Month: October 2008

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Adobe RoboHelp 7: Watch Your WYSIWYG

by Kevin A. Siegel

 
There are two ways to add content to your RoboHelp project: create topics within RoboHelp or import the content (you can import HTML files, Word documents, FrameMaker books and file, PDFs and more).
 
Regardless of how you get your content into a RoboHelp project, you will likely need to edit the content at some point. The question is, do you want to edit the content from within RoboHelp (in the WYSIWYG window–What Your See Is What You Get) or within the program that created it?
 
When opening topics within RoboHelp for editing, you might receive the alert message "The file is associated with a 3rd party editor and may be opened in the other editor." As a result, the topic might open in NotePad or Dreamweaver, instead of RoboHelp. You can prevent this message from appearing–and lower your stress level–by following the following steps.
  1. Choose Tools > Options
  2. Select the Tool Location tab
  3. In the HTML Editors area, select RoboHelp WYSIWYG
  4. Click the Set As Default button
  5. Click the Use Default Editor button at the bottom of the dialog box

    Setting the HTML editor in RoboHelp

  6. Click OK to close the Options dialog box
 
Want to learn more about Adobe RoboHelp 7? Click here.
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Adobe FrameMaker 8: Use Reference Pages to Automatically Apply a Master Page

 
 
Today we are going to take a look at automatically applying Master Pages as the final look in our three-part exploration of Reference Pages. (You can find parts 1 and 2 on the IconLogic BLOG via the Newsletter Archive link at the left.)

I have a FrameMaker production job that I work on regularly where each new chapter needs to begin on the next available page (instead of the more traditional right opening page).

I set up two opening Master Pages, one for a right first page and a second one for a left first page.

I could manually apply each Master Pages as needed, but this would be a nightmare because last minute edits could shift the page count. If I didn't check each opening page of all 50+ chapters, I'd could end up with page numbers on the binding edge because the page was using the wrong Master Page.

Instead of manually applying Master Pages to layout pages, you set up Reference Pages to do the heavy lifting for you.

Here's how it works.

  1. Begin by setting up two opening page masters. I called mine FirstRight and FirstLeft. They are based on the default Left and Right masters, but don't have the running header and do have a more generous top margin.
  2. Navigate to the first Body Page in the document and make a note of the paragraph format you are using to identify the chapter title. I called mine Title.
  3. Choose View > Reference Pages
  4. Choose Format > Page Layout > Apply Master

    This command invokes at least one "are you sure" alert box:

    Apply Master

    And maybe two… if you have not yet used the feature in the current publication, you'll get this alert box as well.

    Second Apply Master Alert

    When you click OK, a new Reference Page called MasterPageMaps is created for you.

  5. Navigate to the new Reference Page (usually the last page). Here's how mine is set up:

    New Reference Page

    My table is telling FrameMaker, "When you see the tag called Title, if it appears on a right page apply FirstRight, but if it is on a left page, apply FirstLeft.

    The Range Indicator is set to Single which means this is a single page situation, and I must have added that comment "wow!" years ago when it actually worked.

This has totally removed me from having to worry about which Master Page is being used when on my opening pages. Whenever I update my book, I have the option to turn on the checkbox for Apply Master Pages and it takes care of itself.

Now there's more time for skiing. That's how I see it. 

Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker? Come to our upcoming Introduction to FrameMaker 8 class. All you need is a computer with fast Internet access, a headset and the current version of FrameMaker (the 30-day trial version of the software works fine). You can ask all the questions you like because all virtual classes are led by a live instructor–this is not pre-recorded content.

 

About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and was recently recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide for 2007. 

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HTML Clinic: Block Quotes

by Kevin A. Siegel

 
The block quote tag is used inside a paragraph for long quotations. The nicest feature of a block quote container is that it puts a left and right indentation around the text.
 
Here is how to add a block quote to text on a Web page
 
  1. Open the HTML Template you learned to create a few weeks ago
  2. Type a paragraph
  3. Type <BLOCKQUOTE> in front of the paragraph
  4. Click at the end of the paragraph and type </BLOCKQUOTE>
Your HTML code should look like this:
 
Blockquote
 
And this is how the page will look when viewed by most Web browsers:
 
How the Blockquote looks in a browser
 
Want to learn more about HTML? Attend our HTML Basics class. Click here for more information.
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Grammar Workshop: Can I Start a Sentence with And?

by Jennie Ruby

 
Yes, you can start a sentence with and. You can also start a sentence with but, or, nor, yet, or so. The idea that you cannot start a sentence with a conjunction is one of those bogus rules that teachers somehow latch onto and scare us with. I know that for years I felt queasy whenever I started a sentence with and or but. But I did it anyway. Then I read over the section in the Chicago Manual of Style that confirms that it is not now, nor was it ever, impermissible to start a sentence with a conjunction. What a relief! It's ok!
 
Teachers probably spread this alleged rule in an effort to prevent students from creating sentence fragments like this one:
  • And Tom.
Now that we know we can start a sentence with a conjunction, the next question is do we need a comma after it? In short, no. Do not put a comma after the conjunction. The only time you would have a comma after the conjunction is when the conjunction is coincidentally followed by a parenthetical element. Here are some examples:
  • I knew the ghost busters had declared the building free of haunts. Yet I still heard mysterious sounds emanating from the basement. [no comma]
  • The ghosts were gone. But, as we all agreed, the place was still spooky. [As we all agreed is a parenthetical element surrounded by two commas.]
  • The lake was surrounded by trees. And when it was calm, you could see the leaves clearly reflected in the water. [When it was calm is not parenthetical, because if it were not calm, you could not see the reflected leaves. It has a comma after it because it is an introductory clause followed by a main clause.]
  • The candied apples had all been eaten. Yet the smell of warm fruit still hung in the air.
  • The corn maze was shut down for the evening. But, I noticed with a chill, there were still voices echoing through the dry leaves.
  • There are several pumpkins left. But when the last one is gone, we will close the fruit stand for the year.
So start sentences with these conjunctions whenever you like. But don't use a comma unless there is a truly parenthetical element after the conjunction.

 

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.

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Questions of the Week

Adobe Captivate 3 Question: Can I Drop the FMR SWF?

I'm having a Captivate 3 issue with the separate fullmotion.swf files. Is there a way to turn this off, so that the motion is embedded in the slide like it used to be? My environment allows for one SWF file, so having separate files showing the motion doesn't work.

 
I know you can create "illusionary" motion by moving something, taking a screen shot, moving it some more, and so on, but our files are usually pretty short so having some full motion recording has worked fine. It would be easiest for our team to have those files all together in the main SWF file.
 
Answer
 
You can. This link should help.
 
Adobe Captivate 3 Question: Can I Wrap Text in a Text Entry Box?
 
When creating a text entry box, how can I enable it to wrap text as the learner types?
 
Answer
 
Sorry, but that kind of functionality is not available in this version of Captivate.
 
Adobe Captivate 3 Question: How Do I Provide Feedback for Incorrect Answers to Questions?
 
How do I customize a feedback to a specific question? When a user checks the answer and the answer is wrong I want the feedback to give them the correct answer and score the question wrong and advance to the next slide when they click anywhere on the screen.
 
Answer:
 
Question slides include an incorrect message by default. All you'd need to do is type the text you want in the message and that'll do what you're trying to accomplish. In addition, the default behavior of a Question Slide is to go to the next slide after an answer is submitted so you're all set there.
  

Got a question you'd like answered? Email me.
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Reader Feedback

Resolute on Captivate Resolution
 
Submitted by: Joseph Christensen, Technical Writer
RxAmerica, LLC
 
I wanted to make a comment about your Skills and Drills article "Be Resolute When It Comes to Your Resolution."
 
I would recommend another solution for the size problem with Captivate. At my organization, users simply miss out on too much information if I limit myself to a 1024 x 768 format (tables and DIV layers cover too much real-estate in our Internet-based applications).
 
As you stated, anything larger (than 1024 x 768) does require resizing. So another possible solution: increase the text size. This ensures that the demo is still readable if it needs to be resized (smaller).
 
And as I am sure you already know, there are similar solutions if a developer is recording a traditional application (Display Properties > Settings tab > Advanced button > General > DPI settings to Larger Size, etc.).

Obviously this doesn't work all the time. But hey, more options, right?

 
***
 
Comments on Reducing the Size of a Captivate Project
Submitted by: Michael A. Cindrich, RN/Manager, Training Department, Software Products Group, Artromick International Inc.

I read with interest your article on project size. When our team used the suggestions noted in the article, we really didn't see any difference in size.

 
In fact, when we imported the slides the file size seemed to remain the same or slightly lower and checking the library the sizes never did add up close to what the project did. Our theory was importing slides imports the problems with it.
 
We have a 37 slide project (without audio) that is 643mb (if you can believe it). We use lots of text captions, click boxes and animation.
 
Here is how we reduced the size of the project:
  1. Open the large project in Captivate and click the Edit tab
  2. Click and open another session of Captivate
  3. Select Record or create a new Project
  4. Select Blank Project and create a new project with the same project specifications as the one that's bloated (specifically, the new project should be the same size, in pixels)
  5. Go back to the bloated project and click "Edit" then "Select All Slides"

    This step could take some time as Captivate seems to freeze depending on how bloated the project is. Just sit tight for Captivate to respond.

  6. Click "Edit" then "Copy Slide"

    This step could also take some time as Captivate seems to freeze. Again, just sit tight for Captivate to respond.

  7. Go back to the blank project, click "Edit" then "Paste Slide"
  8. After all the slides pop in there may be some tweaking to do such as if you have click boxes that jump to other slides, that does not copy over and check your project preferences and skin to be sure they are the same
  9. Save the project with a new name.
     
    When we followed the above steps the file size went from 643MB to 8MB.
     
    I hope this procedure works for others.

***
 
Submitted by Meg & John
 
Kevin, THANK YOU!!!!!  This was sooooo timely.  We followed your suggestions and our file went from 1.29 to .22 Gig.  It actually opens now!
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Links of the Week

Motion Artist and Clipart
 
By Captivate developer Sam Sternman, ACC Owner, Accredited Cruise Counselor, Disney Specialist and Aussie Specialist

Motion Artist, from www.e-frontier.com, is a great tool for creating simple to complex Flash files, including pre-loaders for Adobe Captivate and other similar tools, with little need for Flash development experience.
 
Using a timeline, layering and a basic understanding of functions similar to Captivate 3.0 is all that's required to get started. 
 
We use this application to introduce animations to an otherwise linear e-learning authoring platform.  I think you'll find it's a great buy at $49!  We love it. 
 
Of course, having a clipart library, such as www.clipart.com is a great plus to keeping things interesting and professional.
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Search Engine Optimization: Associate your Business With Google Maps

 
Go to Google's Local Business Center to add or edit your business listing on Google Maps.

Follow the instructions to add your address, contact information, hours of operation, and even storefront, product photos and videos.

You can even include keywords in the business name you add to Google Maps.

All the better for the search engines to find you, my friends. And for potential customers to discover your business via Google's local search.

 
Want to learn more about SEO? Join Mary later in November for a 2-day live, virtual training event. Click here for more details.
 

 

About the Author: Mary Gillen is a writer, teacher, Web developer, marketer and tech geek… all under one hood. She has owned her own business since 1981, and has more than 13 years experience developing Web applications.

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Adobe Captivate 3: Tactics for Reducing the Size of Your Project

Large, bloated Captivate projects just aren't any fun, are they? In fact, projects that eat up great gobs of disk space can be a major concern for a Captivate developer. Why? It's not because the published content will necessarily be equal to the size of the project file (the CP file). Rather, bloated projects can eventually tax hard drives and storage devices–even large drives can feel the pinch.
 
Consider the case of one of my clients: he was working with a 150 slide project that occupied more than 200mb of space on his hard drive. He practiced good saving techniques… every day that he opened a project, he would save it with a new name (name_v1.cp; name_v2.cp, and so on). It wasn't long before he had more than 50 versions of a project, each 200mb. With file sizes like that, it wouldn't be long before his 900 mb hard drive would be full. Ouch!
 
Beyond simply eliminating slides for a project, here are some strategies for reducing the file-size of the project (in bytes).
  • Create projects with fewer slides (we try to keep our projects to 100 slides or less)
  • Select the Edit tab, show the Library (View menu), click the Select Unused Items button and then click the Delete button (in the case of the client discussed above, this simple step lowered the size of his project file from 200mb down to 30mb–a dramatic improvement)
  • Show the properties of your slides and lower the Quality from High quality down to JPEG or Optimized
  • Lower the quality of your Audio (Audio > Settings) from CD Bitrate down to Near CD or, even better, FM Radio Bitrate (you'd be surprised to learn that audio set to the FM Radio Bitrate sounds perfectly fine for most eLearning applications)

    Note: Nothing bloats projects like audio. Simply put, the more audio you include in your project, and the longer the audio plays, the larger your project and output files will be.

