January 2010 – The Logical Blog

January 29, 2010

Product Launch: Apple’s iPad

by AJ George

So it doesn’t multi-task. There’s no camera. It doesn’t support Flash. And it’s still only on AT&T’s network.

But, Apple’s new iPad is pretty remarkable. It weighs in at only 1.5 lbs and is .5 inches thick. The 9.7 inch screen is an LED backlit, IPS (in-plane switching) Display and is large enough to see full web pages at a time. It can be rotated and viewed nearly any direction. The keyboard is right there on the screen. There will be nearly 140,000 apps available from day one, including the iWork productivity apps that have been redesigned for the iPad and are available for $9.99 each. Meanwhile, the iBooks bookstore with its huge library of books, beautiful bookstore with shelves, changeable fonts and sizes and its virtually flippable book pages, basically makes the Kindle look like a dinosaur. Additionally, the iPad is touted as making gaming, email, viewing video and photos, and surfing the web better than ever before now that its literally right in your hands.

Perhaps the most remarkable part: the price. The base price for a 16 GB device is $499. The most expensive device comes in at $829 for a 64 GB Wi-Fi enabled device with 3G. Wi-Fi enabled iPads will begin shipping in late March (3G models begin shipping in April).

But what I’m really looking forward to seeing is how this new device can take mobile learning to the next level. One of the most common complaints about mLearning is that viewing eLearning on such a small screen will be unacceptable to some learners. Could the nearly 10 inch screen be the missing piece to making mLearning a universal reality? Or will the lack of Flash cripple any such chance?

January 28, 2010

Adobe FrameMaker: Setting Tabs, Part III

by Barbara Binder

If you've been paying attention to my FrameMaker articles over the past few weeks, you've learned how to set tab stops and how to modify them. Let's finish up this series by learning how to work with dot leaders.

Dot Leaders in a Table of Contents

The typical table of contents will display leader dots between the entry and the page number. Should you press the period key repeatedly to add these dots? Nooooo! Try this, instead.

Open a new, portrait document.
Select the Right-align tab from the Paragraph Formatting toolbar (the Right-align tab is the red item shown below).
Click under the ruler to set a right-align tab stop under the 2 inch mark.
Type the following:
Select all of the lines and create a Paragraph format called "TOC leaders."
Double-click the tab arrow to open the Edit Tab Stop dialog box. Confirm that you have alignment set to right in the left column, and pick one of the leader options from the right column. (I prefer the ones that are a little more spread apart.)
Click Edit and then Update All (in the Paragraph Designer). Remove Overrides.

Nice, and if you need to adjust the position of the page numbers, just drag the tab arrow left or right. The leader will adjust accordingly.
Finish up with Update All, remove Overrides.

Dot Leaders in a Form

This same exercise can be used for forms that require lines. The only difference is that we use a line leader instead of a dot leader:

Open a new, portrait document.
Select the Right-align tab from the Paragraph Formatting toolbar.
Click under the ruler to set a right-align tab stop under the 3 inch mark.
Type in the following:
Select all of the lines and create a Paragraph format called "Form."
Double-click the tab arrow to open the Edit Tab Stop dialog box.
Confirm that you have alignment set to right in the left column, and type an underline (Shift+hyphen) into the Custom leader text box.
Click Edit and then Update All. Remove overrides.

That was extremely simple, and best of all, you can drag the tab arrow left or right to adjust the length of the lines.

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If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Introduction to Adobe FrameMaker 9 class. Too elementary for your skill level? How about the Advanced FrameMaker 9 class? Hope to "see" you there.

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

January 27, 2010

Writing & Grammar Workshop: How to End a Sentence

by Jennie Ruby

Yes, yes, I know: you end a sentence with a period or exclamation point or question mark. But what I am interested in is the last word. The last word or phrase in a sentence often receives a little more emphasis or attention than words in the middle of the sentence. The word or phrase you place there rings in the reader's mind and sticks with the reader a little longer. Here are two good choices for those final words.

End the sentence with an adverb. Adverbs can occupy several locations in a sentence. The most common placement is in front of the verb or between an auxiliary verb and the main verb like this:

I have carefully edited this manuscript.

But listen to the boost this adverb receives when it is placed at the end of the sentence:

I have edited this manuscript carefully.

End the sentence with a new topic. You can build from known concepts to the introduction of new concepts:

All of the styles we have worked with so far have been paragraph styles. In the next section, we will use styles to format one word or character at a time. These new styles are called character styles.

Not every sentence has to end with a bang. But when you want to single out a word or concept for a little special attention, try placing it as the last word.

The skier quickly changed directions to avoid the avalanche.

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Join Jennie online February 5, 2010 where she'll be teaching Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts.

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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.

January 26, 2010

Green Screen on a Shoestring: Part III, Production

by John Gillmore and Bucky Dodd

In the previous installment of this series, we provided a purchasing "checklist" for setting up a green screen video production studio. Part III of this tutorial series explains the production steps for recording, editing, processing and encoding video for use in Adobe Captivate eLearning lessons.

