2010 – Page 8 – The Logical Blog

September 1, 2010

Technology Tips: Make Your Droid Battery Last Longer

by AJ George

Sprint EVO I was ecstatic to trade in my archaic Palm 700 for a sexy new HTC Evo. I was even more excited when a friend of mine pointed out that my new toy had a kickstand (HOW HAD I NOT NOTICED THAT?!). My enthusiasm, however, was a bit dampened when I realized I'd traded in an old clunker (one that could barely hold a charge) for a shiny new speed monster–that still couldn't hold a charge.

A friend (the same one who opened my eyes to the kickstand, this guy is amazing!) heard me lament over my poor battery life and told me the mystical secrets of saving my Droid's battery. Over the next couple weeks, I'll share some of his best tips.

Find Your Zombies

My friend advised me to lay off the "Advanced Task Killer" that the folks at the phone store had installed for me (to help improve my battery life). Apparently, only some apps should be "killed," and, in fact, killing some of them actually eats up more of your battery because they'll restart again within moments.

Go ahead and run your Task Killer. Kill everything. Then check it again within a minute. See those apps that are running again? Those are the zombies. Without blowing them up (read: going into your settings and force quitting or removing them), they'll just keep coming back. So go ahead and deselect them so their lives can be spared upon your next killing spree.

Don't discontinue use of the Task Killer altogether though, as some things (like the camera, for example) may actually need the Task Killer to shut down.

Caution: If you use your phone as an alarm clock, do not kill the Clock application (even if it's not a zombie). If you do, and it is not restarted again before your alarm is supposed to go off, you will be in the unfortunate predicament of not having your alarm go off at all. Trust me on this one.

Add the Power Control Widget

Keeping things like GPS, Bluetooth and Auto Sync running when you don't need them will really eat away at your battery life. An easy way to keep them all in check is to add the Power Control widget to one of your home screens.

On the Evo this is done by swiping over to a screen with some empty real estate and pressing and holding down on the screen. From the Add to Home screen, choose Widget > Power Control. The Power Control widget is then added to your screen.

By simply touching the button for each application (which are, in this order on the power strip: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Auto Sync & Screen Brightness) you can toggle it on or off. In the case of Screen Brightness, you can quickly adjust it to three different levels.

Most of these applications will have no effect on your phone until you need something that directly accesses them (for example, if you use your phone for navigation you will need to turn GPS back on first). By turning Auto Sync off, your weather, Gmail and Facebook applications will not be automatically updated. For me this is not a problem and is worth the extra battery life I gain by leaving it off. If you would like to continue having these applications automatically updated, you should leave this on.

Note: Image above courtesy www.sprint.com.

Click here for Part II of Tips to Make Your Droid Battery Last Longer.

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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."

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September 1, 2010

Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts

You can write step-by-step instructions like a pro, but now you have been asked to create voice-over narratives for e-Learning scripts. Suddenly you must break out of the concise and factual focus of instructional writing and create text that engages and motivates the learner.

In this interactive half-day class you will learn to define the appropriate voice and tone for a narrative text and take specific steps to create the engaging and personable writing style that voice-over narratives require.
During the class you will

Define your audience
Establish the appropriate voice, tone, and vocabulary for that audience
Learn the specific verbal techniques that create your intended voice and tone
Practice using appropriate sentence lengths and structures
Discuss how to skate the fine line between engaging and cheesy
Learn three specific writing styles that will directly engage the learner
Use realistic scenarios to contextualize the onscreen lesson
Practice writing narratives with our planned examples, or, if you choose, work with an actual project of your own

Choose between practicing with our planned examples, or working with an actual project of your own.

Instructor: Jennie Ruby

Click here to learn more or to sign up.

September 1, 2010

Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts

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.

Created in response to inquiries by IconLogic's audience (including former students), this course quickly gets your writing compass pointed in the most productive direction. Whether you're writing technical documentation, training curriculum and materials, or eLearning scripts, this intensive course delivers instruction and practical experience on critical topics including:

the writing process and structure
identifying and thinking like your audience
facilitating the conversation between SME's and the reader
promoting the "WOW" factor
keeping "the voice" active, accurate… and short
avoiding common grammar mistakes
identifying and eliminating deadwood
writing narratives that will "hook" your audience
writing step-by-step procedures that make the most of the learner's time and effort

This course is 100% interactive. Participants will use their word processor during class to write narratives and step-by-step documentation. At the completion of each lesson, all participants engage in lively discussion that further teaches and reinforces effective technical writing habits and techniques.

Instructor: Jennie Ruby

Click here to learn more or to sign up.

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."