Month: March 2007

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RoboHelp 6 HTML: Pad Those Tables Cells Without Going Nuts!

If you are a RoboHelp user, you have likely inserted your fair share of tables via the Table > Insert  > Table command. However, many RoboHelp users assume adding padding (the interior white space that keeps the cell contents away from a cell’s border) is accomplished somewhere in the Table menu. Not so. The option is actually found in the Format menu (the Borders and Shading command).
Follow these steps to add cell padding to a RoboHelp table cell:
  1. Click inside any table cell
  2. Choose Format > Borders and Shading
  3. Click the Padding button
  4. Specify the Padding you want for the Top, Bottom, Left and/or Right

    RoboHelp 6 Cell Padding

  5. Click OK
  6. Click OK
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Writing Clinic: Passive Writing Just Isn’t Active Enough

The debate over the use of active or passive voice (the relationship of the subject to the action of the verb) has been raging for years. While there is room for both active and passive voice in today’s writing, I recommend using active voice in technical writing.
If you’ve never had to worry about active and passive voice, think of it this way: if you write a sentence and the verb is in the active voice, then your subject acts; if the sentence is written in the passive voice, your subject is acted upon.
Consider these two sentences:
  • Trevor bought the soda. (active)
  • The soda was bought by Trevor. (passive)
In the first sentence, the reader quickly learns that Trevor (the subject) bought a soda (the object). In the second sentence, the first thing you learn is that there is a soda. What about it? Nothing special, except someone bought it. And oh yeah, it was Trevor. As far as I’m concerned, passive writing takes too many words to get to the point. Remember that your goal as a technical writer is to get to the point quickly and efficiently.
Here’s another example:
  • Tim killed the story. (active)
  • The story was killed by Tim. (passive)
In the first sentence the subject, Tim, is emphasized. In the second sentence the focus is on the object, the story. The active sentence is far more powerful.
If you write using the passive voice, your sentences can become difficult to understand.
Here’s an example:
  • The DUPLICATE command should be selected. (passive)
  • Select the DUPLICATE command. (active)
In the first example, learners may get confused. Should the DUPLICATE command already be selected, or are they supposed to select it. In the second example, there is no confusion. You want them to select the DUPLICATE command. Period.
Click here for a challenge exercise on Active vs. Passive voice via our Writing Labs.
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Adobe Captivate 2: Advanced Question Slide Editing

Inserting Question Slides in Adobe Captivate 2 is no trick. You simply choose Insert > Question slide, select your Question Type and click OK. However, there’s a feature available to any Question Slide that you may not have found on your own. You can specify an Action for every answer that can branch a user to any of the following destinations:

  • Previous slide
  • Next slide
  • Any slide in the project
  • A Web site (URL) or file
  • Another Captivate project
  • Send an e-mail
  • or Execute a JavaScript

In the following example, I’ll demonstrate how to send answers in a Multiple Choice Question Slide to different slides in a project (a technique known as Branching).

  1. Open or create a Captivate project
  2. Choose Insert > Question slide
  3. Select the Multiple Choice Question type
  4. Click Create Graded Question

    The Question dialog box appears where you can create both the Question and Answers

  5. Type the Question into the Question Area
  6. Type your answers into the Answer area

    Now you will specify where each of the answers should go as the user selects the answers

  7. Click the Advanced button
  8. Select Advanced Question Options
  9. Select Jump to slide from the Action list

    Advanced Question Slide Options

  10. Select any of the other slides in your project as the destination slide (that slide should contain a button that allows users to return to the Question Slide should they click the wrong answer)
  11. Click OK

    Now you will set up your Question Slide so that users will have multiple attempts to answer the question correctly.

  12. Click the Options tab
  13. Select  Infinite attempts from the If wrong answer area
  14. Click OK

Click here to see an example of a Question slide using this technique. And click here to see other Captivate sample projects.

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Question of the Week

Question: Can You Resize Captivate Captions Even Smaller?

Do you know if it is possible in Adobe Captivate 2.0 to resize captions to a size smaller than their default size?

For example, when I add a halogreen Caption 4 to the slide, I am unable to resize it to smaller than 156 x 81 pixels, even with "Constrain proportions" unchecked.

Somewhere in the Captivate documentation, there’s mention that "you cannot make the caption smaller than the bitmap used to create the caption", but I was wondering if you know of any workarounds, other than creating my own custom captions?

Answer:

Great question, but sorry, you cannot do it. Your only alternative is to create custom captions.

Here are some links that should help you learn to create your own custom captions:

Paul has a great Web site offering tons of Captivate information and goodies. There is also a page dedicated to custom captions.

