Month: September 2006

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RoboHelp: Odd Spacing Got You Down?

The following article was written by Rick Stone, the RoboWizard. Rick is a well known and respected developer. His site is packed full of real-world RoboHelp and Captivate tips and tricks. Check out his Monthly Scry section for some very informative articles.

When using the RoboHelp HTML WYSIWYG editor, have you ever encountered the following disturbing behavior? You compile, generate or preview and notice that your resulting text has odd spacing as follows:

Here is a wonderful paragraph. Notice it is neatly aligned and everything looks just peachy. Why, it might look just dandy in the RoboHelp HTML WYSIWYG editor, but when you view it in either the compiled/generated result or the RoboHelp HTML preview window, it has odd spacing (typically between sentences).        The spacing may look like this!

Believe it or not, the cute RoboHelp project Mogwai weren’t fed before midnight and mutated into the Gremlins that are messing with your project! What has probably happened to you is that you adjusted the left margin using the slider widget on the Ruler. This tends to add some code to your HTML indicating the left margin adjustment. Later, you decided to combine one paragraph with another. Quite logically, you positioned your cursor at the end of the paragraph and pressed the Delete key so the following paragraph appeared to continue to flow. And it does appear to flow properly while in the editor.

How to fix it?

One of the neat aspects of the RoboHelp HTML WYSIWYG editor is that if you select some text, then click the TrueCode tab, the same text (and attributes) are selected in TrueCode. This should easily show you what has happened to cause the odd gap. If you look closely, you will probably find that where the odd gap occurs, you see a tag containing a left margin declaration. Simply remove the opening tag and you should be set. If you wish to be extra tidy, you can traverse the text and locate the closing tag, but I find the WYSIWYG editor does a fair job of doing that automagickally.

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Print Publishing: Spot and Process Colors

Colors you intend to print commercially are typically mixed with four inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). If your QuarkXPress or InDesign document contains just a few colors (three or less), consider using spot colors. If you use spot colors, only the specific inks you need will be added to the press when your file is printed—and you will only be charged for those inks. If your layout uses four colors or more, use process colors. In this scenario, the individual CMYK inks are added to the press, one at a time—and you are charged for four inks. If your layout has a photograph, the image likely contains thousands of colors. However, since the colors are mixed with components of CMYK, you will only be charged for four inks, not thousands.

A typical rule of thumb follows: if you use three colors or fewer in your layout, use spot colors. If you use four colors or more, use process colors. It is possible to combine the use of spot and process colors in the same layout. Although expensive to do so, the practice can create some very nice results. For instance, you might create a layout with photographs (which would need CMYK process inks), plus a logo (the logo might need just one or two spot colors).

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Print Publishing Seminar: Is it Led or Lead?

It’s Lead. But it’s pronounced Led.

Leading refers to the baseline-to-baseline vertical measure of your lines of type. (The baseline is the invisible line that all text sits upon.) Many designers will show font size and leading like a fraction. For example, if you see 12/14 written as instructions for you to use in creating a layout, the first number you see is font size (12) and the second number is leading (14).

By default, most desktop publishing programs, including QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign, use Auto for leading, which is an amount equal to 120% of the point size measure. It is not a good idea to leave your leading set to Auto. When mixing font point sizes while using Auto leading, the line of text will take on the Auto leading for the largest point size in the line and usually will not look good. Also, in a multiple column layout, many designers like to align the baselines of type across the columns of the page; Auto leading may interfere with this.

Setting Leading in QuarkXPress

  1. Select some text using the Content tool
  2. Show the Measurements palette (Window menu)
  3. Use the Leading area of the Measurements palette to change the leading as appropriate (you can also choose Style > Formats to display the Paragraph Attributes dialog box and change the leading)

Setting Leading in InDesign CS 2

  1. Select some text using the Text tool
  2. Show the Control palette (Window menu)
  3. Click the Character Formatting Controls button (the large "A")
  4. The leading field is located in the second row of the Control palette, the second field from the left
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Grammar: The Sentence Fragment

The following lesson can be found in our best-selling grammar book, Abrams’ Guide to Grammar.

