August 2010 – The Logical Blog

August 31, 2010

Adobe Captivate: Analyze and Chart Quiz Data Without an LMS

by Kevin Siegel

In the past, if you created an eLearning quiz and needed to track the results, your only option was to use a Learning Management System (LMS).

Adobe Captivate 5 offers an alternate reporting option to using an LMS: you can create a free account on Acrobat.com, and set the reporting preferences in a Captivate project so that the quiz results are uploaded to Acrobat.com. After that, you can use the Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer, a free AIR-based desktop application, to track the learner results.

I'm not saying that Acrobat.com replaces an LMS, or that using an LMS is a bad idea. In truth, if your learning initiative is large and you have to train thousands of learners, an LMS offers you the best chance at success. A typical LMS can support hundreds to thousands of students and provides myriad high-end tracking and reporting features. Of course, you can expect to pay thousands of dollars for those features.

Let's take a look at what Acrobat.com and the Quiz Results Analyzer offer–for free.

Configure Acrobat.com as an LMS and Upload Quiz Data

Open or create a project that includes a quiz.
Choose Quiz > Quiz Preferences.
With the Quiz Reporting category selected, select Enable reporting for this project.
From the Learning Management System (LMS) area, select Acrobat.com.
Click the Configure button.
The Configure Acrobat.com Settings dialog box opens.
Type your Adobe ID and Password into the appropriate fields (you will need an Acrobat.com account to proceed).
Fill in the Company/Institute, Department, and Course fields.
Click the Save button.
Click the OK button.
Go to the Quiz Results slide in your project and you'll notice that a Post Result button has automatically been added.
Publish the project and view the results.
Take the quiz and when you get to the results slide, click the Post Results button to post the results to Acrobat.com.

Analyze the Quiz Results

Start the Adobe Captivate Quiz Results Analyzer.

As mentioned earlier, the Quiz Results Analyzer is a free AIR-based desktop application you use to track learner quiz results. The program should have been installed on your computer at the same time that Adobe Captivate was installed.
Click the Sign in button and Sign in using your Acrobat.com credentials.
Select the Organization, Department and Course you set up in step 7 above.
And Bam! You'll see the quiz results. How cool is that? Want something cooler? Click the Chart button in the upper right of the Quiz Results Analyzer and create a nifty bar chart of the quiz results. Bam, bam and bam!

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Looking to learn Captivate? We have a couple of options… we still offer two online classes for Captivate 4, Beginner and Advanced. Click herefor details on the Beginner class. Click herefor details on the Advanced class. We also have a 3-hour class devoted to Advanced Actions. Click hereto learn more about that class. Lastly, we've got classes for the new Captivate 5. We are currently offering a Captivate 5 Essentialsclass (the Advanced class is under development).

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August 24, 2010

Adobe Captivate: Slide Numbering Made Easy

by Lori Smith

If you're using Adobe Captivate 5 there's a handy dandy SlideNumbering widget that lets you put the slide count on any/all of your project slides using the format you like (e.g. slide x of y, this is page x, etc).

What's that you say, you're still using Adobe Captivate 4? Sorry, but the SlideNumbering widget uses AS3 and is only for use Adobe Captivate 5. Bummed out? Read on and I'll explain how to use the SlideNumbering widget in Captivate 5, and how Captivate 4 developers can join in on the fun.

For Captivate 5 developers, the process is simple. Choose Insert > Widget and open the SlideNumbering widget. Fill out the Widget's Properties to your liking.

SlideNumbering widget properties

For instance, if you selected Page X of Y from the Formatting Style drop-down menu, and typed This is page into the X field and of a total count of into the Y field, the results would read This is page 4 of a total count of 27 when you previewed. Nice!

Now for Captivate 4 developers… believe it or not, your solution is not too painful considering there isn't a widget. All you have to do is use a couple of variables! (You can type them or insert them.)