CaptivateHelp.Macromedia.com

Dave Mozelealous’ BLOG where he created a cartoon caption.

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Writing Clinic: Avoid Sentences That are Too Full or Wordy

Clarity, conciseness and simplicity of word choice will make a difference in your writing, especially when the message is complex or the reader is uninformed. Conciseness does not necessarily mean brevity.

Too Full: The seminar participant, who could not attend the first two class sessions because of illness in the family and a heavy workload at the office and who asked if she could complete the assignments on her own time, was informed by the instructor that she was no longer eligible to receive a certificate of completion for this particular class but that she could enroll in the next class.

Concise: The participant was unable to attend the first two class sessions because of illness in the family and a heavy workload. When she asked if she could complete the assignments on her own time, the instructor told her that she was no longer eligible to receive a certificate but that she could enroll in the next class.

Wordy: There is no doubt but that she is the perfect candidate for the job.

Concise: She is the perfect candidate for the job.

Wordy: For fuel purposes, propane gas is utilized in tanks in outdoor gas grills.

Concise: Propane is used in gas grills.

Wordy: She departed in a hasty and quick manner.

Concise: She departed hastily Wordy: I was wondering if you have had enough time to review and consider my request for reevaluating the work of Juanita Perez so I can tell her whether or not she qualifies to fully complete the application for a job promotion that will promote her from her present level of administrative assistant to a new and higher job level of senior secretary.

Concise: Is Juanita Perez eligible to apply for a promotion?

Wordy: It is most likely a true fact that in spite of the fact that the educational atmosphere that surrounds our children is a very significant and a very important factor to each and every one of our children in terms of his or her personal and individual future development and growth, various different groups and people do not at all support certain tax assessments or tax increases at a reasonable and fair rate that are required for the one and only purpose and express intention of providing an excellent educational context at a decent level of quality.

Concise: Although quality education is important for our children, some people vote against tax increases for school improvements.

Challenge your ability to write concisely. Visit our free writing lab.

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Adobe RoboHelp 6 HTML: Multi-Problems? Use Multi-File Find and Replace

The Multi-File Find and Replace tool, found on RoboHelp’s Tools pane, gives you the ability to change phrases or words for multiple topics in a project.

Follow these steps to learn how to use the Multi- File Find and Replace tool:

  1. Click the Tools button beneath the Project pane
  2. Double-click Multi-File Find and Replace

    The Multi-File Find and Replace options appear.

  3. Type a phrase you would like to replace into the Find area
  4. Type a word or phrase you would like to replace into the Replace area
  5. Click the Browse button and open the folder containing your project
  6. Click the Find button

    The project will be searched and, if they exist, every occurrence of the word you typed will be found.

  7. Click the Replace All button
  8. Click OK
  9. Click Close

Click here to learn more about RoboHelp 6 HTML.

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Adobe Captivate 2: How To Add Closed Captions

Closed Captioning, an option you can show in your published Captivate project via a Skin, allows you to include transcripts for your audio clips that appear as the audio is playing. Closed Captions are typically added to a Captivate project as an aid to hearing- impaired users.

While the act of showing the Closed Captions is an easy one (you simply turn the feature on), adding the Closed Captions to each audio clip can be very labor intensive.

Here is how you add closed captions to an audio clip:

  1. Open an Adobe Captivate 2 project that contains audio
  2. Choose Audio > Advanced Audio

    The Advanced Audio Management dialog box appears.

  3. Select a slide that contains an audio file
  4. Click the Closed Caption button

    The Closed Captioning dialog box appears, displaying the audio file as a waveform.

  5. Click in the waveform where you want to add a caption
  6. Click Add

    A new caption field appears.

  7. Type the Closed Caption
  8. Click OK

    Now you need to ensure that the Closed Caption feature will be available to your customers.

  9. Choose Project > Skin
  10. Select any Skin (ensure Closed Captioning is selected)
  11. Click OK

After adding the Closed Captions and previewing the project, you will most likely agree that the Closed Captions are hard to read (the default font size is too small).

Here is how you edit the Closed Caption properties:

  1. Choose Project > Skin
  2. Select the Playback Control tab
  3. Select Closed Captioning
  4. Click the Settings button.

You can use the options in this dialog box to control how the closed caption area will look in your published project.

The Lines Count area will allow you to make the Closed Caption area that appears in the published project either taller or shorter. If there is too much text to fit, the overflow text will be truncated.

The Font area allows you to change the font, font size, and color. I’d recommend using the Verdana font with a font size not smaller than 12. Anything smaller will be too hard to read.

The Background area controls the physical appearance of the closed caption. While you can select any color you like, I typically set the Transparency to 100% so you cannot see the Background area at all.