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Use Title Abbreviations

Abstract

Use the titleabbrev element to give your topics a shorter, alternative title.

If you have topics with long titles, they can make your documentation look cluttered, especially in table of contents entries and cross-references. To reduce this problem, use the titleabbrev element to add a shorter alternative titles. Paligo will automatically use the alternative titles in the table of contents and you can choose to use them in cross-references and breadcrumb links too.

For example, let's say you have a topic called "Configure the Wifi Connection for your Acme 100". The title is quite long and makes the TOC, breadcrumb, and cross-references look cluttered. For a neater look, you add the titleabbrev element and enter "Wifi" as an alternative title. You also edit your Layouts so that Paligo uses the alternative title for cross-references and breadcrumbs. You publish to HTML5 and the output uses "Wifi" instead of the full title.

Published HTML5 page showing the table of contents has "WiFi" as the title. But in the main topic, the title is the longer title of "Configure the WiFi Connections for your ACME 100".

Note

Paligo topics continue to use the full title that they were given (in the title element). The shorter titleabbrev is used automatically in the table of contents and optionally in the breadcrumb links and table of contents.

To add an alternative title to a topic:

  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 between the title element and the first para element.

    Topic showing "Configure the WiFi Connections for your ACME 100" as a title. The cursor is positioned below the title, but above the first paragraph in the topic.

  3. Press Alt + Enter ⏎ (Windows) or Command ⌘ + Enter ⏎ (Mac) to display the Element Context Menu.

    Element context menu shows a search field and a list of elements that are valid at the current position.

  4. Enter titleabbrev and select it from the menu.

  5. Position the cursor inside the titleabbrev element.

    Topic showing "Configure the WiFi Connections for your ACME 100" as a title. A titleabbrev element has been added after the main title and before the first paragraph.

  6. Enter the text for the alternative title.

    Topic showing a title with a titleabbrev element below it. The title is "Configure the WiFi Connections for your ACME 100". The titleabbrev is "WiFi".

  7. Select Save. Save icon.

  8. Select Layout and then select the Layout you use for publishing.

    Paligo opens the Layout in the Layout Editor.

  9. Set Paligo to use the titleabbrev or title in cross-references.

    1. On your Layout, navigate to the Use titleabbrev in cross-references setting.

      • On PDF Layouts, the setting is in the Cross-references category.

      • On HTML Layouts, the setting is in the General category.

      • On HTML5 Layouts, the setting is in the Cross-references category.

    2. Set Use titleabbrev in cross-references to:

      • Enable to use titleabbrev instead of title in cross-references and the TOC

      • Disable to use title instead of titleabbrev in cross-references and the TOC

      • 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.

  10. This step only applies to HTML5 Layouts. Use the Layout to set the breadcrumb to use the title text or titleabbrev text:

    1. Select the General category.

    2. Set Use titleabbrev in breadcrumb titles to:

      • Enable to use the titleabbrev text instead of the title text

      • Disable to use the title text instead of the titleabbrev text

      • 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.

  11. Select Save.

When you publish with your Layouts, Paligo will use the title or abbreviated title, depending on your choices in the Layout.