Release Notes: November 2013

This update of ClickHelp adds many new functions related to documentation export, and user management. Now you can export documentation in a number of formats! Continue reading to learn more. All existing users get this update for free, and fully automatically - feel free to check the new functionality in your existing ClickHelp servers.

• New Features
  • Export
  • SEO Functions
  • TOC Editor Improved
  • Projects & Publications
  • User Management & Security
  • Other Improvements and Changes
• Fixed Bugs
  • Wizards
  • TOC Editor
  • Settings
  • Other

New Features  

Export  

• Documentation Export to Multiple Formats.  You can now export a publication to multiple offline formats. The following formats are supported: PDF, DOCX (Microsoft Word 2007 OpenXML), EPUB (electronic books and digital publications), DOC (Microsoft Word 97-2003 binary format), RTF (Rich Text Format), MHT (web archive in a single file), ODT (OpenOffice.org OpenDocument format), HTML (multiple files in a ZIP archive).
• Export Configurations.  Export configurations allow you to control the publication export process, and store settings related to this process in presets that you can re-use later. Here are some of the settings stored in an Export Configuration:
  * Cover of the exported document.
  * Maximum allowed headings nesting level.
  * TOC location in document (TOC can be inserted before articles, after specific article or after all articles).
  * TOC title text and style.
  * Style of each headings level generated (optionally) for articles, including automatic headings numbering if needed.
  * Page settings: paper size and kind, margins, page and line numbering settings.
  
• Publish Project Wizard Improved.  Publish project wizard has been extended with a new mode: now, you can choose whether you need to export the newly publication to a printed document (or a zipped set of HTML files) automatically.
• New TOC Node Properties.
  - Start from new page (defines whether a page break will be inserted before the topic in printed output)
  - Start new section (defines whether a section will be created in printed output for the current node and its children)
  - Section start type (next page, odd page, even page)
  - Section heading style (can override style defined in export configuration if necessary)

SEO Functions  

• Auto-created Sitemaps.  It is now easier to make web search engines discover your online documentation portal content. All you need to do is to submit the automatically created sitemap to the search engine. This may be Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex or any other search engine that supports sitemaps. When a visible publication is created, a sitemap is generated for it automatically. Also, sitemaps and the sitemap index file can be refreshed manually if needed for a specific publication or for all Public publications on the server. The corresponding features are now available for publications in the Global Settings and Project Settings pages.
• Webmaster Tools Support.  Support for Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Tools and Yandex Webmaster Tools has been implemented. You can now verify ownership of your documentation portal in these systems to be able to:
  * Control how your content is indexed.
  * Submit sitemaps.
  * Get detailed statistics on links to your content and your search ranks.
  * And much more...
  At that, this service is absolutely free in the major search engines!
• Custom Page Titles.  It is now possible to define templates which will be used for the <title> tag content. For example, you can include not only the article title, but also your product and company name into page titles. This affects how the article appears in the search engines, and can give you better SEO effect. The setting can be defined at three levels: global, project and article.
• Meta Keywords Tag.  It is now possible to define the meta keywords tag content for articles.
• Meta Description Tag.  It is now possible to define the meta description tag content for articles.
• Custom Head Section Tags.  It is now possible to define any custom additional content (e.g. meta tags) you'd like to add to the <head> section for your article pages. The setting can be defined at three levels: global, project and article.

TOC Editor Improved  

• Rename Nodes Easier.  When a TOC node caption is edited, the text box now contains the current article titles for the nodes which use article titles as captions (was using an empty value before). Moreover, if a custom caption exactly matches the current article title, the node is automatically switched to use the article's title instead of the custom caption to sync the two titles.
• Auto-selection of the Created Article in TOC.  When a new article is created, it is now focused and opened automatically in the TOC/Non-TOC tree.
• TOC Toolbar Buttons State Change.  The up/down and indent/outdent menu items in the TOC editor are now disabled automatically if multiple nodes are selected in order to avoid confusion - the operations cannot be used for multiple nodes.

Projects & Publications  

• New Publication Visibility Type.
  It is now possible to define three visibility types for publications:
  * Private - available to authors only
  * Power Readers Only - available after login to authors and Power Readers
  * Public - available to everyone, no login needed
  This allows hiding obsolete publications from Power Readers, leaving them accessible to authors.
• Additional Clean-up After Project Deletion  When a project or publication is deleted along with its styles and scripts, the styles and scripts are now erased along with their parent folders if there are no other files in those folders.
• When Importing a Project, the Source Script Files Are Added to Project Scripts in ClickHelp.  Manuals importing algorithm improved - now, all script files mentioned in the imported topics are added as project scripts to the newly created ClickHelp project.
• The "Switch publication visibility" Command Removed from Projects Tree.  The "Switch publication visibility" context menu item has been removed from the projects tree, since three visibility states are now supported.
• Project Name on the Settings Pages.  To avoid confusion, when you are editing settings of a project or publication, its name is now displayed in the header of the settings pages.
• The Number of AddThis Buttons is Limited by Five.  The maximum allowed number of AddThis sharing buttons in article headers is now five.

