If you are using Windows Help version 3.0, or if you don’t have Hotspot Editor, you can create hypergraphics in the Help file by carefully positioning several individual bitmaps next to each other and formatting each of them as hot spots.
This technique might be called the jigsaw puzzle method because it is similar to taking a whole picture and cutting it into pieces and then pasting it back together, and formatting the pieces that you want to be hot as bitmap hot spots. For example, you could take a screen shot of a menu that has been dropped down and make a separate bitmap of each command, as in Figure 11.3.
In the topic file, you place the bitmap references in separate paragraphs and format them so that there is no space between the paragraphs. Otherwise, the individual bitmaps will display with white space or gaps between them. Also, you should format all the bitmap paragraphs as Keep Together so that the individual bitmaps don’t wrap when the user resizes the Help window. When you have the bitmaps positioned, format each bitmap reference as a hot spot, as in Figure 11.4.
The resulting graphics will look like a single hypergraphic when built into the Help file, as in Fugure 11.5.
If done carefully, users will not be able to tell the difference between this imitation hypergraphic and a true hypergraphic created with Hotspot Editor. However, using several bitmaps to simulate a single-image hypergraphic has the disadvantage of requiring Help to perform multiple locating operations when displaying the topic. Usually this means Help must read the disk several times, slowing overall performance, especially on CD-ROM. The decreased performance may or may not be significant, depending on the size and number of bitmaps being used.