A sentence needs a subject and a verb. It must include at least one clause capable of standing alone (independent clause). An independent clause contains a subject and a verb and makes a complete statement.

A dependent clause may not stand alone as a sentence. Although it contains both a subject and a verb, a dependent clause does not express a complete statement. The following words (subordinating conjunctions), and other similar words, will make a clause incapable of standing alone. The more important information should always be in the independent clause; the less important, in the dependent clause.

A sentence fragment is a word group that cannot stand alone as a sentence but is punctuated as if it were a sentence. A fragment is difficult to understand because it is an incomplete statement.

Here are some examples of sentence fragments:

  • Running for the bus that was turning the corner.
  • The man with the large, black briefcase.
  • While we waited during the rainstorm.
  • In the afternoon before the meeting.
  • That we had a good idea for the convention that was to be held in Houston, Texas, next month.

Here are 10 sentences. See if you can pick out the sentences from the fragments (the answers appear lower down):

  1. He went to the conference.
  2. When he went to the conference.
  3. When he went to the conference, he met with training officers from many Government agencies.
  4. As mentioned in the preceding letter.
  5. As mentioned in the preceding letter, we will send you a draft of this year’s report.
  6. We will send you a draft of this year’s report.
  7. Regarding your letter of April 15 about the recent revisions to the Federal Tax Code and their implications for the U.S. economy.
  8. Thank you for your letter of April 15 about the recent revisions to the Federal Tax Code and their implications for the U.S. economy.
  9. We read with interest your letter of April 15 about the recent revisions to the Federal Tax Code and their implications for the U.S. economy.
  10. With respect to your letter of April 15 about the recent revisions to the Federal Tax Code and their implications for the U.S. economy.

_______________________________________

Answers:

Key: S=Sentence; F=Fragment

  1. S-The sentence has one independent clause.
  2. F-The word when makes this word group a dependent clause.
  3. S-The sentence has one independent clause (he met with training officers from many Government agencies) and one dependent clause (When he went to the conference).
  4. F-This word group is a phrase, as it has neither a subject nor a verb.
  5. S-The sentence has one independent clause (we will send you a draft of this year’s report) with an introductory phrase (As mentioned in the preceding letter).
  6. S-The sentence has one independent clause.
  7. F-This word group is a phrase, as it has neither a subject nor a verb.
  8. S-The sentence has one independent clause.
  9. S-The sentence has one independent clause.
  10. F-This word group is a phrase, as it has neither a subject nor a verb.
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InDesign CS 2: Nice Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are a few keyboard shortcuts you might find useful.

  • Select all Guides: Ctrl-Alt-G
  • Sort Menus Alphabetically: Ctrl-Alt-Shift and click on Menu
  • Tabs palette: Move Left Indent (triangle) without moving First Line Indent: Press [shift] while dragging the (bottom) triangle
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QuarkXPress 7: The Hidden “Find First” Button

When using QuarkXPress, you can instruct XPress to find the first occurrence of the phrase you’re looking for. However, the ability to do so is hidden. Here’s how you do it.

  1. Select the Content tool.
  2. Click anywhere in your story.
  3. Choose Edit/Find Change.
  4. Type the phrase you’re looking for.

    Notice that the button at the lower left of the dialog box says “Find.”

  5. Press the [alt] key on your keyboard.

    Notice the “Find” button changes to “Find First.”

  6. Click “Find First” and the first occurrence will be found and selected.

When you record the movie, you will end up with a movie that bridges the gap between a demonstration and assessment movie. You will also notice that the captions created by Captivate (because you selected Text captions from the Custom Recording Options) are written in the active voice and encourage learner participation.
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Captivate 2: Branching Made Easy!

