July 2007 – The Logical Blog

July 31, 2007

Adobe Captivate 3: Olé, Slideléts!

Rollover Slidelet’s are basically mini-slides within a slide. Similar to Rollover Captions and Images (both holdovers from Captivate 2), Slidelets only appear when the user moves the mouse over a specified area on the slide. Unlike Rollover Captions (which can only contain text) and Rollover Images (which can only contain images), Slidelets can contain images, text, audio, and video. In addition, you can attach navigation controls to a Slidelet.

Insert a Rollover Slidelet

Open or create a Captivate project
Open a slide
Choose Insert > Rollover Slidelet

The New Slidelet dialog box appears.

Insert a Slidelet

Click OK to accept the initial defaults
Two things appear on the slide: the Rollover Slidelet and the Slidelet. While the two objects look similar, the Rollover Slidelet will serve as the hotspot. The Slidelet is what will appear should the user move their mouse over the Rollover Slidelet. Although the Rollover Slidelet contains the words "Rollover Slidelet," that identifier will go away should you make the Rollover Slidelet small. In that case, use your mouse to point at either object and you will see a tooltip that will help you identify which object is which.

Set Rollover Slidelet Properties

Drag the Rollover Slidelet over the part of the slide that you would like to serve as the hotspot (remember, the Rollover Slidelet is the part the user will need to move their mouse over to display the Slidelet)
Right-click the Rollover Slidelet and choose Properties
On the Rollover Slidelet tab, select Stick Slidelet from the If the user clicks inside the Rollover slidelet area

Stick the Slidelet

With the Stick Slidelet option selected, nothing will happen on the slide should the user click the Rollover Slidelet. Alternatively, you could have selected Navigate from the If the user clicks inside the Rollover slidelet area and then selected from a list of On Click actions.

Select the Options tab
If necessary, select Show Runtime Border from the Effects

Show Runtime Border

With this option selected, a border will appear around the hotspot when users point to the Rollover Slidelet.

Click OK

Insert a Text Caption and Image into the Slidelet

Drag the Slidelet to an appropriate location on the slide
Remember, the Slidelet is what will appear should the user move their mouse over the Rollover Slidelet.
Select the Slidelet
This is the most important step. If you do not select the Slidelet now, the Text Caption you are about to insert will be inserted on the slide instead of within the Slidelet.
Choose Insert > Text Caption
Type the text and format the caption as you would any Text Caption
Click OK
The Text Caption has been inserted within the Slidelet. You can move the Text Caption anywhere within the Slidelet, but you cannot drag it outside of the Slidelet.
Select the Slidelet
Choose Insert > Image
Open an Image and click OK when you see the New Image dialog box
As when you inserted the Text Caption, an image has been inserted within the Slidelet. You can move the image anywhere within the Slidelet but you cannot drag it outside of the Slidelet. Pictured below is the Slidelet (in blue) with both the text caption and image.
Preview the project.
You should see a border appear around the Rollover Slidelet. In addition, the Slidelet should appear with both the Text Caption and image you inserted. If you move your mouse away from the Rollover Slidelet, the Slidelet should disappear.

July 31, 2007

Writing and Grammar: Commas Between Adjectives? Sometimes Yes, Sometimes No!

This week you will learn when you should add commas between adjectives, and when you shouldn’t.

A good friend of mine who has been a writer for years recently took a job in which she has to copyedit. One day she IM’ed me: "What is up with the commas between adjectives? My boss seems to always put them in–but I don’t think they are needed. Are there rules for this?

Consider these two examples:

My dear old Aunt Sally

My dear, old Aunt Sally

Is the comma in the second example really necessary?

Ahhh, the kind of question that warms a long-time copyeditor and grammar teacher’s heart. Yes, my dear, there are rules for this. But most native speakers of English have never heard of them. We simply rely on our "ear."

The rules start with the official order of adjectives. The large blue dinosaur just sounds more familiar, more correct, than the blue large dinosaur. We always put size before color when describing something: the gigantic green frog, the large black briefcase.

We can put together long strings of adjectives without any punctuation, as long as we follow the official order of adjectives: the valuable old green Mercedes sedan.

The order is first a, the, or a possessive such as my or Tom’s. Then we put evaluation or opinion, followed by the physical description-size, shape, age, color, texture-followed by where it came from, the material it is made of, and finally its purpose or main use. Oh, and we might have one last item before the noun: another noun that helps identify it.

Thus I can describe Brian’s comfortable big old brown soft Italian leather driving jacket sleeve without using any commas, although that is admittedly going a little over the top.

