select Save.

When you use this layout to publish your HTML help center, the output will not use any features that require an Internet connection. The output will use Paligo's built-in search feature and is suitable for use offline.

Tip

If you want to use videos in your topics, store the video files in a folder that has a static address on your network.

It needs to be the same address for all users. Then, when you edit a topic, insert a video and enter the address of the video on your network. The same principle applies if you want to add links to external files - put the files in a folder with a static address and link to them there.

The default layout setting for how images are stored in Paligo HTML outputs, makes one separate image folder per language. If you are using some images for all languages, it is possible to reduce the size of the publication by using one common folder instead. This option is set in the layout configuration for HTML or HTML5.

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Images in the sidebar.

    Images_Layout_options.jpg
  4. Scroll down to Per-language image folders.

  5. Select Common from the menu.

    Common_Image_Folder_small.png
  6. Select Save.

A robots.txt is a plain text file that consists of one or more rules that block or allow access. It follows the Robots Exclusion Standard.

Webmasters can create a robots.txt file and upload it to a Paligo HTML5 layout. When the layout is used for publishing, Paligo will include the robots.txt file in the output. The entire output can then be placed on a web server, so there is no need to add the file manually after publishing.

To upload a robots.txt file:

  1. Create a robots.txt file in a third-party application. You must name the file robots.txt.

    Note

    Take care when creating your robots.txt file as it is possible to hide parts of your documentation site if you configure it incorrectly. We recommend that these files are only created by experienced web designers or developers.

  2. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  3. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  4. Select CSS, JS, logos and other assets in the sidebar.

    CSS_JS_logos_and_other_assets.png
  5. Select Upload in the Add a robots.txt file section.

    HTML5 layout setting. Add a robots.txt file setting. There is an upload button at the end of the field.
  6. Drag and drop your robots.txt file onto the upload dialog.

  7. Select Save.

When you use this layout to publish content, Paligo includes the robots.file in the output .zip file.

HTML5 layouts have a Use H1 headings for topic chunks setting that you can use to control how <h1> headings are applied to your content. Typically, you will use this feature for SEO purposes, as it can be better to have <h1> for the main heading on each page in the output.

To change how Paligo applies <h1> headings to your HTML5 output:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select TOC and chunking in the sidebar.

    TOC_and_Chunking_Menu.jpg
  4. Set Use H1 headings for topic chunks to either:

    Use h1 headings for topic chunks setting on a layout. It has a dropdown menu with options for Default, Publication hierarchy, Top-level, and Chunk.
    • Publication hierarchy - Paligo will apply the heading levels based on where the topic appears in the publication structure. This means that the top-level publication will get <h1> and your top-level topics will get <h2> for their main headings. Default

    • Top-level - Paligo will apply <h1> headings to the top-level publication and the top-level topics.

    • Chunk - Paligo will apply <h1> headings to every topic that is a "chunk". A "chunk" is a topic that is set to appear on its own page, for details, see Chunking.

    • Default to inherit the value for this setting from the base Layout. The base Layout is either a built-in Layout provided by Paligo or another custom Layout, see Layout Relationships - Base, New, Duplicate.

    Typically, it is better to use the Top-level or Chunk options for SEO purposes.

  5. Select Save.

When you publish, Paligo will apply your choice to the output.

Note

To see how the Publication hierarchy, Top-level, and Chunk options affect the output, see the examples below.

Example 2. H1 headings based on publication hierarchy

Let's say you have a user guide and 4 topics at the top-level inside the publication. You have set your HTML5 layout to have Use H1 headings for topic chunks set to Publication hierarchy. When you publish, Paligo will apply <h1> headings based on the position of each topic in the publication structure.

Publication structure. There is a publication called Acme user guide. Inside it, there are four topics, all organized in a flat structure. A callout labels the publication as 1 and the topics as 2.

The publication (1) has a topic too, so in the output, that is at the top level and it gets <h1> for its main heading. The topics (2) will get <h2> for their main heading, as they are at the second level in the publication structure.


Example 3. H1 headings for top-level topics

Let's say you have a user guide with 4 topics at the top-level inside it. There are also 2 topics at the next level down. You have set your HTML5 layout to have Use H1 headings for topic chunks set to Top-level. When you publish, Paligo will apply <h1> headings to every top-level topic in your publication.