Step 1: Develop a detailed script that not only describes what the talent will say, but also what they will do while on screen. Be sure to include how the talent will enter and exit the screen and what non-verbal gestures should be performed.

Step 2: Set up the studio in a room that allows all equipment to be operated properly and still allows production staff to be comfortable. In this step, the critical production factor is the lighting. The lights should be positioned so the talent is evenly lit and the solid green background is free from any shadows and also lit evenly.

The talent should be positioned as far away from the background as possible, while still providing the desired frame for the video. This reduces shadows and greatly improves the quality of the end product.

Green Screen

Step 3: Establish and test the video recorder's settings for optimal performance. For audio, make the appropriate connections with the wireless microphone system and ensure the audio levels are within an acceptable range. Next, set the camcorder's recording sessions to record the video at 720p at 60fps (frames per second). Record the talent performing the script several times.

Step 4: Import the video into Adobe Premiere CS4 for editing and processing. To begin, trim the video so it starts and stops at the desired locations. Apply the Boris FX chroma key filter to the video by activating the plug-in and choosing the background color you would like to remove with the plug-in's color picker. Adjust the chroma key filter so all the background color is removed and the transparent background is free of any processing artifacts. You may find that having a still image of the Captivate lesson's interface placed behind the video will help with adjusting the video's settings and placement.

Step 5: Encode the processed video by selecting File > Export > Media. This will open a dialog box for setting the encoding parameters. Encode the video content as Flash Video (.FLV) and select the option to encode the alpha layer. This allows the background color that is removed by the chroma key plug-in to remain transparent. After choosing the encoding settings and clicking the OK button the Adobe Media Encoder (packaged with Adobe Premiere CS4) will launch automatically. Select Start Que to begin the encoding process.

Video Editing

Once this process is complete, you have a video in .FLV format where the background has been removed, leaving just the talent. This video can be used in a variety of ways to support and enhance the instructional value of eLearning lessons.

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About the authors: John Gillmore is an Instructional Technologist with the University of Oklahoma's Center for Professional and Distance Education (CPDE). In this role, John researches, analyzes and evaluates new technologies for potential applications in instruction; promotes the implementation of technological innovations; creates demonstrations of instructional applications of technologies; and provides assistance to faculty, staff and administrators who have instructional technology needs. In addition, John teaches freshman information systems courses at UCO. John has a B.S. in Business Information Systems from the University of Phoenix and an MBA from UCO.

Bucky Dodd is an instructional designer at the Center for Professional and Distance Education at the University of Central Oklahoma. His professional interests include innovation in eLearning, workplace learning and performance trends, and instructional design. Mr. Dodd has instructional design and consulting experience in both public and private organizations. He holds a B.A. in Corporate Communication and a M.Ed. in Adult Education from the University of Central Oklahoma.

January 26, 2010

Google Goggles: The Next Cool App?

by AJ George

Say you're at an interview for an eLearning developer position. And it's a big one. You're waiting to be seen, but you aren't the only one. There's going to be some competition for this job.

You scan the room and your gaze lands on the capable looking young woman seated near you. Poking out of her bag appears to be some sort of software with a green, circular logo on it. You don't recognize the software and you start to panic. Is it an eLearning tool? Should you know what it is prior to your interview? Your mind fills with thoughts of your competition's more well-rounded software prowess. You consider whipping out your smart phone to Google it, but you don't know the name of the software–all you have it its logo.

But then you remember you've got a Google Android. You take a picture of the logo and the Google Goggles app quickly runs a Google search based on the image.

It turns out the logo belongs to Camtasia Studio 6. Blast! You only knew Adobe Captivate 4 for creating eLearning. It might be a good idea to at least know what Camtasia can do. And a few minutes later, thanks to the search results, you can at least say you know about Camtasia. Click here to learn more about Google Goggles.

January 26, 2010

iPhone: AT&T Losing Network Exclusivity… Could it Be?

by AJ George

Apple’s big, mysterious announcement coming on Wednesday has many speculating that it will entail the unveiling of some sort of new Apple tablet device. But according to the Hot Hardware blog, there are also rumblings of AT&T losing their network exclusivity of the iPhone to Verizon.

Although just a rumor at this point, it does make a great deal of sense. For one, AT&T’s contract with Apple is about to expire. Additionally, AT&T could stand to have some of the pressure taken off of them as the iPhone gobbles up a great deal of their data, causing much of their network troubles. AT&T is said to be shopping around for more cutting edge phones to compensate for the loss of their network hold on the iPhone.

January 25, 2010

Twitter, Meet Captivate. Captivate, Twitter!

by AJ George

Adobe's Shameer Ayyappan has come up with another way to combine classroom based training, eLearning and social networking with his introduction of Twitter for Captivate.

According to Ayyappan, his new Captivate widget allows students in a classroom based training situation to communicate with other members of the class by posting Twitter comments directly from within Captivate published lessons. The tweets are automatically sent out to everyone in the class allowing for real-time, on the spot collaboration and problem solving between eLearning students. The result? eLearning can now be extended far beyond the reaches of any physical classroom.

Click here to watch a video that demonstrates the concept of combining Twitter with Captivate eLearning (the video runs 18 minutes).

