Month: August 2009

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Adobe RoboHelp 8: What’s Another Word for Easy? How About Synonyms?

by Kevin A. Siegel

Creating an Index in RoboHelp is as simple as opening the Index folder, double-clicking the default index, right-clicking within the Index pod and then selecting Smart Index Wizard. A few clicks later, you'll have an Index pod full of keywords that have been magically associated with topics in your project.

Will the Smart Index Wizard create an Index that's ready to be generated? Um, sorry… but not likely. After running the Smart Index Wizard, you will likely have to scroll through the resulting Index and remove several keywords (especially if you select Automatically add index keywords for all topics from the How do you want to add index keywords? area of the Smart Index Wizard).

One key to creating an effective Index is adding synonyms to the Index as keywords that will get your customer's to the topic they were looking for. What's that you say? You're not synonym-savvy and creating them is a chore? You don't have a thesaurus handy? No worries… read on and learn how RoboHelp can help create synonyms on the fly.

Add Synonym's as Index Keywords

  1. Open or create a RoboHelp project.

  2. Open the Index.

  3. Right-click within the Index and choose Smart Index Wizard.

  4. Click Next to move to the second screen of the Smart Index Wizard.

  5. Select Confirm adding index keywords for each topic from the How do you want to add index keywords? area.

    Adding Synonyms 1

  6. Click the Next button.

  7. Select a keyword (put a check in the box).

    Adding Synonyms 2

  8. Click the Options button at the right and select Synonyms from the drop-down menu.

  9. Select a Category from the list at the left.

  10. Select a Synonym from the list of Synonyms at the right.

    Adding Synonyms 3

  11. Click the Add to Topic button.

  12. Click the Close button.

    Notice that the Synonym has been added to the list of keywords. If you leave the keyword selected, it will appear on the Index pod.

    Adding Synonyms 4

***
Looking for RoboHelp training? Check out our course… it will get you trained in just two days. Click here for details.

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iconlogic.

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Acrobat 9: PDF Data to Excel

In the early days of Acrobat's life, there was a great deal of emphasis placed on getting files converted or imported into the PDF format. Taking data, text and images out of a PDF for use elsewhere apparently wasn't on the radar.

I remember purchasing a plug-in for Acrobat 3 that allowed the exporting of a PDF to RTF. (Rich Text Format… a document file format developed by Microsoft for cross-platform document interchange–most word processors are able to read and write RTF documents.) It cost me $35, and since I was the only kid on the block who could export out of Acrobat, it paid for itself quickly.

Adobe soon built a variety of ways to export out of PDF files into Acrobat. While well hidden, the Save As dialogue box has allowed you to save as RTF and even Microsoft Word for several versions. Acrobat 8 included an Export task button, but it has vanished in version 9. Not to worry–there is an Export Command located in the File menu.

Rather than exporting a whole document out of Acrobat, I'll focus on a table within a PDF page. Suppose you'd like to have this table's data in a spreadsheet so you can manipulate it. There's no need to retype the data into Excel. All you need to do is use Acrobat's Selection tool to highlight the content you wish to export.

Next, right-click the selected text. There are three useful options: Copy as Table, Save as Table, and Open Table in Spreadsheet.

Open Table in Spreadsheet

Selecting Open Table in Spreadsheet takes the selected portion of your PDF-based table and drops it directly and neatly into an Excel spreadsheet. This is CRAZY easy and very useful. (Mac users will only have Copy as Table and Save as Table available).

Data in Excel

There are hidden gems throughout Acrobat 9. If you don't want to wait for them to trickle to you in these weekly tips, join me online and learn, hands-on, how to unlock the power of Acrobat. Click here for more details.

***
 
David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. He is an Adobe-Certified Expert in Acrobat.
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Featured Online Classes

Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts

Congratulations! You've been selected to write the user manual for your company's next big software release. And following that, you've been invited to write the script for the company's Employee Benefits portal and eLearning lessons.

What's that you say? It's been a while since you had to write at such a granular level? Maybe you think your writing could be better? Or perhaps, like many tasked with writing training materials and scripts or user documentation, writing qualifies as "other duties as assigned."

This live, interactive writing course is designed for you. Think of it as an intensive retreat that will give the jump-start you need to create clear, concise step-by-step documentation that effectively educates and motivates adult learners.

Instructor: Jennie Ruby

To learn more about this class, click here.

