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> What I would LIKE to do is to make the flow diagram BE the
> instructions, with each box and bump in the diagram containing one or
> multiple links to help pages that explain the choices, the
> implications, the reasons that this-or-that decision might be
> better(best?) for this-or-that customer niche, etc. But, the customer
> would just follow the decision paths of the diagram as her/his
> "instructions" to get where s/he was going.
<snip>
> The other option is to just draw the charts in Visio or some-such, make
> them into .png or .jpg pictures, import them into Flare, and make
> regions of the picture clickable links.
Ugh, no -- don't go down the path of converting those nice Visio vector graphics full of metadata into bitmap (raster) images. Visio offers much better options.
It's been quite a while since I've done this kind of thing, so this is just an idea to look into, not a detailed solution. But I recall saving multipage Visio files (each containing a dozen or two flow charts, with jumps between them) as scalable vector graphics (SVGs). IIRC, that gave me a set of HTML pages, each containing an SVG flowchart and providing controls for zooming in/out, moving from page to page, etc.
I created hyperlinks in Visio for the jumps that took you to a flow continuation on another page, and of course those worked in the HTML/SVG export. I seem to recall not being able to figure out a way, within Visio, to create links to other (non-Visio) destinations. But that could have been a failure on my part or a software limitation since eliminated. Or it could still be an issue that you have to address after the SVG export.
HTH!
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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