The information below indicates some of the known limitations of using compiled WinHelp (.HLP files) to create HTML Help projects.
Non-scrolling regions: Microsoft HTML Help does not support non-scrolling regions. If you need to display topics that do not scroll with the topic content, you can create frames, but this is a complex workaround. The tri-pane design of the HTML Help viewer is ideally suited for displaying HTML Help - the topic selected at the Topics tab is synchronized with the topic content displayed in the right-hand pane, so a non-scrolling region is not required.
Secondary windows: WinHelp secondary windows are not translated. Secondary window functionality is limited with the current version of Microsoft HTML Help. Unlike WinHelp, HTML Help topics do not support links that display information in secondary windows. You can design custom windows in RoboHELP and use them to display topics selected from related topics buttons, keyword link controls, ALink controls, the table of contents (from a page selection), and index (from a keyword selection).
Table of contents: WinHelp pages that link to external WinHelp topics, reference macros or contain link statements are not supported by the HTML Help table of contents file (.HHC). You can link HTML Help TOC items to HTML Help topics (local and remote), Web and email addresses, FTP sites, newsgroups, and multimedia.
Macros, buttons, and shortcuts: HTML Help does not support the macro programming language. Instead, it uses JavaScript and VBScript. The only macros that convert are Jump Context, JumpId, and PopupId. Jump Context macros that direct output to a window do not convert because HTML Help does not support links that direct output to custom windows. Only buttons convert for Popup Context macros. Graphical buttons keep the image, but the button is not included.
Multimedia: Multimedia files (.AVI and .WAV) cannot be converted with .HLP files. You can add sound and video to HTML topics in the WYSIWYG Editor. HTML topics can use .AVI, .AU, .MID, .RMI, and .WAV files. For more information, see Adding multimedia to topics.
HTML jumps: Jumps to HTML pages are not supported. You can easily recreate the links in the WYSIWYG Editor after the HTML Help topics are created. For more information, see Creating text links.
Mid-topic jumps: Mid-topic jumps are converted into bookmarks. The bookmark name does not use the mid-topic jump topic ID that was created in the WinHelp. Instead, it is assigned a sequence of numbers because this is what the conversion reads in the .HLP file (this file does not include the topic ID). The links to the bookmark work correctly and you can rename the bookmarks in the HTML topics if necessary.
Jumps to external WinHelp topics: Jumps to external WinHelp topics are stripped out of the HTML topics. If you are using WinHelp projects that include external jumps - especially if these files are used as master projects, use the .HPJ file instead of the .HLP file.
Related Topics buttons: Related Topics keywords are translated into Related Topics terms and you will see your authorable buttons when you view the topics. However, these buttons may not be accurately displayed in the WYSIWYG Editor. You can enlarge them by dragging the sizing handles in WYSIWYG for easier viewing.
Word formatting: Formatting that is not converted into the HTML topics includes underlining, paragraph spacing, indents, and alignments, table borders, spreadsheets, background colors, and watermarks. You can format topic text in the WYSIWYG Editor and by creating style sheets and applying styles.
Microsoft Word templates: Word templates that are used to format .RTF files in WinHelp are not converted into HTML style sheets. It's best to keep your WinHelp topic formatting minimal and modify the formatting by using style sheets with the HTML topics. You have much more control over the way your HTML topics are formatted when using .HPJ files to create HTML Help. You can even create style sheets based on the formatting used in the .DOC files. If you have the WinHelp project files (including the .HPJ file), use the .HPJ file instead.
Microsoft Word HTML styles: Microsoft Word's HTML styles (H1, H2, etc.) are not used to format the HTML Help topics. The conversion reads an .HLP file, which does not contain this type of formatting information.
Bullets: Make sure the WinHelp topics do not use bitmap references as bullets. You can select an option to keep bulleted lists. This only applies to topics that use bullet characters and not images. (If you use images, the HTML Help output may not include hanging indents.)
Numbered lists: The default numbered list font is a 12-point serif font. The numbers might not match the text used in the lists, depending on how you formatted them in WinHelp. You can create a numbered list style that specifies a certain font and size and apply it to the numbered lists to reformat them.
What's This? Help: Context-sensitive Help is not converted. If the WinHelp project includes What's This? Help-style topics or dialog topics, they are converted into regular HTML Help topics. You can import map files and create aliases for the dialog (window-level Help) topics. For What's This? Help, you can cut and paste the text from these HTML Help topics into a text-only dialog and create text-only topics (the equivalent in HTML Help). You can also import context-sensitive Help created with eHelp's What's This? Help Composer into your HTML Help projects. If you use the .HPJ file, you can transfer the context-sensitive Help topics into HTML Help.