 
***
Introduction to Adobe Acrobat 9 

There is more to working with PDFs than simply creating them! Attend this two-day class and you'll learn, among other things, how to use Acrobat in the document review cycle (use the commenting tools for online mark-up in a paperless editing workflow), edit PDF documents (reorganize the pages in a PDF file, add and remove pages, update page numbers), and combine files in PDF packages (combine PDFs from various sources into one PDF presentation).

Instructor: David Mankin

 
To learn more about this class, click here.
 
***
Advanced Adobe Captivate 4: Beyond the Essentials
 

So, you've been working with Adobe Captivate 4 for a while; now you want to see what else the program can do to push your eLearning to the next level! Great! This class is for you.

Instructor: Kevin Siegel

To learn more about this class, click here.

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Reader Feedback

Last week we received and answered the following Question of the Week:

 
Adobe Captivate 4: Can I Force a Lesson to Play Over and Over?

I am creating a lesson in Captivate.  Is there a way to setup the lesson so that it loops/plays over and over?
 
Answer:
 
Yes. Choose Edit > Preferences. On the Start and End Category, choose Loop project from the Project end options, Action drop-down menu.
 
Glenda Person, CBT Specialist, PGBI-Continuous Improvement, noted the following:

"I found, that most times, if you are going to use loop, have the last slide fade out before the loop starts again. There is an exception. I have some animation (I made a blinking eye) in my project and that animation loops."

Excellent point Glenda. Thanks.

 
***
 
I received this email from Lisa Hansen, Technical Editor, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality…

"Having worked 70 hours already this week at 5 p.m. Friday, I'm just trying to finish my novice attempt at including a graded quiz in a Captivate project so I can go home. I know Captivate CAN make the learner go back to a specified point (Jump to Slide) but I couldn't get it to work–dead in the water on Friday evening (i.e., up a creek without a paddle, far away from any blenderized frozen concoction). 
 
eLearning is not my main task, nor my secondary task, nor… So, I have not spent time properly learning to use it; I have not even spent enough time fooling around with it to get much of a clue. But of course a client needs this project done presto. 
 
I don't need to learn all about CP4, I just need to get this movie/quiz working right now, so I can go home.  And voila!  I found my answer on your BLOG.
 
So I'm back in business with paddle, and possibly I will be home pouring from a blender sooner than I dared hope.  Bless you."

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Questions of the Week

Adobe Captivate Question: Best Microphone for eLearning?

I'm looking to record my own audio in Captivate. Can you recommend a good microphone or headset?

 
Answer:

We use the Sennheiser PC 166 USB Stereo Multimedia Gaming Headset. Here is a link to Amazon.com where you can learn more and read some reviews. We have had great luck getting rid of background noise and static using this model. You might also want to review this article from my archives where fellow Captivate developers offered up their advice.

 
***
 
Adobe Captivate Question: Are There Templates Available?

Do you know of any good resources out there where I can find Project Templates for Captivate?
 
Answer:
 
Here are three links where you can find templates (the first two are older but should still work).

***
 
Got a question you'd like answered? Email me.
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Adobe RoboHelp 8: Mini-TOC… Mighty Result

by Kevin A. Siegel

 
Mini TOCs allow you to display heading content directly within a topic. The content contained within the Mini TOCs will be made up of clickable hyperlinks, providing users not only a quick overview of longer topics, but easy navigation to the information. You can elect to use Mini TOCs with a Master Page, or insert Mini TOCs on the fly (possibly within only the longest topics in your project).
 
Add a Mini TOC Placeholder within a topic
  1. Using Adobe RoboHelp 8, open any of the longer topics in your project. Ensure that the topic has been formatted using Heading 1 and Heading 2 styles. If so, you will be able to use the contents of the Heading 2 styles in the Mini TOC.
  2. Click where you'd like the Mini TOC to appear and choose Insert > Placeholder > Mini TOC.

    The Mini TOC Options dialog box opens.

    Mini TOC dialog box.

  3. Click OK to accept the default settings.

    The Mini TOC appears in your topic.


Format the Mini TOC

  1. Double-click the Mini TOC.

    The Mini TOC Options dialog box appears again.

  2. From the Structure area, select Bulleted List.
  3. Ensure default is selected from the Bulleted List drop-down menu.
  4. From the Format area at the bottom of the dialog box, ensure Mini TOC is selected from the Apply formatting to drop-down menu.
  5. Change the Font and the Font Size to suite your taste.
  6. From the Format area, select Caption from the Apply formatting to drop-down menu.
  7. Change the Font and the Font Size to suite your taste.
  8. Change the Type Style to Bold.
  9. Click OK.

    The Mini TOC should look similar to the picture below.