Insert a text caption on a slide and type the following:
Slide $$cpInfoCurrentSlide$$ of $$rdinfoSlideCount$$

That's it! Customize the text any way you like such as:
This is page $$cpInfoCurrentSlide$$ of a total count of $$rdinfoSlideCount$$.

For either Captivate 4 or Captivate 5 developers, place the slide counting object on Slide 1. Set the Properties of the object to Show for Rest of Project. This way, the slide count will appear on every slide.

Note: Ensure you name your slide objects. Anyone who has taken my Advanced Actions class knows what a stickler I am about object naming. Use an informative name such as SlideCountWidget or SlideCountTCaption so you can easily find the objects when looking for them in a list.

One last thing: If you don't want the slide count on a particular slide (such as a quiz slide), you can simply hide/show the object on a slide entrance. Good thing you named them using common sense names!

Hide or show objects via a slide's entrance

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About the Author: Lori Smith is IconLogic's lead programmer and Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Adobe Captivate. Lori has a Bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from MIT as well as a Master's in electrical engineering from George Mason University. She has been working in the field of software engineering for more than 20 years. Lori will be teaching our Adobe Captivate 4: Advanced Actions online, instructor-led class. Click here for details.

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Looking to learn Captivate? We have a couple of options… we still offer two online classes for Captivate 4, Beginner and Advanced. Click here for details on the Beginner class. Click here for details on the Advanced class. We also have a 3-hour class devoted to Advanced Actions. Click here to learn more about that class. Lastly, we've got classes for the new Captivate 5. We are currently offering a Captivate 5 Essentials class (the Advanced class is under development).

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Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/kevin_siegel

August 24, 2010

eLearning & mLearning: Everything You Need to Know About Graphics, Part V

by AJ George

Over the past few weeks we've covered whether you should use static or dynamic images, what kinds of static images promote learning, image resources, and easy image manipulation for those images that are good, but just not quite right. So what if after all of that, you still can't find the exact image you're looking for? What if you're not skilled enough to draw your own images? And what if you don't have the budget to pay for images? If all else fails (or even if nothing has failed, but you just like to have completely original images), try making your own! I promise it's not as hard as it sounds and you don't need any fancy software.

I made the following graphics by grouping together and altering the format of simple shapes in Microsoft PowerPoint (and I have no special graphic design talent):

Images created in PowerPoint

Tips for Making Your Own PowerPoint Graphics

Find inspiration from actual photos and see how you could break the images down into basic shapes. The stapler above is comprised entirely of manipulated circles, rectangles and triangles.
Once you have a part of your graphic the way you like it, be sure to Group the pieces together. For more complex graphics it's very easy to "lose" little elements (for example those little circles on the stapler) if you don't group them to larger elements as you go.
Don't try too hard to make your graphics super realistic. You might find you are being harder on yourself than your viewers will be. Take the people above. I slaved for hours on the mouths trying to make them look more human-like and just couldn't quite get them the way I wanted before I gave up and drastically simplified them. In the end, the viewers knew these were not actual photos of people and were not expecting them to look that way, the mere suggestion of a mouth was more than enough for the graphic to be successful.
Don't sweat the small stuff. And by "small" I mean "difficult and time consuming to make yourself, and probably available on a stock photo site somewhere." I didn't make the headset or the phone with the man graphic above. Instead, I used stock images and incorporated them into the illustration.
Set aside a good chunk of time to create your graphics. You might find that the process is actually quite fun (unless you're in a serious time crunch). That stapler took me a couple hours to create.
Once you have created something, make sure all of the elements are grouped together. Then right-click the group and choose Save as Picture. This enables the image to be used outside of PowerPoint, and saves time if you want to use the same image in another PowerPoint presentation.
If you are using the image outside of PowerPoint, don't just save the image itself; save the entire PowerPoint presentation. This way if you find that you want to change certain elements of the graphic (like, for example, making the shirt of the man above red instead of green), you will have the image and all of its grouped elements available in an easily manipulated form.

