Specialists in
User Assistance
and eLearning

Adobe RoboHelp Training:
RoboHelp 2015 Foundation/Intermediate

Related information

Advanced RoboHelp: Publishing to mobile devices
Matthew Ellison's Review of Adobe RoboHelp 2015
Adobe Technical Communication blog

Who is the RoboHelp training for?

This foundation training course enables novice and intermediate users of Adobe RoboHelp 2015 release to create and maintain effective user assistance with confidence. The features covered by the course include the new support for multiple screen sizes and device types, and you'll learn the fundamentals of Screen Profiles, Screen Layouts, and Responsive HTML5 output. No previous experience of working with RoboHelp is required—however, familiarity with the Windows operating system (version 7 or later) is a prerequisite.

How will I benefit from this RoboHelp training?

After taking the training course, you will be equipped to use Adobe RoboHelp 2015 release more efficiently and effectively, and to maximise the benefits of this powerful Help Authoring Tool. The course can be customized to your specific objectives, and provides many practical guidelines and tips for creating the best Help format to suit your users' needs.

If required, training on earlier versions of RoboHelp (from 8 onwards) can be provided.

Training course duration

Standard training course:	Three days
Custom training course:	One to three days, depending on your objectives and previous experience

How is the RoboHelp training delivered?

This training course is delivered in the following three ways:

Hands-on classroom training for groups of up to eight students at your own place of work
One-to-one coaching in Southampton, UK
Web-based coaching as a series of 90-minute instructor-led interactive sessions

RoboHelp training course outline

Optional: Overview of new features in RoboHelp 2015

Collapsed Key Help concepts and fundamentals

What makes an online Help system effective and easy to use?
Overview of the online Help project life-cycle
Planning an online Help system
Comparing and contrasting the various Help formats
- Microsoft HTML Help
- WebHelp
- WebHelp Pro
- Multiscreen HTML5
- Responsive HTML5
- eBook
- Adobe AIR Help

Collapsed Guided tour of the RoboHelp user interface

Editor: Design and HTML views
Pods
Topics List
HTML View
Project Manager
RoboHelp Options
Project Settings
Customising the interface

Collapsed Creating a basic project

Creating a new project
Creating new topics
Editing topics and their properties
Importing HTML files
Organising topics within folders
Making changes to multiple topics with a single operation

Collapsed Importing and linking Word and FrameMaker documents

Linking documents: a potential new workflow for single-sourcing print documentation and online Help
Importing and linking Word documents
Importing and linking FrameMaker documents
Tips for ensuring the cleanest possible formatting markup in RoboHelp after import

Collapsed Working with styles and style sheets

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), required for a fuller understanding of RoboHelp styles
Creating a new style sheet
Working with the all-important BODY style
Modifying the standard RoboHelp styles
Previewing topics
Creating and modifying custom styles
Working with List styles
Applying style sheets to multiple topics

Collapsed Adding navigational elements

Three different ways to insert hyperlinks
Creating a table of contents quickly and efficiently
A comprehensive strategy for indexing your Help
Adding keywords to topics (using Topic Properties)
Adding topics to keywords (using the Index Designer)
Tips and shortcuts for indexing more efficiently
Pros and cons of using the Smart Index Wizard
Creating Glossary terms and definitions
Tips for using the Glossary Hotspot Wizard

Collapsed Working with images

Selecting the best image file format for your needs (.GIF, .JPG, or .PNG)
Capturing and resizing screenshots
Working with RoboScreen Capture
Inserting images using drag-and-drop
Adding hotspots to images

Collapsed Working with tables

Creating and editing tables
Creating and using table styles
Understanding Table Templates (Global Table Styles)
Creating your own new Table Templates

Collapsed Generating and publishing your Help

Understanding single-source layouts
Setting options for HTML Help, WebHelp, and Multiscreen HTML5
Generating (compiling) the Help
Producing reports for project management
Practical strategies and tips for fixing broken links
Publishing WebHelp files

Collapsed Exploiting Master Pages (previously called Topic Templates)

Understanding the concepts of master pages, headers, and footers
Understanding how master pages and style sheets work together
Creating a new master page
Creating new topics from a master page
Using master pages to insert Breadcrumbs
Applying a master page to multiple topics
Applying a master page to all topics at generation time

Collapsed Re-using content

Working with user-defined variables
Overriding the values of variables for specific single-source layouts
Working with Snippets
Working with the Resources Pod

Collapsed Supporting multiple screen sizes and device types

Understanding Screen Profiles and Screen Layouts
Creating and editing a Screen Profile
Working with the predefined Screen Layouts
Creating media-specific styles

Collapsed Working with Conditional Build Tags

Understanding the concept of single-sourcing and conditional text
Examples of common single-sourcing scenarios
Creating conditional build tags
Applying conditional build tags to content within topics
Applying topic-level conditional build tags
Reasons for applying conditional build tags to TOC pages and index keywords
Creating a conditional build expression
Creating custom single-source layouts
Previewing topics with conditional build expressions

Collapsed Context-sensitive Help

Understanding the principles of context-sensitive Help
Working with programmers to plan context-sensitive Help
Creating a Map file
Importing a Map file
Assigning Map IDs to topics
Introduction to the WebHelp API
Testing context-sensitive Help

Collapsed Advanced Techniques

Implementing DHTML drop-downs and expanding text
Creating modular Help systems (when multiple Help files are merged)
Planning and implementing "See Also" links
Creating and modifying WebHelp Skins
Creating and modifying Responsive HTML5 Layouts

Collapsed Additional optional topics

Working with RoboSource Control or an equivalent version control system
Working with RoboHelp Server
Adding bookmark links
Creating and modifying browse sequences

Introducing your trainer

No-one has a better track-record of presenting RoboHelp training within the UK and Europe than Matthew Ellison. Matthew has worked with RoboHelp since 1994 (version 2.0). Matthew's RoboHelp expertise is backed by over 25 years of experience as a practising user assistance professional in the software industry. He has been a part-time lecturer for Portsmouth University's MA Technical Communication course, and is a qualified teacher (PGCE) and Certified Technical Trainer. Matthew has published a number of articles on RoboHelp, including: