February 2011 – The Logical Blog

February 25, 2011

eLearning: Should the Captions Match the Audio?

I recently received the following question from a reader of my skills & drills newsletter:

Question: I have been asked to make the text captions in my Captivate project exactly match the audio. The thinking by management here is that people without speakers or headphones can still see the text captions. I argue that hearing and seeing the same text is redundant and distracting. Do you have any advice on the use of Audio and Text captions in terms of effectiveness?

Answer: Generally speaking, captions that exactly match the audio are NOT effective. Instead, the captions should be treated as bullets and the audio should expand upon the text. If you want to include an exact transcription of the audio voiceover, consider adding closed captions (which are required if you are creating Section 508-compliant eLearning). For more information about screen text that matches the slide audio, read this article by Jennie Ruby.

February 23, 2011

PowerPoint 2010: Could An Update Be Your Simple Fix?

by AJ George

Do you often find yourself chugging away at a presentation, only to have PowerPoint crash and give you some variation of the "MS Office has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience," message? I find that the majority of software users do not regularly check for system updates, and many times the solution is just this easy.

From PowerPoint's File tab, choose Help > Check for Updates.

Check for Updates

You will be redirected to a Microsoft website that will scan your computer and recommend updates as necessary.

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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."

February 23, 2011

Adobe RoboHelp 9: The Case of the Vanishing Menu Items

by Kevin Siegel

There are multiple ways to do just about anything in Adobe RoboHelp. For instance, if you're looking to generate a layout, you can elect to use the Single Source Layouts pod, use a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl-m) or select the Generate menu item found in the File menu.

During a recent RoboHelp class, I asked everyone to generate using the File menu (File > Generate). One of my students told me that he would be happy to do so, but the Generate menu item simply wasn't available in his File menu. It's not that I didn't believe him, but after taking a look at his File menu, I confirmed that his Generate menu item was, in fact, missing.

We tried resetting his Workspace (Environment in RoboHelp 8), but the pesky menu item would not reappear.

The student told me that he had never intentionally removed any of the menu items, and I believed him. Of course, that would mean that the menu item simply decided that it no longer wanted to be accessible. While strange, this is not the first time I have seen this kind of bad behavior in RoboHelp. Fortunately, the fix is simple.

Choose View > Toolbars > Customize. On the Toolbars tab, select the Menu Bar toolbar and then click the Reset button.

Reset a menu in Adobe RoboHelp.

Click OK when you see the alert dialog box asking you to confirm your action.

Resetting a menu item confirmation message

While you will need to repeat the steps for any Toolbar that is missing a menu item, it just takes seconds and works every time.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp, and fast? I teach a live, online class that will give you the most essential RoboHelp skills… and in just two days.

February 22, 2011

Adobe Captivate: Cue the CC’s… Automatically Please

by Lori Smith

Have you added closed captions to your eLearning lesson and been frustrated by the fact that they do not automatically open when the learner first accesses the lesson? Read on for a quick way to solve the problem.

Captivate 4 and 5 both come with a variable called cpCmdCC. The variable may be set to 1, to turn the closed caption display on; or 0 to turn the closed caption display off.

In Adobe Captivate 5:

Create a Standard Advanced Action (Project > Advanced Actions) as shown below.

Create a very simple Standard Advanced Action

Attach the Action to the first slide. (Select Slide 1 on the Filmstrip. Go to the Action group on the Properties Panel. From the On Enter drop-down menu, choose Execute Advanced Action. From the Script drop-down menu, choose TurnOnCC.)

Attach the Advanced Action to the first slide

In Adobe Captivate 4:

You can do the same thing as above, but the Captivate 4 interface is a tad different than version 5. Below are the screen shots for the Action and attaching the action to the slide On slide enter.

Attach the Advanced Action to the first slide

Note: If you follow only the steps above, the CC field will be displayed, but it may not display correctly. Insert a blank slide before Slide 1. Set the timing of the new slide to 0.1 seconds. The learner will never notice the extra slide but the closed captions will be on automatically and should be displayed properly.

