31.2.1.1 Converting bitmap graphics for WinHelp
§31.2.1.1.1 Scaling (or avoiding scaling) screenshots
§31.2.1.1.2 Specifying WMF graphics as replacements
§31.2.1.1.3 Specifying BMP instead of WMF graphics
31.2.1.1.1 Scaling (or avoiding scaling) screenshots
Screenshots do not scale well at all, not even a little. The text is messed up by even the slightest rescale.
If you use a screenshot graphic at its original size, unless it is only a button or a small dialog the graphic tends to overwhelm the accompanying text. If the graphic is a full-panel screenshot, it looks huge. And if you scale it at all in FrameMaker, any screen-capture text becomes illegible. You cannot reduce graphic size even by 5% and retain legibility.
• Crop big images to show just the part you need, in a graphics editor (such as Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, or Graphic Workshop; see §5.7.2.3 Using third-party graphics converters).
• Eliminate the screenshots entirely; if users are looking at Help, they also have the real application right there; you can tell them how to get to the screen you are discussing.
• Use thumbnails: little images that each link to a bigger version that is typically displayed as a pop-up in its own window.
• If you are preparing bitmaps for WinHelp use, resample them so that they are at screen resolution, typically 96 DPI, at the size at which you wish to display them.
See also §31.5.1 Rescaling bitmap graphics.
31.2.1.1.2 Specifying WMF graphics as replacements
If you convert graphics outside of Mif2Go, you can direct Mif2Go to use the replacement graphics files.
Suppose, for example, you use a third-party graphics tool to convert imported-by-reference TIFF images in your document to WMF, and place the WMF files in the same directory as the original TIFF files. You would specify the following options in your project configuration file:
When you choose File > Save Using Mif2Go... in FrameMaker, Mif2Go reads in the WMF graphics, adds any FrameMaker elements (such as callouts) that are in the illustrations, and rewrites the graphics as scaled .wmf files, which are referenced in the .rtf files Mif2Go produces for WinHelp.
For more information about generating WMF graphics for WinHelp, see:
§8.6.2 Avoiding the GDI resource leak.
§31.2.6 Embedding bitmap graphics in WMF for WinHelp.
§31.3.2 Changing graphics files for RTF output.
§31.3.2.3 Using different bitmaps for print RTF and for WinHelp.
31.2.1.1.3 Specifying BMP instead of WMF graphics
Sometimes when you display and scroll a large bitmap graphic (around 300 KB) in a Help file, Windows 9x resources drop to a point where processing halts. This is a Windows GDI defect acknowledged by Microsoft. It happens with WMF graphics only, not with BMP graphics; and only on Windows 9x systems, not on Windows NT or Windows 2000.
The solution is to use BMP graphics instead of WMF graphics in your Help file:
• If you are using the FrameMaker export filters, specify BMP graphics instead of the default WMF:
• If you are using [Graphics]FileNames=Map, change the setting in [GraphFiles] to match:
• If you are producing graphics some other way, make sure you are creating .bmp files.
To prevent Mif2Go from making your graphics into .wmf files anyway, also set:
> 31 Working with graphics > 31.2 Converting and exporting graphics > 31.2.1 Converting bitmap graphics > 31.2.1.1 Converting bitmap graphics for WinHelp