    Mini TOC in the topic.


Test the Mini TOC

  1. Press [Ctrl] [w] to preview the topic.

    The Mini TOC, including its clickable links, appears within the topic. You can click any of the links to jump around the topic. You can also click the word Hide to collapse the Mini TOC.

    Mini TOC previewed

  2. Close the preview.

***
Looking for RoboHelp training? Check out our course… it will get you trained in just two days. Click here for details.
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Adobe Captivate 4: FMR Editing… Easier Than You Might Think

by Kevin A. Siegel 

Full Motion Recordings (FMRs) are simple to create. In fact, when I teach my Captivate beginner class, students learn how to create them during the first day (long before lunch).

While they're easy to create, I'm not a fan. Before I tell you why I don't like them, let me start by explaining what FMRs are.

When you record screen actions using Captivate's automatic modes (Demonstration or one of the Simulations), clicking your mouse or pressing [Print Screen] on your keyboard results in a screen capture.

However, if you need to capture complex procedures like drawing, moving or resizing an object, you can use Full Motion Recording (FMR). Assuming you have not disabled the FMR mode, and that you are recording a lesson in an automatic recording mode, all you need to do to create an FMR is drag your mouse during the recording process. When you finish the recording process, any slides containing FMR videos will contain a movie camera icon when viewed on the Edit tab. The FMR will play like an animation within your project-a movie within a movie.

If you have disabled FMR mode, you can manually create FMRs by pressing [F9] on your keyboard during the recording process and then dragging your mouse. Pressing [F10] will stop the FMR recording.

OK, so why don't I like FMRs? Because FMRs are demonstrations of concepts, there isn't any interactivity. As far as I'm concerned, watching isn't learning–and FMRs aren't helpful if you want your customer's to learn a process. Instead, eLearning should engage your customer and I recommend you stick with simulations instead of demonstrations.

One more reason I don't like FMRs… you can't easily edit them. Once you've recorded an FMR you're stuck with it–errors and all. Ummm, okay. That was true prior to Captivate 2. But beginning with Captivate 3, there's been an application available called the FMR Editor (it wasn't built into Captivate 3, but it is built into Captivate 4). Want to learn how to use the FMR Editor? Read on…

First, it might be helpful to review a lesson that contained an FMR that was edited. Click here to review the lesson and then return here to learn how the FMR was fixed.

To Edit an FMR

  1. Open (or record) a project that contains an FMR.
  2. Open the slide containing the FMR.
  3. On the Library (Window menu), right-click the FMR and choose Edit with FMREditor.

    Starting the FMR Editor

    The FMR will open in the FMREditor.

  4. Click the Toggle Mode button to enter Delete Mode (there are two modes… one for Inserting frames, and another for Deleting frames).

    Toggle Mode button

  5. Drag the Playhead to find the location of the frames you want to delete.

    Use the Playhead to find the problem frames.

  6. Drag the triangle at the left to point on the Timeline where the action you want to delete appears.

    Starting Point

  7. Drag the second triangle to the area on the Timeline where the action you want to delete ends.

    Ending Point

  8. Right-click between the two triangles and choose Delete Frames (click Yes when prompted).

    Delete frames

  9. Exit the FMR Editor (click Yes when prompted).

    Final step

  10. Preview your project and BAM! That pesky FMR has been shown, once and for all, that you are the boss.


***
 
Need to learn the basics of Adobe Captivate 4 fast? Attend a live, 2-day online training class. Click here for more information. Looking for more Advanced Captivate 4 training? We've got you covered. Click here for more information.

***

Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iconlogic.

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Adobe RoboHelp 8: Custom Search Terms

by Kevin A. Siegel

 
If you've spent any time using the Search feature in any Help system created with Adobe RoboHelp 8, you may have noticed that the Search results are ranked based on their relevance.

In the example below, I searched for the word procedures.

Search rankings

If a word being searched appears in the title of a topic, its rank will be higher than the word in the Index keyword list. In addition, a topic with the word appearing in a paragraph using a Heading 1 style would rank higher than the same word appearing in a paragraph using a Heading 2 style.

In the steps below, will learn how to add search terms to a topic when those terms do not actually appear in the topic. Using this technique, you'll be able to guide users to relevant topics using synonyms and antonyms.

Add Custom Search Terms to a Topic

  1. Using RoboHelp 8, right-click within any open topic and choose Topic Properties.
  2. On the General tab, type the term(s) you would like your customers to be able to type into the Search field.

