Liberate Your Projects: Go Skinless
As I’ve mentioned in previous editions of this newsletter, Adobe Captivate 2 creates at least four output files when you publish your projects (1 HTML, 2 SWFs and 1 JavaScript).
I recently had a student who wanted to eliminate the second SWF. While it’s possible to eliminate the second skin entirely, there isn’t an obvious way to do so.
Here’s how:
- Choose Project > Skin
- Select the Borders tab
- Remove the check mark from Show Borders
- Click OK
When you publish your next SWF, you’ll end up with three files instead of four: 1 HTML, 1 SWF and 1 JavaScript.
Gas-X’s Got Nothing on this Bloat-Relief Technique
I found myself working recently in a Captivate project that seemed to get larger and larger, even as I deleted assets. For instance, a 95-slide project was a bloated 41mb. After deleting several slides and several audio clips, the file-size actually increased to 45mb. Huh?
After displaying the Library and using the Select Unused Items tool, and then deleting the unused items, my file size dropped a "whopping" 1mb. So here I am, staring at a 44mb file. What to do?
Follow these steps and you should see a significant reduction in your project’s file size:
- Start a second session of Captivate
- Open the bloated version of the project in one session of Captivate
- Create a new, blank project in the other session (ensure the new project is the width and height of the bloated project)
- Finally, copy and paste the slides from the bloated project and into the new project.
Bam! During a recent test I saw my 44mb file drop down to 3mb.
Oh what a relief it is!
How can I get rid of the Project Info on my projects. It always blocks vital info that I want the viewer to see.
How can I get rid of the Project Info on my projects. It always blocks vital info that I want the viewer to see.
How can I get rid of the Project Info on my projects. It always blocks vital info that I want the viewer to see.
Hi Stan,
I’m not sure I follow. The Info screen should only appear if the user clicks the Info. button. The user can hide the Info by clicking the Info button a second time. Are you saying you want to move the playbar off of your main part of your screen? If so, you would use a skin (new in Captivate version 2).
Hi Stan,
I’m not sure I follow. The Info screen should only appear if the user clicks the Info. button. The user can hide the Info by clicking the Info button a second time. Are you saying you want to move the playbar off of your main part of your screen? If so, you would use a skin (new in Captivate version 2).
Hi Stan,
I’m not sure I follow. The Info screen should only appear if the user clicks the Info. button. The user can hide the Info by clicking the Info button a second time. Are you saying you want to move the playbar off of your main part of your screen? If so, you would use a skin (new in Captivate version 2).
Hey Kevin… Thanks for the tip on getting rid of the “skinless” captivate file. I noticed on a couple of my movies however that there is a single frame at the start of a published “skinless” movie that shows the buttons in the content area. Kind of like what you see if you’ve ever opened up an FLV skin file in Flash 8. Have you experienced this at all?
My project is broken up into several smaller pieces that load a new html/flash page at the end of each movie.
Hey Kevin… Thanks for the tip on getting rid of the “skinless” captivate file. I noticed on a couple of my movies however that there is a single frame at the start of a published “skinless” movie that shows the buttons in the content area. Kind of like what you see if you’ve ever opened up an FLV skin file in Flash 8. Have you experienced this at all?
My project is broken up into several smaller pieces that load a new html/flash page at the end of each movie.
Hey Kevin… Thanks for the tip on getting rid of the “skinless” captivate file. I noticed on a couple of my movies however that there is a single frame at the start of a published “skinless” movie that shows the buttons in the content area. Kind of like what you see if you’ve ever opened up an FLV skin file in Flash 8. Have you experienced this at all?
My project is broken up into several smaller pieces that load a new html/flash page at the end of each movie.
This post is old but I am going to see if I get an answer anyway.. the million dollar question is why does captivate bloat so much? is it storing a copy of every slide you create and then delete? It looks so. So what is the purpose of this… back-up? Not that I can see as I recently “accidently” deleted a few slide and could find no way of getting them back even though captivate is somehow storing them clearly due to the file size!
This post is old but I am going to see if I get an answer anyway.. the million dollar question is why does captivate bloat so much? is it storing a copy of every slide you create and then delete? It looks so. So what is the purpose of this… back-up? Not that I can see as I recently “accidently” deleted a few slide and could find no way of getting them back even though captivate is somehow storing them clearly due to the file size!
This post is old but I am going to see if I get an answer anyway.. the million dollar question is why does captivate bloat so much? is it storing a copy of every slide you create and then delete? It looks so. So what is the purpose of this… back-up? Not that I can see as I recently “accidently” deleted a few slide and could find no way of getting them back even though captivate is somehow storing them clearly due to the file size!
PJ:
Have you tried displaying your library and deleting unused assets?
Kevin
PJ:
Have you tried displaying your library and deleting unused assets?
Kevin
PJ:
Have you tried displaying your library and deleting unused assets?
Kevin
For bloated projects (even after deleting unused items) just use ‘Save-As’ and overwrite the existing file. After saving close down Captivate completely and your .cp file will shrink to the normal size.
No need to create a new project and copy slides at all..
(works for both Captivate 2 and Captivate 3)
For bloated projects (even after deleting unused items) just use ‘Save-As’ and overwrite the existing file. After saving close down Captivate completely and your .cp file will shrink to the normal size.
No need to create a new project and copy slides at all..
(works for both Captivate 2 and Captivate 3)
For bloated projects (even after deleting unused items) just use ‘Save-As’ and overwrite the existing file. After saving close down Captivate completely and your .cp file will shrink to the normal size.
No need to create a new project and copy slides at all..
(works for both Captivate 2 and Captivate 3)