Window types

Help projects can include a variety of window types, depending on how they need to be used.

HTML Help viewer: The HTML Help viewer is a window designed by Microsoft that is intended to display compiled Microsoft HTML Help. It is a tri-pane design that includes navigation panes on the left with Index, Contents, and Search tabs; topic content displayed on the right; and buttons displayed across the top of the window. You can customize this window to include additional tabs and buttons, to appear in a specific size and location, hide or show the navigation pane when Help opens, and behave and look in other ways.

Custom windows: You can design custom/secondary windows for Microsoft HTML Help projects use them to display topics and URLs. Users can open custom windows from TOC books and pages, keywords in the index, related topic controls, ALink controls (Related Topics), and keyword link controls. (Currently, Microsoft HTML Help does not support links to secondary windows from within topics.) You can also create custom windows to display context-sensitive Help (window-level).

Note: The HTML Help viewer is sometimes described as the "main" window while all the other windows are referred to as "secondary" windows.

Browsers: Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator are designed to display WebHelp output. You can customize your Help systems so the browser uses a tri-pane design similar to the one used with the Microsoft HTML Help viewer. It can include navigation panes on the left with Index, Contents, and Search tabs; topic content displayed on the right; and buttons displayed across the top.

JavaHelp viewer: The JavaHelp viewer is a special window designed by Sun Microsystems that is intended to display JavaHelp systems. It includes the tri-pane design with navigation panes on the left with Index, Contents and Search tabs; topic content displayed on the right; and buttons displayed across the top of the window.

Oracle Help viewer: The Oracle Help viewer is a special window developed by Oracle Corporation that is intended to display Oracle Help systems. It is designed as a tri-pane window with contents and index tabs on the left and a topic window on the right that displays topic content. The left and right panes can be connected or "docked" together, or you can undock them so they can be moved and sized separately.

Popup windows: You can create a link that displays an HTML topic in a popup window rather than in the viewer. This window link supports HTML content (in addition to text) and you can link to topics in your project (but not to external topics or Web pages). The window sizes to fit the HTML Help viewer and displays scroll bars to navigate topic content.

Text-only popups: A text-only popup is specially formatted topic text that displays brief information in a popup window. Users click a "hotspot" to open the popup window and click inside the window to close it. You create the popup at the same time you enter the text for it. These windows are self-sizing and only support text.