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.
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!
If you use branching does it make the Captivate file size smaller or does it remain the same size?
If you use branching does it make the Captivate file size smaller or does it remain the same size?
If you use branching does it make the Captivate file size smaller or does it remain the same size?
Same size.
Same size.
Same size.