Publication structure. There is a publication called Acme user guide. Inside it, there are four top-level topics named "Introduction", "Quick Start" "Troubleshooting" and "Reference material". There are 2 second-level topics below "Reference material" and they are named "Cooling recommendations" and "Humidity recommendations". A callout labels the publication as 1, the top-level topics as 2, and the second-level topics as 3.

The publication (1) has a topic too, so in the output, that is at the top level and it gets <h1> for its main heading. The top level of topics inside the publication (2) will also get <h1> for their main heading. The lower-level topics (3) will get <h2> as their main heading, as Use H1 headings for topic chunks is set to Top-level and the lower-level topics are second-level topics (third-level if you include the publication topic).


Example 4. H1 headings for chunks

Let's say you have a user guide with 4 topics at the top-level and 2 second-level topics, like this:

Publication structure. There is a publication called Acme user guide. Inside it, there are four top-level topics named "Introduction", "Quick Start" "Troubleshooting" and "Reference material". There are 2 second-level topics below "Reference material" and they are named "Cooling recommendations" and "Humidity recommendations". A callout labels the publication as 1, the top-level topics as 2, and the second-level topics as 3.

In this example, the publication "Acme User Guide" (1) is at the top. Inside the publication, the top-level topics (2) are "Introduction", "Quick start", "Troubleshooting" and "Reference material". The second-level topics (3) are "Cooling recommendations" and "Humidity recommendations".

Inside the "Cooling recommendations" topic, it has been set to chunk (it has an xinfo:chunk attribute with a value of Yes). So this topic will be on its own page in the output, even though it appears at a lower level in the publication structure.

Inside the "Humidity recommendations" topic, it has been set to not chunk (it has an xinfo: chunk attribute with a value of No).

In your HTML5 layout, you have set Use H1 headings for topic chunks set to Chunk.

When you publish, Paligo will apply <h1> headings like this:

  • Acme User Guide publication topic gets <h1> for its main heading

  • Introduction gets <h1> for its main heading

  • Quick start gets <h1> for its main heading

  • Troubleshooting gets <h1> for its main heading

  • Reference material gets <h1> for its main heading

  • Cooling recommendations gets <h1> for its main heading and it appears on its own page, even though it is a lower-level topic. It is not shown as subsection of "Reference material" as it is set to be a chunk.

  • Humidity recommendations gets <h2> for its main heading as it is set to not chunk. It appears as a subsection on the parent "Reference material" page.


Applicability panels are sections that appear in a topic, usually at the top of your HTML5 output. The categories show whether the content in the topic applies to those categories.

For example, in the Paligo help, we have applicability panels in some topics to show that the information only applies to certain plans. To help you understand what a complete, working applicability panel JS file and CSS look like, see Example Applicability Panel JS and CSS.

However, you can use applicability panels for many different purposes, such as showing that a topic applies to a particular audience or particular models of a product.

availabilityplanexample-blur.jpg

An example on how an applicability panel can be used.

To create applicability panels for topics, there are four stages:

  1. Activate Output Taxonomies as Classes to be able to use Applicability Panels.

  2. Create Applicability Panel Categories to be applied to your topics.

  3. Add Applicability Panel to JS file to add a category list.

  4. Style Applicability Panel in CSS to style the category list.

  5. Apply Taxonomy Tags to Topics.

Paligo can output taxonomies as classes in the HTML that is generated for your HTML5 outputs. These classes are needed for various taxonomy-related features, including applicability panels and taxonomy filters.

To set Paligo to output taxonomies as classes for HTML5:

  1. Select Layout in the top menu.

    Paligo editor. The Layout option in the header menu is highlighted.

    Paligo displays a list of Layouts. The list is empty if there are no custom Layouts in your Paligo instance.

  2. Select the Layout you want to update or Create a Layout.

    Tip

    You can copy the URL of the Layout Editor and paste it into a new tab in your browser. This can be useful if you frequently switch between your Paligo content and the Layout settings.

  3. Select Classes and attributes in the sidebar.

    Classes_and_Attributes.png
  4. Set Output Taxonomies to Enable.

    This tells Paligo to include the taxonomy labels as class names in the HTML output.

    HTML5 Layout. The classes and attributes section is selected revealing its settings. A callout box highlights the Output taxonomies setting.
  5. Select Save.

To display the Applicability Panel for Paligo topics, you apply taxonomy tags created for this purpose.

