Doulbe-clicking a Help topic

[Erin Cullingham <ecullingham -at- linnet -dot- ca>]

One of our testers came to me with a Help bug.  
After I got over the initial shock that someone was actually testing our
Help, I got to work trying to figure out what went wrong.

It seems that when he selects a Help Topic from the list in the Search tab,
that topic flashes for a split second and then quickly switches to the
Help's Intro Topic (that is, the default topic that displays when the Help
is first launched).  He went on, in his defect report, to say that he could
view the desired Help Topic (that which momentarily flashed on his screen)
by clicking the Help window's BACK button.  Kind of a clunky workaround...

I went into the offending application to try to recreate this bug.  True, it
does happen - when I double-click on a topic from the list.  Single-clicking
the topic from the Search tab opens that topic for viewing in the main
window, but double-clicking on a topic takes you back to the Help's Intro
Topic.  I tested this theory in three of our company's other applications,
and this same thing happens.  

Thinking it was some kind of default RoboHelp/WinHelp setting that I've
never noticed before in the (few) Help systems I've referenced, I decided
take my test into the realm of some OTHER company's software.  Maybe not the
BEST example, but I checked out MS Word's Help, and this little phenomenon
does NOT occur.  Somehow, the Tech Writing whizzes at Microsoft managed to
disable this aggravating little quirk - whatever it is.  

I think many software users are inclined toward double-clicking their mouse.
However, in OUR Help systems, double-clicking to open a Help Topic simply
doesn't work.  How can I turn this feature "off?"  This Help file was
created using RoboHelp 2000; currently we are using RoboHelp 2002 (and this
is what we'll use to correct the problem).

Disclaimer: As the Tech Writer normally responsible for writing our
hard-copy User/Training Guides, RoboHelp is not my strongest skill.  But due
to "resourcing cutbacks" (read: layoffs) I now find myself taking on the
production and maintenance of our Help systems.  Wheee!  So, I guess what
I'm saying is, cut me a little slack and try to be nice, even though I
undoubtedly sound like I don't know what I'm talking about - I lurk because
you people scare me.  

I'm on digest, so if you come up with some kind of fix for me, could you CC
me in on the response? 

Thanks in advance.



P.S. I DID do a search, but the words "Double-click Help Topic" brought up a
zillion pages of results, and... I got lazy by about page 8.



"I despise dweeby e-mail sig lines, and so should you."

Erin Cullingham
Communications Specialist
Linnet - The Land Systems Company
1600-444 St.Mary Avenue * Winnipeg, MB * R3C 3T1
Tel: (204) 957-6459 * Fax: (204) 957-7568 * Web: www.linnet.ca
<http://www.linnet.ca/> 




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