Click here for Part I of the Graphics Series, Dynamic or Static Images?

Click here for Part II of the Graphic Series, Using Static Images to Improve Learning.

Click here for Part III of the Graphics Series, Recommended Free Image Sites.

Click here for Part IV of the Graphics Series, Easy Image Manipulation.

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About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Writer and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." You can follow AJ on Twitter at http://twitter.com/andrayajgeorge.

August 22, 2010

Writing & Grammar: Less than or Fewer?

by Jennie Ruby

Many people who know that "10 items or fewer" is correct and "10 items or less" is wrong still get confused by amounts of money and time. Is it "They gave me less than 10 minutes to fill out the form" or should that be fewer?

Usually, you should use fewer with things you can count:

I have fewer CDs than my roommate.

You should use less with noncount nouns–things that come in mass rather than units:

I drank less water than my horse did.

So what is it about amounts of money and time that is confusing? The problem is that money and time are noncount nouns, but units of either are clearly count nouns. When both a countable unit and the concept of time appear in a sentence, you retain the concept of time as a noncount, mass noun rather than going with the fact that you can count units of time. Thus, even though you can count minutes, you are still talking about a mass of time. Thus:

It took me less than 4 minutes [of time] to finish the application.

The movie lasted less than 2 hours.

The explosion occurred in less than 450 nanoseconds.

Here are some examples with money:

She gave the clerk less than $50.

The car costs less than $20,000 new.

If you really, really mean you are counting the individual units and not an amount of money, you might then use the word fewer:

I could not buy four items from the vending machine because I had fewer than four one-dollar bills. [You are really counting the number of bills, rather than the amount of money.]

I hope this information means you can spend fewer minutes thinking about this question and thus waste less time!

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Are you an eLearning developer who has been tasked with creating an effective voiceover script? If so, consider attending my Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts class. I also teach the Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts class.

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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. She is a publishing professional with more than 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.

August 19, 2010

eLearning & mLearning: Everything You Need to Know About Graphics, Part IV

by AJ George

In Parts 1-3 of this Graphics series we've covered the different learning benefits of dynamic and static images as well as some free image resources. So you've picked what kind of image you want to use and you've found them for free online. Now let's talk about image manipulation.

Easy Image Manipulation

If you are a skilled Photoshopper with access to the software, image manipulation is probably a breeze for you. But what about the rest of us? Photoshop isn't exactly the easiest software to master (nor is it the cheapest), so let's look at some free (or readily accessible) and easy alternatives for editing images for your eLearning.

Removing Stock Image Backgrounds

If you have Microsoft Office 2010, you can use the new Background Removal feature found in PowerPoint, Word and Outlook to remove backgrounds easily. All you need to do is insert the image and click the Remove Background tool. With some images it is just that easy. For more complicated background removal, it is still a fairly easy process involving just clicking on areas you want to keep or remove until you are satisfied. Click here for more detailed instructions from The PowerPoint Team Blog.

Image background removed

You don't need to have Microsoft Office 2010 to remove stock image backgrounds. The Mindflash blog put together a useful collection of other easy ways to remove image backgrounds.

Editing Graphics to Draw Attention

Tom Kuhlman wrote about not only ungrouping ClipArt elements in PowerPoint to create custom ClipArt, but also about using silhouettes to draw attention and convey meaning. It's definitely worth checking out if you're in charge of eLearning graphics, whether on a budget or not.

Another way to draw attention to specific areas of graphics is to add a cartoon effect to parts of the image. In a previous article I referenced studies that state more realistic images are distracting to learners. Simplifying the images can make them easier on the eye. This is also useful if you are working with free stock images that perhaps do not all have a uniform look and feel. Leaving the backgrounds photo quality and adding a cartoon effect to the subject of the picture (or vice versa) can give otherwise dissimilar pictures a look of cohesiveness while simultaneously drawing the eye to the important parts of the image.