When do we have to use commas? When we use the adjectives out of order, as in the old, uncomfortable sofa (age before evaluation) as opposed to the uncomfortable old sofa; and when we use two adjectives that are in the same category or that are not part of the official categories: her comfortable, affordable alternative (two evaluations).

Besides order, there is another easy test for whether you need a comma. Can you read it with the word and between the adjectives? If so, you need a comma. Her comfortable and affordable alternative? Yes. My dear and old Aunt Sally? I don’t think so. No comma.

Next time: Do I need a hyphen?

by Jennie Ruby

About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Essentials of Access 2000" and "Editing with MS Word 2003 and Adobe Acrobat 7" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing. You can reach Jennie at Jenruby@aol.com

July 31, 2007

Question of the Week

Question on Adobe Captivate 2 Audio

I use Adobe Captivate 2 (this is my first experience with it, I used to use RoboDemo), Windows XP, WAV files. I recorded the project (from scratch, didn’t convert from Demo), insert captions, import audio using F6 (attached to slide, not captions), generate. If I click the little speaker icon on the slide, the audio plays fine; but if I preview or generate, the audio doesn’t play. Any clue as to what is going on?

Answer

The person who submitted this question included the Captivate file for me to review. Happily, this was a simple fix.

Choose Project > Preferences
Select the Preferences tab
From the Visual and sound effects area, select Include audio when project is generated

Click OK

When you preview or generate the project now, you will hear the project audio.

Got a question or comment? Email it to us.

July 24, 2007

QuarkXPress 7: Job Jackets, Tickets and Rules… Putting it All Together!

During the past few issues of this newseltter, you have learned how to create job jackets and rules. If you missed the past few issues, you can use the Newsletter Archive link at the left to read those artilces.

In the steps that follow, you will put all of the Job Jacket/Ticket/Rule pieces together and create a project based on a Job Jacket, use a Ticket and then use the Rule you created last week to Evaluate the project.

Create a New Project From a Ticket

Create a new Project based on a Ticket by choosing File > New > Project from Ticket
The New Project from Ticket dialog box appears. Here you can see the Job Jacket and Ticket you created during the previous articles in this module.
Select CreateOurNewsletter from the list of Tickets (you learned how to create this ticket a few weeks ago)
Click Select
Your new project is created. There are a few interesting things to notice. First, if you show the Page Layout palette, you’ll see that the project already contains 4 pages. The top margin of every page is 12 picas (or two inches). And the page size is exactly what was specified in the Ticket, which is based on the Job Jacket.
Insert a few pages by choosing Page > Insert,
typing 2 into the Insert field and clicking OK

According to the Job Jacket and Ticket you used when you created the project, your page count was supposed to be 4. By adding the 2 additional pages, your page count is 6. While you did not create a Rule to check your page count and compare it to the ticket, when you have the layout evaluated, this problem will be flagged.
Select the Orthogonal Line Tool and draw a line anywhere on page 1
Select the new line and use the Measurements palette to modify the line (specifically, change the Width to 8 pt and apply a right-pointing arrowhead)

You learned to create a rule last week that specifically prohibits lines with right arrowheads. But there you go, not following the rules. It was interesting to see that you were able to draw the forbidden line type. It will be even more interesting to see if you get away with it.

Evaluate the layout against the settings in the Ticket and Rules

Choose File > Job Jackets > Evaluate Layout
The Layout Evaluation dialog box appears.
Click the Evaluate button
According to the results, your layout failed two Rule Descriptions: Layout Specification and NewsletterRules. You can tell if you passed or failed by looking in the Cases column where green check marks agre good, red slashes are bad.

At this point, you would need to bring the document under compliance (in this case, you would need to delete the two extra pages and that pesky right-hand arrow). Then you would evaluate the layout again. This time, you would hopefully see green check marks in the Cases column.
Click Done

Want to learn more about QuarkXPress 7? Click here.

July 24, 2007

Adobe Announces Captivate 3

Hold onto your hats Captivate fans: Adobe announced that Adobe Captivate 3 will soon be available.

According to a press release provided by Adobe, "Adobe Captivate 3 will be available for Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows Vista and is expected to ship in August 2007 or later this summer at an estimated price of US$699. Localized versions in French, German, Japanese, Italian and Spanish are expected to be available in September 2007. Users of Macromedia Captivate 1 and Adobe Captivate 2 can upgrade to Adobe Captivate 3 for an estimated price of US$299."

Below are the top new features as posted on the Adobe Web site:

Multimode recording

Save time and generate robust software simulations with multiple learning modes in a single recording session, including demonstration of the procedure, a simulation for practicing the steps, and an assessment.