These need to be organized into a hierarchy, where there is a "parent" tag (name of the applicability panel) and "child" tags for each category to appear in your applicability panel (Professional, Business and Enterprise).

applicability_panels2.png

In some Paligo help topics, you can see an applicability panel called Plan availability. For this we have a taxonomy hierarchy where:

  • Plan is the parent taxonomy tag in Paligo.

  • Business, Enterprise and Professional are the child tags (categories) that have been applied to the help topics.

Taxonomy tags for applicability panel. There is a parent tag named "Plan" with three child tags named "Business", "Enterprise" and "Professional".

Tip

You can check if a taxonomy tag has been applied to a topic in the Resource ViewTaxonomies View, Content Manager and in the Metadata Panel in the Editor.

However, you can only create new taxonomies and organize the taxonomy tags in the Taxonomy Manager or Taxonomy Floating Content Panel.

To create an applicability panel taxonomy and apply the child tags to your content:

  1. In the Content Manager, expand the Taxonomy Manager section.

    Content manager sidebar. There is a callout box to highlight the taxonomy manager section.
  2. Select the options menu ( ... ) for the top-level Taxonomies tag.

    Taxonomy manager section in the content manager sidebar. A callout box highlights the options menu for the top-level Taxonomies option.
  3. Select Create taxonomy tag and then enter a name for the applicability panel (parent tag).

    Taxonomy manager shows a top-level tag has been added to the taxonomies hierarchy. The tag is named "Plan" in this example.

    In the image, "Plan" is the parent tag.

  4. Select the dotted menu ( ... ) for the parent tag, and then select Create taxonomy tag.

    Taxonomies manager. A callout box highlights the options menu for a top-level tag named "Plan"
  5. Enter a name for the first category ("child" tag).

    Taxonomies manager. A child "Business" tag has been added below the parent "Plan" tag.

    The categories are shown in the applicability panel and will be applied to the topics.

  6. Repeat step 4 and 5 to add all categories for your applicability panel.

    Taxonomies in place for applicability panel. There is a parent tag named "Plan" and three child tags, named "Business", "Enterprise" and "Professional".
  7. Select the options menu ( ... ) for the top-level Taxonomies tag.

  8. Select the Floating Content Panel option to display the Taxonomy Floating Content Panel.

  9. Drag and drop the "child" tags from the Taxonomy Floating Content Panel onto the relevant topics in the Content Manager , see Apply Taxonomy Tags to Topics.

    drag-and-drop-taxonomies.jpg

Note

When you have added the taxonomy tags, the content is ready. The next step is to Add Applicability Panel to JS file.

To make the applicability panel work in your HTML5 output, you will need to add some custom JavaScript to your HTML5 layout.

The script will tell the browser to wait until the page has loaded, then run a function that adds a list of categories to the page. The categories have to match the names of the applicability panel taxonomy tags in Paligo.

applicability_panels.jpg

Note

The JavaScript only adds a list with your categories. You will style it at a later stage, using CSS, see Style Applicability Panel in CSS.

To get an idea of what a working, customized script looks like, see Example Applicability Panel JS and CSS.

Important

If the HTML5 layout already uses a customized JavaScript file, you should add your changes to that file instead of creating a new one.

If you upload a new JavaScript file, the existing one will be replaced and you will lose the functionality in the old JavaScript file.

To create your JavaScript:

  1. Use a text editor or code editor for creating the JavaScript file.

  2. Use the following script as a starting point:

    $(document).ready(function () {
        addFunctionName();
        $(document).ajaxComplete(function () {
            addFunctionName();
        });
    });
    
    function addFunctionName () {
        if (! $("ul.listname").length) {
            var varforlist = '<ul class="listname">' +
            '<li class="parenttaxonomytag">Name of the applicability panel: </li>' +
            '<li class="childtaxonomytag1">Name of category 1</li>' +
            '<li class="childtaxonomytag2">Name of category 2</li>' +
            '<li class="childtaxonomytag3">Name of category 3</li>' +
            '<li class="childtaxonomytag4">Name of category 4</li>' +
            '</ul>';
            $(varforlist).insertAfter('#topic-content > .section > .titlepage');
        }
    }
  3. Change addFunctionName to a name that describes what your script is going to add (for example addAudienceList).

    You will need to change the addFunctionName in all three places where it occurs, and it must use the same name in each place.

    Example 6. Change it to addAudienceName

    If you change it to addAudienceName, you will have addAudienceName (); as line 2 and line 4, and function addAudienceName at the start of the function definition (second section of script).