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About the author: Lori Smith is IconLogic's lead programmer and Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Adobe Captivate. She teaches IconLogic's Advanced Actions class.

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Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

February 18, 2011

Writing & Grammar Workshop: Would vs. Will

by Jennie Ruby

In training documents and manuals, we often have to tell the reader what will (or would) happen if they do (or did) a certain action. For example, suppose you want to tell the reader the consequences of pressing cancel. Would you use sentence a or sentence b below?

If you press cancel, the document will not be saved.
If you pressed cancel, the document would not be saved.

Both sentences are grammatically correct. Notice that with a present-tense verb in the if part of the sentence (press), will is correct. With a past tense verb (pressed) would is correct.

So how do you decide which to use? It depends on how iffy the situation is. If you actually do expect the reader to press cancel, use sentence a. Present tense in the if clause means the reader perfectly well might press cancel. And if he or she does, then the result will definitely happen.

Sentence b is in the subjunctive mood, meaning you are supposing something that you do not really expect to happen. The past tense in the if clause means something like "If you pressed cancel (which I do not expect you to do) the document would not be saved (but I don't think that will happen, because I am strongly implying that you should not press cancel).

Here is something to remember: will is used for something that will definitely happen. Would is for things that are more iffy.

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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.

February 17, 2011

Adobe FrameMaker 10: Auto Spell Check

by Barb Binder

I can't tell you how many times my Adobe FrameMaker students ask where the "red squiggles" are when we start the lessons on text editing.

In my humble opinion, there's not a whole lot to like about Microsoft Word, but I have to admit that I do use Word for writing, primarily to take advantage of Word's automatic spelling and grammar checks. I encourage my students to continue writing and editing in Word for the same reasons, before importing their docs into FrameMaker.

Even though FrameMaker was initially conceived as a 3-in-1 program (word processor, illustration and page layout), let's face it, most people use FrameMaker because it excels in technical document layout, but FrameMaker does not excel in word processing or illustrating.

The good news is that the new Adobe FrameMaker 10 offers Auto Spell Check, and with it, those beloved red (and green) squiggles.

To activate (or deactivate) Auto Spell Check, choose File > Preferences > General. Ensure there's a check mark in front of Auto Spell Check and click OK.
Once Auto Spell Check is activated, FrameMaker will scan the document and highlight spelling mistakes.
In Word, you have likely learned to recognize red squiggles as spelling errors. As in Word, you can now correct the spelling in FrameMaker by simply right-clicking and selecting the correct spelling from the list.
In Word, you are probably used to seeing green squiggles to indicate a possible grammar error. You will now see green squiggles in FrameMaker, but it's not quite the same thing. Auto Spell Check is just that: spell check. While FrameMaker will not evaluate your grammar, it will flag other types of mistakes. In this example, FrameMaker found two spaces between the words "was" and "only."

So what else will FrameMaker flag in green? To see the options (which have always been there, even if you never took the time to review them):

Choose Edit > Spelling Checker.
Click the Options button to see what else FrameMaker is looking for (or ignoring). For instance, it's the Extra Spaces checkbox that asked FrameMaker to flag the double spaces above.

I have a couple of authors who send me docs with straight quotes. I am going to enjoy this new feature in FrameMaker 10 to visually flag them. How will this change your workflow?

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If you are new to FrameMaker and want to get up to speed quickly, join IconLogic's instructor-led, online Adobe FrameMaker 9 or 10, Introduction 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.

February 16, 2011

Adobe Captivate 5: New Slide, Blank Slide… What’s the Deal?

by Kevin Siegel

Take a look at the Insert menu in Adobe Captivate 5 and you'll see two similar commands: New Slide and Blank Slide.

New Slide, Blank Slide. Which one?

