Resources - Branding the Output

Common Tasks

One way of adding branding content is by customizing the copyright footer that is printed on each page of the output. You can do this by creating a generic topic with topic ID

!!COPYRIGHT_FOOTER

in your project. When you have registered and unlocked Doc-O-Matic, it will put the topic's content into the footer of all pages in your documentation.

Branding WebHelp, HTML Help and Help 2

The most likely changes for branding purposes of HTML based output formats you would want to implement are probably the Welcome Page and the WebHelp Header Frame.

Changing the Welcome Page

The Welcome Page background is added by an additional CSS directive added to the Welcome Body formatting element. Open the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Layout->Formatting HTML configuration settings page and edit the welcome body formatting element. Select the Additional CSS tab which should read like this:

background-image: url("html_titlebkg.jpg");
background-position: top left;
background-repeat: no-repeat;

You need to change is the filename in the "background-image" attribute (don't add a path).

The second step is adding your file to the additional files list which ensures your background image is copied to the output when the documentation is generated. Go to the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Files & Folders->Additional Files HTML configuration page and add the file you specified in step 1.

Changing the Header Frame for WebHelp

If you're generating WebHelp output using the frames layout you will notice the Header Frame are with "Made with Doc-O-Matic(R)" to the right. Doc-O-Matic uses a header frame template file that is shipped with the installation, you will need to make a copy of that file, change its content and make Doc-O-Matic use the new file in order to change the header frame.

Follow these steps to create a copy of the header frame:

1. Open an Explorer window and go to your Doc-O-Matic installation directory.
2. Open the "Support" folder.
3. Copy the file "fset_header.html" to your project's home folder (where you store your project file and DTX files).
4. You can now change the file's content to meet your needs.

All that remains is making Doc-O-Matic use that new file:

1. Go to the Settings View and select the HTML Configuration tab.
2. Now select the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Files & Folders->Templates configuration settings page.
3. Change the Full Header file to your newly created file.

From now on Doc-O-Matic will use your own customized header frame. If you are using any images, CSS or JavaScript files in the header frame you need to add those files on the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Files & Folders->Additional Files configuration settings page in order to make them available when the output is generated. Also make sure that references to those files in the header frame file are local references without path.

Branding PDF

When branding the PDF document you can choose from either of the following options: Custom Title Page including background art, a watermark image that is shown on all pages, custom logo images or text in the header or footer of every page.

Customizing the Title Page

The title page consists of text and a background image. The background image can be changed on the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Output Options->Title Page configuration settings page where you can also choose not to print any text on the title page. This is useful if you have a design for your title page that can't be done with Doc-O-Matic's standard text blocks for title, summary and copyright.

Adding a Watermark

Watermarks are an extremely useful tool for printable PDF to show a document status like "Top Secret", "Confidential" or to display a company logo across every page in the document.

On the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Files & Folders->Watermark PDF Configuration settings page you can specify a watermark image. By default that image will be displayed centered horizontally which can be changed by changing the formatting element named "Watermark" on the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Page Layout->Formatting PDF configuration settings page.

Customizing Page Header and Footer

All pages in the PDF document come with a Header and Footer. This areas can be set up on the [Configuration]->Files & Format->Page Layout->Header and [Configuration]->Files & Format->Page Layout->Footer configuration settings pages. The both header and footer consist of a table with up to 3 columns and up to 2 rows that can hold any fixed text variables and images.

If you want a logo image displayed on all pages in either header or footer add

  % IM _FILENAME_ %

in the desired column. _FILENAME_ is an image file name with no path and no file extension that is located somewhere on the project's Image Path.