  4. Change "ul.listname" and ul class="listname" to names that are more descriptive of your applicability panel list (for example, "ul.audiencelist" and ul class="audiencelist"). The names need to match.

  5. Change "varforlist" to a variable name that is more suited to your script (for example, "audiencetypelist").

    The name has to be the same in both places, so if you change varforlist where it is declared, you also need to change it in the reference in $(varforlist).insertAfter later in the script.

  6. Replace li class="parenttaxonomytag" with the name of your parent taxonomy tag in Paligo, see Create Applicability Panel Categories. This has to be an exact match.

  7. Replace Name of the applicability panel: with the title shown before the categories in HTML5, for example:

    '<li class="audience">Audience: </li>' +
  8. Replace "childtaxonomytag1" with the name of the first child taxonomy tag in Paligo, see Create Applicability Panel Categories. This has to be an exact match.

  9. Enter the category name (as it will appear in the applicability panel) between <li> and </li>, for example:

    '<li class="Novice">Novice</li>' +
  10. Repeat step 8 and 9 for each of the list items, matching the applicability panel categories in Paligo.

    Tip

    To add an extra list item, copy and paste an entire list item line, from the starting quote ' to the ending +

    To remove a list item, delete an entire list item line, from the starting quote ' to the ending +

  11. Save your JavaScript file making sure it has a .js filename extension.

  12. Upload Customized JavaScript.

Note

The next step is to customize your CSS for the applicability panel, see Style Applicability Panel in CSS.

As well as custom JavaScript, the applicability panel needs some custom CSS. The CSS styles are used to:

  • Apply the checkmark when the content in a topic applies to one or more of the applicability panel categories

  • Apply different styles when the content in a topic does not apply to the panel categories

  • Hide the applicability panel by default, so that it is only shown when topics have at least one of the applicability panel taxonomy tags.

Below, we have included the styling used for a gray applicability panel. You can change the styles to meet your own needs.

applicability_panels.jpg

Important

If the HTML5 layout already uses a customized JavaScript file, you should add your changes to that file instead of creating a new one.

If you upload a new CSS file, the existing one will be replaced and you will lose the styling in the old CSS file.

Tip

If you prefer the white Paligo applicability panel, see Example Applicability Panel JS and CSS.

To create the custom CSS for an applicability panel:

  1. Use a text editor or code editor to create a custom CSS file.

  2. Define the selector and styling for the overall list.

    ul.listname has to match the ul class and listname that was used in your JavaScript, see Add Applicability Panel to JS file.

    ul.listname {
        display: none;
        list-style-type: none;
        margin: 0;
        padding: 0;
        overflow: hidden;
        /*background-color: #333333;*/
        margin-bottom: 1em;
    }

    Note

    It is important that display:none; is included and the ul.listname matches the ul.listname in your JavaScript file.

    This is because this part of the script tells the applicability panel to be hidden by default.

  3. Define the styles for when the applicability panel should be shown.

    You need to have selectors for each taxonomy tag (category). These use the syntax .taxonomy-parent taxonomy tag-child taxonomy tag ul.listname,:

    You need a separate selector for each taxonomy tag (category).

    After the selectors, include display: inline-block; to tell the browser to show the applicability panel. Here, we have included border-radius to set rounded corners on the panel too.

    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 ul.listname,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag2 ul.listname,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag3 ul.listname {
        display: inline-block;
        border-radius: 8px;
    }
    
    
  4. Define the styles for the list items.

    For the selector, replace ul.listname to match the ul class and listname that was used in your JavaScript (same as in step 2). Keep li after it.

    Below, we have included styles for the positioning, color, and alignment. You can change these styles to suit your requirements.

    ul.listname li {
        float: left;
        display: inline-block;
        color: #bbb;
        text-align: center;
        padding: 20px;
        background-color: #eee;
    }
  5. Define the styles for the label list item on the applicability panel.

    • For the selector, replace ul.listname to match the ul class and listname that was used in your JavaScript (same as in step 2).

    • Replace parenttaxonomytag with the name of your applicability panel used in your JavaScript.

    Below, we have given the label a color and font-weight, but you can add other styles too.

    ul.listname li.parenttaxonomytag {
        color: #444;
        font-weight: bold;
    }
  6. Define the styles for when the content does not apply to the categories.

    You need to consider the different possible combinations of tags and include selectors for each combination.

    For example, below we have styles for the possible combinations of three child taxonomy tags.