    Adding a custom Search term

  3. Click OK.
  4. Generate the layout (if the layout is your primary layout, a fast way to generate is to press [ctrl] [m] on your keyboard). View the project after the project generates.
  5. On the Search tab, type the term(s) you added to the topic. The topic will be found even though the text you added to the Search field via the topic properties dialog box is not actually in the topic.

 

Note: If you want to exclude a topic from appearing on the Search tab, you can simply right-click and choose Topic Properties. On the General tab, select Exclude from Search.

Exclude from Search

***

Looking for RoboHelp training? I've got a two-day class that will get you trained in just two days. Click here for details.

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Questions of the Week

Adobe Captivate Question: When Should Audio Be Recorded?

Can you tell me why this is true?

"The most effective method of adding audio to a Macromedia Captivate project is to record the audio at the same time you capture your screen action."

I've recorded my project and now have to record the audio. In Captivate's Help system, it says recording the audio at the same time is more effective. Why?

 
Answer:

In my experience, that statement is far from true. For us, the audio is recorded late in the process. It is true that you should have a general idea of what the narrator will be saying throughout the project. However, we attach voice overs at the slide level (not at the object level). When the narrator records the audio, the audio files are given names to match the slide they'll be imported onto. We don't have any idea as to slide counts/numbers until the project is a bit more mature.

 
***
 
Adobe Captivate 4: Can I Force a Lesson to Play Over and Over?

I am creating a lesson in Captivate.  Is there a way to setup the lesson so that it loops/plays over and over?
 
Answer:
 
Yes. Choose Edit > Preferences. On the Start and End Category, choose Loop project from the Project end options, Action drop-down menu.
 
***
 
Adobe Captivate 3: Is there a Way to Convert to AVI?

I'm using Captivate 3 to create a tutorial.  I'm importing the exported .swf into Trivantis Lectora; however, to be consistent with other video files (.wmv)  within Lectora, I want to convert the .swf to .wmv or at least into an .avi first.  Is there an easy way to do this?  I know Captivate 4 has this capability but can it be done with my current version?

Answer:

 
No, not in Captivate 3. There are several third-party converters. A simple Google search for SWF to WMV or AVI found several hits for me. The biggest concern with converting to AVI is that you will lose any interactivity you've added to your lesson.
 
***
 
Got a question you'd like answered? Email me.
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Grammar Workshop: Can I Delete “That?”

This week a reader asks a question that often comes up in my grammar classes: "Can I delete the word that in this sentence?" In fact, I often hear rumors of editors who always delete the word that in the name of conciseness. But is it always OK to delete it?

Jennifer Zapp writes: "We are technical writers and have a question about the use of that. I can't find any rules on when to include the word that in statements like those that follow:

  1. A dialog box appears indicating that the course is not yet complete.
  2. A dialog box appears indicating the course is not yet complete."

The clauses in question here are noun clauses, and indeed the rules for omitting or including the word that are hardly ever discussed. I had to go through three grammar guides to find a discussion of this topic. When I did find a discussion, it agreed with what I had already learned from years of discussing this question with editors in my grammar classes: The word that is optional, but there are times when you cannot omit it without a loss of clarity. I also found some mild support for my personal practice–I never delete that from noun clauses.

Here's how it works. The word that is called a "complementizer." It tells the reader that the clause is a dependent clause acting as a noun. If you omit the complementizer, the reader has to figure out that the clause is a noun by analyzing the context.  Usually this is OK, but consider these problem sentences:

***
  1. They believed the man, who was still panting and gasping for air, had almost drowned.

    [At first it seems they did not think he was lying. Only later does it become clear that they believed something about him.]

  2. They believed that the man, who was still panting and gasping for air, had almost drowned.
***

 

  1. They saw the ship was sinking.
  2. They saw that the ship was sinking.
***

 

  1. They believed the ape, which had a vocabulary of 90 symbols, was able to use abstract reasoning.
  2. They believed that the ape, which had a vocabulary of 90 symbols, was able to use abstract reasoning.

 
In each case, I'm sure you'll agree, version 2 is just a little clearer. For this reason, I always keep the word that. The Writer's Digest Grammar Desk Reference says omission of that usually occurs more in speech than in writing. Analyzing English Grammar by Klammer, Schulz and Volpe points out that retaining the word that is clearer.

So there you have it. There is no rule stating that you must retain the word that, but without it you are risking clarity.

*** 

 

About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" 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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Join Jennie in our online classes (she'll be teaching two upcoming classes for IconLogic): Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts and Editing with Microsoft Word 2007.