14. Built-in Help

Galileo has help built in, on every screen and for every control. It works offline, matches the version you have installed, and is written to be read while you are at the telescope.

This wiki gives you the overview — what each screen is for and how a night's work flows. The built-in help gives you the detail — what every individual button, box and option does, and when you would change it.

Contents

• Ways to get help
• The help window
• Hover text
• Help for plugins
• Community and support

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Ways to get help

How	What you get
The ? button beside a screen's title	Opens the help window on that screen. Every screen has one.
The ? at the bottom of the sidebar	The same, for whichever screen you are on.
F1	Help for the control that has the keyboard focus (click into a box and press F1), or for the whole screen if nothing has focus.
Shift+F1, then click a control	The cursor turns into a ?; the next control you click shows its help instead of doing its job. Press Esc to cancel. Also available as Point at a control… in the help window.
Hover	Pause the pointer over a label, button or box for a short description.

The help window

The help window is separate from the main window and stays open while you work, so you can leave it beside Galileo and click through screens. It is also usable over a dialog such as the Flats Assistant.

• Topic tree (left): every screen, with the controls on it listed beneath. Click one to jump to it.
• Search (top left): type a word or phrase to find every control or screen that mentions it, across all of Galileo.
• Page (right): the help for the chosen screen, scrolled to the control you asked about.
• Online manual (bottom): a link to this wiki.

Each screen's help starts with a short overview and the usual order of use, then describes each control in the order you meet them.

Hover text

Hovering a control shows the first paragraph of its help, with a reminder that F1 gives the full description. The text is the same as in the help window, so it is never out of step with it. Pause for a moment — the tip appears after the usual tooltip delay.

Help for plugins

Plugins can add help for their own screens, and it appears in the same window, search and hover text. A plugin's screens have the same ? button and F1. See the Plugin Developers Guide.

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Community and support

When the built-in help and this wiki do not answer your question, ask the community. The speech-bubble button at the bottom of the sidebar (next to the ? and the manual) opens a menu in your web browser:

Choice	Where it goes
Ask the community	A new question in GitHub Discussions.
Browse discussions	The Discussions home page — Q&A, ideas, show-and-tell and plugins.
Suggest a feature	A new post in the Ideas category.
Report a problem	The bug-report form, with your Galileo version, operating system, Python version and current screen already filled in.

Galileo only opens your browser; it sends nothing itself, and you review the form before submitting. Questions belong in Discussions; use a bug report only for something that is broken. Every control has built-in help for the detail.