If you’re a Captivate (or RoboDemo) developer, you probably already know that you can add interactivity to your movies in the form of click boxes, buttons and text entry boxes. While interacting with these objects, learners can be directed to any slide in your movie. For instance, if you insert a click box, you can go use the On success area on the Click Box tab to “Jump to slide,” “Go to previous slide” or “Go to next slide.”).

I’ve created several movies that include a menu, or table of contents. If learners click button 1, they’ll end up on slide 2. If learners click button 2, they’ll end up on slide 36. That’s two different paths—or options—a learner could take through the movie. Providing options in your movies, or a path a learner can take through your movie is known as Branching.

Lost among the Branches?

Since a Branch can be made on the basis of correct or wrong answers to a question, or options selected by the learner, Branching is an excellent way make your Captivate movies a personal affair.

The only problem with Branching in Captivate is that you, the developer, can quickly find yourself lost among the Branches. Imagine you have 75 slides. On 20 of the slides you have multiple buttons. If users click this button, they’ll end up on that slide. If user’s click that button, they’ll end up over there. And, if they click that link over there, they’ll end up on that Web site yonder.

Imagine that your boss wants a full report on the Branches. Your boss wants to know what goes where, and why. And the boss wants to know now! Wanna get away?

Not anymore… thanks to the Branching tab

In Captivate 2, tracking your Branches is not going to be a problem—thanks to the new Branching tab. Select the Branching tab and you’ll see three panes at the left of your screen (Properties, Legend and Overview). The Properties pane provides information about the links on the slide. You can edit the links directly through the pane—which is very handy. The Overview pane gives you a birds-eye view of the main Branching area (which we’ll discuss soon). The Overview pane will prove helpful if your movie is large and the Branching area goes on and on and on. The Legend provides information on how each link on a slide is displayed on the Branching pane.

And then there’s the Branching pane, which takes up the most space at the right of the window. The Branching pane provides a visual (little thumbnails) of the branches as they occur from slide to slide. The branches are color-coded. You can refer to the Legend to determine what the colors mean. What’s my favorite part of the Branching pane? You can right-click the Branching view and export as a jpg or bmp. Great stuff!

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Great Web Resources… Check These Out…

Button Generator

I constantly find myself in need of buttons that I can use in Captivate, Flash and on my Web pages. While there are many resources out there, I’ve found Button Generator to be very good.

For $20 per year, you’ll gain access to both a Web Button Generator and Website Menu Generator.

Stock Photos

I’m constantly on the prowl for inexpensive stock photos. I found one at Big Stock Photo. There are thousands of images and they are, as advertised on the site, truly royalty free. Best yet, you can load up you account with a few bucks and download a bunch of images. They’ve got some of the best prices that I’ve seen.

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QuarkXPress: Previewing Fonts via the Measurements Palette

Try this cool hidden feature to preview a font display while selecting fonts from the Measurements Palette.

  • Using the Content tool, select some text
  • On the Measurements palette click the Font drop down list and notice that you see a list of font names
  • Close the font list
  • Press [Shift] on your keyboard and click the Font drop down list

    This time, in addition to a list of fonts installed on your PC, you will also see a preview of the font. If you keep the [Shift] key pressed, you can scroll up and down the list without losing the preview.

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InDesign CS2: Placing Higher Resolution PDF Previews

If you’re an InDesign user, you have probably placed plenty of PDFs. And you’ve probably been less than happy with the quality of the low resolution preview that you get after the PDF appears in your document. You can, however, improve the PDF preview. Here’s how:

  • When placing the PDF, select Show Import Options (located in the lower left of the dialog box, this option is deselected by default)

    The EPS Import Options dialog box will appear.)

  • Select Rasterize the PostScript from the Proxy area
  • Click OK

    The preview you see in your document will no longer be low resolution. Instead, the preview you see will be taken from the PostScript data in the file.