January 22, 2010

Adobe FrameMaker: Setting Tabs, Part II

by Barbara Binder

Last week we talked about setting tab stops. To review the key points: 1.) press the tab key once between columns, 2.) add one tab stop per tab on each line of the table, and 3.) click under the ruler to add the tab stop.

In this column, I'd like to address how to modify the alignment and position of tabs.

Let's begin by either opening up the table from last week, or creating a new one that looks like this:

Create a Table That Looks Like This

Place your cursor on the first line of text.
To move the columns, drag the little tab arrows under the ruler to the left or the right.
Let's push each of the tab arrows a bit to the right or left.
Hmmm. How come only the first line is responding? Because that's where the cursor is. Click Update All in the Paragraph Designer to update the table.

To change the tab alignments, all you need to do is double-click the little arrows, which will open the Edit Tab Stop dialog box. You can pick the new tab alignment from the list at the left.

Double-click the first tab arrow, change the alignment to center and click Edit.
Double-click the second tab arrow, change the alignment to decimal and click Edit.
Double-click the third tab arrow, change the alignment to right and click Edit.
Click Update All in the Paragraph Designer to update all of the lines.

Once you change alignment, you will likely have to adjust the tab positions again. Drag each tab left or right, and when you are satisfied, click Update All.

If you end up with extra tabs on the line, you can delete a tab by dragging it up or down, out of the ruler.

If you remember these rules, you should be good to go:

Click (under the ruler) to add a tab stop.
Double-click the tab arrow to edit the tab alignment.
Drag the tab arrow left or right to adjust the column position.
Drag the tab arrow up or down to remove a tab arrow from the ruler.

My students will often question my use of tabs in setting up a table like the one above. Why not use the table feature, they ask. I agree, why not? Controlling the presentation is more flexible using a table, but I believe that this exercise helps you to understand how tabs work in general. When you try to format a table of contents or set up form rules, this foundation is critical.

Tune in next week for tips on setting up leader dots.

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January 21, 2010

Acrobat 9: Grayscale PDF = A Smaller PDF

by David R. Mankin

PDF files come in all sorts of color profile flavors:

CMYK (cyan-yellow-magenta-black) colors used in the traditional 4-color offset press process
RGB (red-green-blue) colors used in video screen rendering
Grayscale (varying shades of black-gray-white)
Monochrome (line art)

It is logical that these file types would "weigh" differently. An image with millions of colors will contain considerably more information than an image comprised of 256 colors. Glorious, colorful PDF files look wonderful on your screen, and will certainly reproduce vividly on a color inkjet or laser printer. But is the color important? If you've designed a flyer or newsletter and are distributing the document in PDF format, the color is likely a critical aspect of the document. If, however, your PDF file is part of a workflow in a law office, the color may be incidental, and may actually add nothing to the document's purpose other than bloating the document's file size.

Print shops manipulate PDF files all the time to adjust your work to their equipment and processes. If you send out a PDF file for offset printing, and you accidentally used an RGB image in your work, it can be converted to the appropriate CMYK color system by using Acrobat's Preflight feature.

Preflighting is the process of confirming that digital files are correctly formatted for the desired output method. Acrobat's Preflighting tools have matured vastly in recent Acrobat releases, and not only perform checks, but repairs and conversions.

In this example, I have a full color PDF file (CMYK). The file is 3.23 megabytes. Since my colleague does not have a color printer, I could opt to send him a version of this document that I have converted to grayscale to save on precious file space.

To convert a PDF file to grayscale, choose Advanced > Preflight. Click the triangle to the left of PDF fixups. Here you will find a wide variety of conversions and fixups. Find and double-click Convert to grayscale.

Convert to grayscale

Acrobat takes you right to a Save As dialog box, which will allow you to rename the file, preserving the original. In this example, the newly-created grayscale document is only 1.73 Megabytes.

Don't think that losing all those colors is always a terrible thing–try watching Casablanca colorized some time. Yuck.

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Looking for Acrobat training? Join David for a live, 2-day online class. Click here for more information.

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About the author: David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.

January 20, 2010

Green Screen on a Shoestring: Part II, Purchasing

by John Gillmore and Bucky Dodd

Last week we discussed the general process for producing green screen videos for eLearning lessons. This week we discuss the equipment and software needed to produce green screen videos for eLearning lessons.

There are many equipment and software options for producing green screen video. The recommendations outlined in this article are based on the equipment used by CPDE Labs at the University of Central Oklahoma.

The table below outlines the required software or equipment with the product's cost and how each piece of software or equipment is used to produce green screen video content for eLearning lessons.

Green Screen Hardware and Software Table

With a total of $2,892.77 for an entire green screen production studio (less if you discount equipment many eLearning developers may already own such as a computer, cables, or software), high quality green screen video production can be well within reach.

While this equipment and software provide the tools for creating green screen video content, they are only useful if best practices are followed throughout the production process.

Next Installment: Production. We will explain the production steps and best practices for recording, editing, processing, and encoding green screen video content for use in Adobe Captivate eLearning lessons.

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