User Management & Security  

• Password Change Dialog - Description Improved.  Description changed in the Change Password dialog - it no longer mentions "...including 0 alphanumeric characters".
• Default Passwords Generation Improved.  Default passwords generation algorithm was changed. When resetting a user's password, the new one is now less scary - shorter and easier to remember. Also, they no longer contain non-alphanumeric characters.
• Profile Access for Power Readers.  Users with the Power Reader role can now access their profiles in order to change e-mail, password and other profile data.
• Forgot Password Page Now Requests Login.  The Forgot Password page now requests user login, not e-mail for password reset. This improves the situation when several accounts have the same e-mail address, but different logins.

Other Improvements and Changes  

• Main menu was simplified. Resources item removed, its sub-items (Files Storage, Styles, Scripts) were moved to the Tools menu.
• All CSS property editors (for example, the font-family selector) now display detailed CSS property descriptions in tooltips:
  * short reference,
  * CSS version in which the property has been introduced,
  * possible values,
  * default value,
  * information on elements to which the property can be applied,
  * and more...
• Application version is now displayed in the footer on the server home page also to anonymous users.
• Improved performance for the default server home page, and the application start page.
• The style of the default server home page was adjusted to look better when scripts are disabled.
• Branding settings pages for custom 404 "Not Found" errors now contain descriptions of when the custom content is shown, and sample URLs that can be used to test the custom error pages.
• The Import Project wizard now reports on the name and size of the successfully uploaded manual.
• Performance of the progress reporter for the "Task Progress" step has been improved for the following wizards: Create Project, Copy Project, Publish Project, Delete Project, Import Project.
• Lots of other nice improvements for technical writers!

Fixed Bugs  

Wizards  

• All wizards now show the first page when re-opened. Previously, they were showing the last page opened before and navigated to the first page explicitly.
• When a new project is created, or when a manual is imported, or when a copy of a project/publication is created, or when a project is published, the wizards now check whether a project/publication with the given name exists and whether it contains invalid characters right on the step used for project/publication name input. Previously, the error occurred only on the last step, during the project/publication creation process.

TOC Editor  

• When a stored articles filter is applied on a newly opened page, the TOC filter box was empty. Now, the correct value ([Custom Filter]) is displayed.
• A newly created article now appears in the TOC tree correctly if it matches the current TOC filter.
• When a TOC tree node is clicked, other nodes' selection is no longer cleared.
• When a node is dragged from the Non-TOC tree to the TOC tree and vice versa, the node can now be moved up/down correctly after insertion to the other tree.
• It is now possible to select TOC nodes correctly when a filter is applied to the TOC tree.

Settings  

• Incorrect link to the current project's settings page was generated for the "Project | Project Settings..." main menu item in some cases.
• The "Change settings..." link on the Projects page now leads to a correct location.
• Fixed placeholder descriptions in the Branding setting for the server Home Page.
• It is now possible to change a project/publication files folder from the Project Settings page.
• The Update button on the Domain Mapping page of global settings is now disabled if the user has no permissions to edit global settings.
• The "Specified method is not supported" error no longer occurs when typing an invalid project style/script name (e.g. "Test", not "Styles/...") in the project files section of project settings. Instead, a valid error message is displayed.
• The number of "review notes to include" in the "E-Mail Notifications" section of global settings is now limited by 20. Had no limits before.
• Custom title set for the "Article Not Found" page in the branding settings is now used when showing a custom error page to users.
• Markup for a custom 404 Not Found pages is now saved properly from branding settings.
• The "Latest review notes to include in notifications" option was disabled when the notification was enabled in global settings and vice versa. Now, the option's enabled state is set correctly.

Other  

• The Preview combo box is no longer visible for articles belonging to publications.
• When a user is editing an article, or a style/script file simultaneously, unlocking the file by another user could cause incorrect switching to the view mode for the latter user.
• The "Enumeration already finished" error no longer appears when opening a project.
• The "Invalid viewstate" error popup no longer appears when opening a project via double-click, or after refreshing a page and performing some actions with it in Firefox.
• When viewing pages with scripts disabled, redirections to the /scripts-disabled/ page no longer enter an infinite loop.
• When viewing pages with scripts disabled, redirections to the /scripts-disabled/ page no longer occur for the server home page and articles pages.
• Exported logs are no longer empty.
• When hiding info items in log opened on the Log Viewer page and then showing them again, the items now re-appear correctly (did not appear previously).
• Empty values for newly created global/project variables no longer cause application errors.
• Invalid resource links like "/resources/Storage/" no longer cause application errors - instead, a 404 Not Found page is now displayed.
• Icons are now displayed in the user popup menu for Power Reader users.
• The Enter key pressing is now handled correctly in the Review Notes panel.
• Invalid article links like "/articles/1" now display correct 404 pages. If there is a custom 404 "Not Found" page defined for articles globally, the custom page and a custom title is now displayed.
• Enabling domain mapping no longer breaks HTTPS access to the application.
• Publication URLs are generated automatically for the server home page.

Back
to top