Check outhow I've altered the images below using the free Cartoon (and Grayscale) effect from fotoflexer.com. The image at the right would also be a good way to downplay less than up-to-date technology in a stock photo, keeping the eLearning lesson feeling more fresh.

Cartoon effect

Do you have any tips for sprucing up less-than-stellar stock photos or clipart? Let us know in the comments field below.

Click here for Part I of the Graphics Series, Dynamic or Static Images?

Click here for Part II of the Graphic Series, Using Static Images to Improve Learning.

Click here for Part III of the Graphics Series, Recommended Free Image Sites.

Click here for Part V of the Graphics Series, Tips for Making Your Own PowerPoint Graphics.

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August 17, 2010

Acrobat 9: Custom Stamps

by David R. Mankin

Acrobat technology provides an amazing way to share documents with others and to participate in a shared review cycle of the documents efficiently.

The Comment & Markup toolbar is loaded with familiar tools. Most are digital versions of things that are in your pencil cups and in your desk drawers. There is no need to visit the help file to figure out how the Highlight Tool is used since it works just like the plastic one on your desk.

One commenting tool that has a nice twist to its capabilities is the Stamp Tool. The Stamp tool comes preloaded with some basic stamps. They are categorized in groups such as Dynamic, Sign Here and Standard Business images. Once placed on your page, the stamps can be resized, rotated and a text-based note can be attached.

An often overlooked feature of the Stamp Tool is the ability to create your own custom stamp. The creation process is easy. On your Comment & Markup toolbar, click the small down-arrow to the right of the Stamp Tool (rubber stamp icon). From the menu, choose Create Custom Stamp. Since your new stamp will be created from an existing image (or pdf file), click the Browse button and locate your image file. Note: You may have to change the Files of Type option to match your image file's extension.

Custom Acrobat Stamp

Click OK and you will then have the opportunity to give your custom stamp a name and to choose in which category your stamp will be placed. You may select an existing category, or type a name for a brand new category here. Once you click OK, your stamp is ready to use.

Custom Stamp in use.

Wow–yet another way to make your work stand out from the crowd. If you want extraordinary PDF files instead of ordinary ones, sign up for one of my Acrobat classes where you will learn that there are tons of neat and useful hidden commands and capabilities.

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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.

August 17, 2010

What’s Up With the “Enable SWF for conversion to iPhone application” Option?

Question About Adobe Captivate 5: What's Up With the "Enable SWF for conversion to iPhone application" Option?

I'm confused. I know that Apple and Adobe are at war with regards to SWF output playing on the iPhone or iPad. But I just noticed in Adobe Captivate 5 that there is a check box when you publish that says: "Enable SWF for conversion to iPhone application." Does this mean that Captivate 5 output will play on the iPhone and that I should get excited?

Answer: Don't get too excited. The "Enable SWF for conversion to iPhone application" option was, in fact, going to allow you to use Adobe's Packager for iPhone to get SWFs to play on the iPhone and iPad. However, Apple's SDK License Agreement put an end to that dream by simply not allowing developers to make SWFs available on on the iPhone or iPad. Adobe has officially stopped ceased further development of the Packager. According to Adobe, "the feature remains in CS5 to demonstrate the capabilities of the Flash Platform to support multiple platforms and devices."

August 12, 2010

Question of the Week: Adobe RoboHelp

Question: How Can I Use Topics From One Project in Another?

I can't find any information on exporting topics from one project to another, or copying and pasting topics among two different projects. Can this be done?

Answer: Yes. If you want to use a topic in one RoboHelp project in another, choose File > Import > HTML (XHTML). Alternatively, you can copy the contents of a topic to the clipboard and paste in another.

August 12, 2010

Acrobat 9: White? Maybe!

by David R. Mankin

So you think that sheet of paper you are about to print on is white, right? I mean, the paper sure does look white. But if you grab a sheet of white paper from a different paper vendor, you will notice that the two sheets of paper are not the SAME white. One may look brighter, while the other may seem muted.

Hold up the piece of paper you felt was brighter to your computer's monitor. The document you have open on your screen is designed with a white paper background, but it looks even brighter than the paper in your hand! Wow. The white of your paper will affect the way one sees ink colors after it's printed. There's some science at play here. Paper looks the way it does because the light is reflected to your eyes. Your computer monitor is illuminated from behind, and does not reflect, but rather projects the light to you.

Reflected and projected colors simply do not look the same to our eyes. With all this in mind, and the need for precise color reproduction in printing, it is very easy for your carefully designed document to look different in print than it did when it was designed on screen. Acrobat has become an indispensable tool in the print industry, offering a complete delivery method from designer to print shop.

Are you curious how your PDF file will look on paper? You can get a glimpse well before you send your file off to the print shop. With your PDF file open, choose Advanced > Print Production > Output Preview. Near the top of the Output Preview dialog box is a check box marked Simulate Paper Color. It is unchecked initially.

Simulate Paper Color

If you click this box, Acrobat will dim the paper white of your document to simulate reflected white instead of your monitor's projected white. It will look WRONG. The page on your screen will look gray! But if you walk away for a bit, and come back and look at the document, it will actually seem white–just not as bright as your monitor's naturally-projected white. It's not perfectly accurate, since you already discovered that two pieces of paper you thought were both white actually looked different, but it does give you an idea of how the ink that will be spread on top of your white paper might look.

Are you surprised by the difference? I was too. I used to operate an offset press, so accurate color reproduction is something with which I am very familiar. Acrobat is loaded with amazing capabilities. Interested in learning more? Consider signing up for one of my Acrobat classes where you will learn that there are tons of neat and useful hidden commands and capabilities.

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August 12, 2010

Writing & Grammar: Can I Change the Appearance of Balloons in Word 2007?

by Jennie Ruby

Short answer: yes.

You can change the width of the balloons, the color, which margin they appear in, whether that margin has background shading, whether the balloons have lines connecting them to text, and the typeface and type size of the text in the balloons.

The shading of the comments margin is called the Markup Area Highlight, and is controlled by the Show Markup drop-down list.

Most other balloon settings are found in the Track Changes Options dialog box. You find this from the Review tab. Click the bottom half of the Track Changes tool, and select Change Tracking Options.

The background color of the balloons themselves is controlled by the Comments drop-down list in the Markup section. If you choose By author, Word automatically assigns each person who comments on the document a different color. If you choose another color, Word displays all comment balloons on your screen in the color you choose. However, if you send the document to someone else, they will see whatever color their copy of Word is set to display.

The bottom section of the dialog box controls other balloon appearance options.

Balloon appearance options

Those settings are straightforward. But changing the typeface and type size of the text is not so obvious. To do this, you must locate and modify the Balloon Text style.

To find the style, open the Styles pane by clicking the expander arrow at the bottom right of the Styles group on the Home tab. At the bottom of the Styles pane, click the Manage Styles tool.

In the resulting Manage Styles dialog box, set the Sort order to Alphabetical, and select the Balloon Text style. Click the Modify button to select a new typeface and type size for the balloon text. Click OK to modify, then OK to close the Manage Styles dialog box. Your balloons then display their new text style.

Manage Styles dialog box

These settings apply to all balloons, whether they contain deletions, formatting changes, or comments. If you want to change the typeface and color of comments only, so that they stand out more from the other balloons, follow the same procedure described here, except the style you are looking for is Comment Text. The Comment Text style controls the appearance of comment text when it occurs in balloons and in the Reviewing Pane. However, the size of the comment text in balloons is controlled by the Balloon Text style.

Making the comments and other balloons readable and clear is an important part of gaining acceptance for using tracked changes, and it is important for ensuring that your comments get the attention they need. So get control of your balloons, and get a good review of your document.

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