    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag1,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag2,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag3,
    
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag2 .childtaxonomytag2,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag2 .childtaxonomytag3,
    
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag3 .childtaxonomytag3,
    
     {
        color: #444;
    }
    
    • We have only set a color for the category text, but you could apply other styles too if needed.

      Remember that these are the styles used when the content does not apply to these categories.

    • We have included selectors for three child taxonomy tags and their possible combinations.

      If you have more tags, you will need to add more lines for each tag and its combinations.

  7. Define the styles for when the content does apply to the categories.

    These styles work in the same way as in the previous step, where there is a selector for each possible combination of classes.

    But these selectors include :before, which adds styling before the category text. In this case, we have used CSS and a reference to FontAwesome to add a checkmark.

    You can apply different styling if you prefer. But you have to use the taxonomy-parent-child syntax, use selectors that match the names in your JavaScript, and include :before.

    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag1:before,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag2:before,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag1 .childtaxonomytag3:before,
    
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag2 .childtaxonomytag2:before,
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag2 .childtaxonomytag3:before,
    
    .taxonomy-parenttaxonomytag-childtaxonomytag3 .childtaxonomytag3:before,{
        content: '\f00c';
        font-family: FontAwesome;
        margin-right: 0.5em;
        color: #1976d2;
    }
  8. Save your CSS with a .css file extension and Upload Customized CSS to your HTML5 layout.

To show you what the JS and CSS look like for a working applicability panel, we have included the script and CSS that we use in the Paligo help. We use these to produce the price plan applicability panel that is shown on certain pages.

The pricing plan (called Plan) used in the Paligo Documentation have the following applicability panel categories:

  • Professional

  • Business

  • Enterprise

availabilityplanexample-blur.jpg

The JavaScript we use for the applicability panel is:

function addPricePlan() {
        if (!$("ul.priceplan").length) {
                var priceplanlist = '<ul class="priceplan">' +
                        '<li class="planlabel">Plan availability: </li>' +
                        '<li class="professional">Professional</li>' +
                        '<li class="business">Business</li>' +
                        '<li class="enterprise">Enterprise</li>' +
                        '</ul>';
                $(priceplanlist).insertAfter('#topic-content > .section > .titlepage');
        }
}

Note

Note that where the function name is changed, it is changed everywhere in the script. The same applies for the variable name and list name too.

This CSS is slightly modified to work outside Paligo:

ul.priceplan{
    /* Add your values here */
    --padding:8px;
    --border-radius:8px;
    --box-shadow:2px 2px 2px 2px black;
    --clr-accent:blue;
    --clr-text:black; 
    --clr-border:grey; 

    display:none;
    list-style-type:none;
    margin:0;
    padding:0;
    overflow:hidden;
    margin-bottom:1em;
    box-shadow: var(--box-shadow);
    width:100%
}
ul.priceplan li{
    color:var(--clr-text);
    text-align:left;
    padding:var(--padding);
    border-bottom:1px solid var(--clr-border);
    display:block
}
.taxonomy-plan-small-team ul.priceplan,
.taxonomy-plan-professional ul.priceplan,
.taxonomy-plan-business ul.priceplan,
.taxonomy-plan-enterprise ul.priceplan{
    display:inline-block;
    border-radius:var(--border-radius)
}
@media(min-width:768px){
    ul.priceplan{
        width:unset
    }
    ul.priceplan li{
        border-bottom:none;
        display:inline-block
    }
    ul.priceplan li:not(:first-of-type){
        border-left:1px solid var(--clr-border)
    }
}
ul.priceplan li.planlabel{
    color:var(--clr-text);
    font-weight:700
}
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .smallteam,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .professional,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .business,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .enterprise,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .professional,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .business,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .enterprise,
.taxonomy-plan-business .business,
.taxonomy-plan-business .enterprise,
.taxonomy-plan-enterprise .enterprise{
    color:var(--clr-text);
}
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .smallteam:before,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .professional:before,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .business:before,
.taxonomy-plan-small-team .enterprise:before,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .professional:before,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .business:before,
.taxonomy-plan-professional .enterprise:before,
.taxonomy-plan-business .business:before,
.taxonomy-plan-business .enterprise:before,
.taxonomy-plan-enterprise .enterprise:before{
    content:"\f00c";
    font-family:FontAwesome;
    margin-right:.5em;
    color:var(--clr-accent);
}

Note

Note how the selector names match the class names used in the JavaScript and that there are selectors to cover every possible combination of taxonomy tags.