  • Use animation sparingly (while effective to eLearning lessons, long animations will bloat both your project and output files)

If you are working with a project that simply won't get smaller (you've tried all of the steps above and the pesky thing just won't cooperate), try these options:

  • Save the bloated project with a new name (sometimes that simple step solves the problem)

If that doesn't work…

  • Create a new project with the same project specifications as the one that's bloated (specifically, the new project should be the same size, in pixels, as the problem child); choose File >  Import Slides/Objects and import everything from the bloated project; give the project a name different from the bloated one (so as not to overwrite the original)

If that doesn't work…

  • This one is courtesy of Tom Edgar, Adobe Certified Instructor, Digital Training & Designs, Inc.

    It seems that Tom had a Captivate 3 project that got bigger and bigger, even as he deleted more and more of the project's assets. Nice! After trying every trick in the book (all of those listed above), Tom approached Adobe and learned something I hadn't heard of before, or considered… 

    Tom was told by an Adobe rep that choosing File > Close did more than simply close the project. In fact, Tom was told by choosing File > Close actually compressed/refreshed the project as it was closed. Skeptical, Tom opened a bloated project and, rather than save and exit, and rather than close the project by clicking the Close button in the upper-right of the window, he chose File > Close. Did it work? "Yes," said Tom. He said that the project in question did, in fact, get significantly smaller.

    File > Close? Who knew???!!! Well done, Tom! 

Do you have a Captivate production problem that's making you pull your hair out? Email your problem and let others learn solutions from your experience.
 
 
Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate 3? Click here.
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Adobe FrameMaker 8: Reference Pages Part 2

 
Last week you learned a bit about the most basic reference page, called Reference.
 
In a new default document, when you chose View > Reference Pages, you land on a page that looks like the one below, and you learned about the purpose of the top two frames. So what about the second two frames? And the entire rest of the page, which is currently empty?

Reference page

 
The second two frames are used to place a repeating graphic element (in this case a single or double ruling line) either above a paragraph, below a paragraph, or both.
 
Before we try, you need to remember one thing from last week: The labels above each frame are strictly there for your convenience, they don't do anything except call out the names of the frames. What matters is the name of the frame underneath the label. To see a frame's name, click on the edge to select it and look at the middle of the status bar at the bottom of the page.
 
So, open a document with a subheading format and let's give this a try. Place your cursor in your top level subheading and open the Paragraph Designer (Ctrl+M). Navigate to the Advanced tab. At the bottom of the dialog box, click the Frame Above Pgf or Below Pgf drop-down menus and you will see that there's a list of frames from the first reference page. Select one and then click Update All to place a ruling above or below all your subheads.
 
But what if you'd rather use a different graphic above or below your subheads? A nice Hawaiian flower perhaps? Here's how:
  1. Choose View > Reference Pages
  2. Choose Graphics > Tools to show the Graphics toolbar
  3. Use the Place a Graphic Frame tool to draw a frame on the page, under the other ones. Name it Flower.
  4. Use the Text Line tool to add the optional label above the frame. Again, name it Flower.

    Flower frame on the Reference page

  5. Use the Select Object tool to select the frame and place an image of a flower in the frame
  6. Choose View > Body Pages
  7. You should still be within your subheading and the Paragraph Designer should still be on your screen… click the Frame Above Pgf drop-down menu, choose Flower and then click Update All.

    Now there should be a flower over each of your subheads.

    Updated format using the "Flower" reference

Now, what about the rest of that page? You could use it to add additional graphics you'd like to reference on the Body Pages or you could draw a text frame and leave notes for your co-workers about the job.
 
Notes on a Reference page
 
 
Want to learn more about Adobe FrameMaker? Come to our upcoming Introduction to FrameMaker 8 class. All you need is a computer with fast Internet access, a headset and the current version of FrameMaker (the 30-day trial version of the software works fine). You can ask all the questions you like because all virtual classes are led by a live instructor–this is not pre-recorded content.

 

About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and was recently recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide for 2007.