Randomized quizzing and question pools

Improve learner assessments by randomly drawing questions from a set of question pools. Shuffle the answer options for multiple-choice questions so that the answers are displayed in a different order each time.

Rollover slidelet

Provide additional just-in-time information on Adobe Captivate slides by displaying rich media content such as images, text, audio, and video when the learner moves the mouse over a hot spot.

XML file export and import

Simplify the localization process of projects; export captions to a text or XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF) file. Import the translated text file into a copy of the original project file.

Automated rerecording

(Microsoft Internet Explorer only) Quickly update content and automatically rerecord entire procedures in most web applications after the user interface has been modified or localized.

Scenario branching

Increase learning effectiveness with branching to customize content in response to viewer actions; improve your workflow with branching view enhancements such as grouping and zoom.

Animation effects

Create professional-looking learning content with support for animated slide transitions and Microsoft PowerPoint animations. Adobe Captivate 3 imports PowerPoint (PPT) files while converting PowerPoint slides into SWF files and retaining the animation effects.

Audio recording with preview

Synchronize audio easily with slides and timed objects. Adobe Captivate enables you to record the narration while previewing the current slide with animation effects in real time.

Streamlined workflow and usability enhancements

Work faster with a wide variety of streamlined workflows and usability enhancements, including find and replace, enhanced screen recording for capturing screen activity, a real-time recording mode for quick-and-dirty demos, improved learning management system integration, multipurposing of quiz slides, and reduced SWF file size.

Microsoft Windows Vista and Office 2007 support

Install Adobe Captivate 3 on Microsoft® Windows Vista™ and import PPT files from Microsoft Office 2007, or create handouts or step-by-step procedures with the Microsoft Word export option.

Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate 3? Click here.

Note: Our "Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3" book is under development. We hope to have the new book available for you within days of the Captivate 3 software release by Adobe.

July 22, 2007

Adobe Captivate 2: Script Writing and Production Guide

I’ve been teaching Adobe Captivate for years. At the end of a two-day class, my students have all the skills they need to create highly interactive computer-based training simulations (CBTs) using Captivate.

Some time ago a student, just prior to leaving class the last day, asked how she could focus her writing skills and create clean, step-by-step documentation she could use for her Captivate storyboards. She said she had searched and searched and could not find a class designed specifically for creating step-by-step documentation.

I had another student ask me if I had a style guide he could “borrow” so that he could create a corporate style guide to be used for all of their Captivate CBTs.

Based on those conversations, I created this book. Part 1 (page 1) of the book is designed to help you focus your writing skills and allow you to create concise step-by-step documentation. Part 2 (page 35) of this book is the Style Guide and Process document I created for use at IconLogic.

What This Book Is, and Isn’t

This 70-page workbook will not magically turn you into a writer, let alone a script writer. You’ll need lots of hands-on experience and additional training before that happens.

I’ve written this book as a way to get your storyboards and scripts off on the right foot–it’s a "baby-step" book. Also keep in mind that the Style Guide I present in Part 2 does not teach you Captivate. I’ve got a book, Essentials of Adobe Captivate 2, that will do that. Instead, that section of the book is simply designed to offer the techniques and processes we use every day at IconLogic to create killer CBTs with Captivate.

Here is what you will learn:

Part 1: Script Writing

Part 2: Production & Style Guide

Book Specifications:

Sprial Bound | 72 pages | Page Size, 8 1/2 x 11 inches
Retail Price: $28.00

Ready to order? Click here

See also: Our totally interactive, online Captivate course

July 17, 2007

QuarkXPress 7: Tickets Rule!

You have learned about Job Jackets and Tickets during the past few issues of this newsletter (if you missed the articles, search my BLOG using the Newsletter Archive link at the left of this newsletter.

Next week you will learn how to create a project based on a Job Ticket. That’s going to be great. But what happens if a team-member starts a QuarkXPress project based on a ticket but then fails to follow several corporate specifications such as page count, page size, the use of color, etc? QuarkXPress provides the ability to Evaluate a Layout. The evaluation is based on Rules you create and attach to the ticket. If a team member does not follow the set of rules, the problems will be flagged when the project is evaluated. Very cool!

Each Rule you create can test one thing. For example, a Rule might state the lines drawn in the project cannot contain arrowheads. Or that a text box can never use background colors. The type of rules you can create goes on and on.

Here is the general process for creating Rules:

Create Rules and add them to a Rule Set.
Associate the Rule Set with a layout via a Ticket.
Evaluate the layout to ensure the rules are followed.

Below are the steps I took recently when creating a Rule for a Job Jacket that would look for lines using arrowheads and flag them as a violation of our style guide. (I don’t really have anything against arrowheads… I used arrowheads for demonstration purposes only.)

Create a Rule

Display the Job Jackets Manager
Select a Job Jacket
Select Rules from the Resources list
Click the New Item button from the bottom panel
The Edit Rule dialog box appears.
Change the Name (in this example, I changed the name to NoArrowheads)
Select Lines from the Subject list
Select Arrowhead from the Condition list

Creating Rules in QuarkXPress 7

Click Next
The Search for all Lines where screen appears. This is where I defined what I wanted QuarkXPress to look for.
Select Right Arrow from the list

Creating Rules in QuarkXPress 7

Click Next
The final screen allowed me to set the Rule’s Policy and the instructions team members will see should they not follow the rule.
Select Prohibited from the Policy list
In the Instructions field, type Sorry, but we do not like right arrows to be used in the newsletter. Please remove the arrowhead from all lines.

Click Finish

Next I wanted to create a Rule Set that used my new Rule.

Create a Rule Set

With the Job Jacket selected, select Rule Sets from the Resources list
Click New Item from the bottom panel
The Edit Rule Set dialog box appeared.
Change the name to NewsletterRules
Select NoArrowheads from the Available column
Click the Include button

Creating Rules in QuarkXPress 7

Click OK

Click Save

Add the Rule Set to a Ticket

Dispaly the Job Jackets Manager, select a Job Jacket (4 Page Newsletter in the picture below) and a Ticket (Create Our Newsletter in the picture below).
Select Layouts (1) from the Resources list
Click the plus sign (or triangle if you’re on a Mac) next to Layout 1 (in the Layouts panel)
Scroll down and select Rule Sets
Select NewsletterRules from the Rule Sets list

Creating Rules in QuarkXPress 7

Click Save

Next week: It will all come together when you learn to create a project based of a Job Jacket, use a Ticket and then use the Rule you just created to Evaluate the project.

Want to learn more about QuarkXPress 7? Click here.

July 17, 2007

Adobe RoboHelp 6 HTML: The Difference Between Generating and Publishing

Generating and Publishing, Publishing and Generating. They are both RoboHelp commands you will use while developing your Help project. Many people confuse the two commands. Let’s clear things up…

Generating

While working in your RoboHelp project, you use the Generate command to output your finished Help project. Depending on your end user, you can elect to Generate any of the following layouts (there are more layout types than those listed below, but these are the most popular):

HTML Help
WebHelp
WebHelp Pro
FlashHelp
FlashHelp Pro

When Generating, your project will, by default, be generated into the SSL (Single Source Layouts) folder, a folder that resides inside your project folder. After Generating, you will end up with a different folder for each layout you Generate from the list above. For instance, if you set WebHelp as your Primary Layout and Generate, you will end up with a WebHelp folder inside the project’s SSL folder. Later, if you change your Primary Layout to FlashHelp and Generate, you will end up with a FlashHelp folder inside the SSL folder.

Generating is a process you should repeat every time you make a change to your project, no matter how small the change. Should you fail to Regenerate your project, your users would not see your updated content.

Publishing

While Generating your project is mandatory if you want to output your files, Publishing your generated project files is optional.

If you have generated your project into the SSL folder, your next challenge will be to get the generated project files into the hands of your customers or users.

You can copy and paste your generated output files to a server and, assuming users know the address of the Help system’s start page, you would be finished. The problem with copying and pasting the output files into a final destination is that you’ll have to replace all of the files every time you update the Help system.

As an alternative to manually copying the output files into a final location, you can Publish the output files to a server right from your computer. Once you have published the project, you can elect to re-publish the entire project each time you make a change and have regenerated, or you can publish only the files that are newer or different than the last time the files were generated.

Since Generating and Publishing are completely different processes, never Publish your finished output files into the SSL folder (which is where output files are Generated by default).

Click here to learn more about our step-by-step RoboHelp workbook (Essentials of Adobe RoboHelp HTML 6).

You can now teach yourself RoboHelp via our online, interactive lessons. Click here to learn more about the course and to test drive a few of the lessons for free

July 17, 2007

Link of the Week

Creating Custom Captivate Playbars

Sambhav Gore, a quality engineer on the Adobe Captivate team has written an article showing you how to create a custom Captivate playbar. (Note: To create your own playbar, you will need Adobe Flash CS3.)

Click here to read the article.

July 17, 2007

Essentials of Adobe InDesign CS3 Workbook Now Available

I am proud to announce that my newest book, "Essentials of Adobe InDesign CS3," is now shipping. To view and/or download a free module from the book, click here. For more information about the book, or to order, click here.