Spend a few minutes selecting either menu item and you might find yourself at a loss to explain the difference between the two. In fact, it will likely appear that New Slide and Blank Slide both result in a new, blank slide. So the natural assumption would be that Adobe goofed when adding the menu items and one or the other should have been removed during the beta process.

Not so fast…

There is a difference between the two menu items. If you've created a Master Slide and used the Master Slide on a slide on the Filmstrip, inserting a New Slide will ensure that the new slide also uses the Master Slide. It may not seem like such a big deal, but now you won't have to take the additional step of assigning the Master Slide to the new slide. Nice!

Of course, if you didn't want to use the Master Slide, a trip to the Properties panel would be in order (that's where you can assign Master Slides to Filmstrip slides). Not so nice! No worries, when inserting a new slide, choose the Blank Slide menu item instead and your new slide will be blank.

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Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes, as well as a half-day course on Advanced Actions. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

February 16, 2011

eLearning & mLearning: It’s All Happening–And Faster Than You Think

by AJ George

About a year ago I wrote about the 2010 Horizon Report and what it said about the impending adoption of mLearning. It's that time of year again so the 2011 Horizon Report has been released with some interesting insights on just how far we've come in a year. Electronic books and mobiles as they apply to

education are slated for adoption in a year or less. I would say that this prediction is spot on-if not even a little behind the times. This adoption isn't coming, it's taking place now.

Last March Gartner predicted that smartphones would outsell PCs in 2012. But, just two months into 2011, it looks like smartphones are already outselling PCs. Smartphones are quickly infiltrating not just everyone's pockets, but the classroom as well. McGraw Hill, commonly known for textbook publishing, is making the move toward mobile with a new mobile learning platform.

As for electronic books, the tablets on which they would be read are already selling remarkably well and it looks like this trend shows no signs of stopping for 2011. Reports are cropping up everyday of schools moving toward tablet integration in the classroom. Some, like a private school in Tennseee, have made iPads in the classroom mandatory. This is not a rare report. iPads in the classroom are becoming increasingly popular nationwide.

The Horizon Report also predicts augmented reality and game-based learning will take two to three years for adoption and gesture based computing and learning analytics will take four to five years.

Check out the links below for more on how these learning technologies are really just around the corner as well.

Game Based Learning

Augmented Reality

Gesture Based Computing

Learning Analytics

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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."

February 15, 2011

Adobe RoboHelp 9: When Traveling, Never Forget The Map (File)

by Kevin Siegel

Over the past few weeks, I've written about some of the more obvious cool features in new Adobe RoboHelp 9. While the new stuff is great, sometimes you can get so engrossed in the obvious, you don't see the little new things (which are no less cool than the big stuff) until you trip over them.

Such was the case last week as I was wrapping up my new "Adobe RoboHelp 9: The Essentials" book so that it would be ready for the beta team to review. (The new book should be ready for purchase within a few weeks.)

There I was, trying to wrap up the section on Context Sensitive Help (CSH) and Map IDs. As I was testing my data files, the pesky CSH window would not show the correct topic. No matter how hard I tried to convince it to do so, no matter how many times I republished the layout, and no matter how many times I checked my code, the CSH Map ID calls would not work as expected. In fact, instead of opening the intended topic, the layout's default topic opened.

Hmmm… so the link works, but the wrong topic opens. That's a simple fix. Go back and edit the Map file in RoboHelp, ensure the correct topic is mapped to the correct Map ID, save, generate and republish. In this case however, everything was in order.

After hours of tearing out what little hair I have left, I called upon fellow RoboHelp developer and trainer John Daigle to check my web application (the application I was using to test the CSH), my RoboHelp project and my generated layout files for me.

At this point I was blurry-eyed and stumped. There simply had to be something I was missing, and it was probably simple. After a bit of banging around, John found the problem. It seems that RoboHelp 9 has a new, handy-dandy feature that I had overlooked. After creating a Map file and associating Map IDs with project topics, you can specify which Map file is to be associated with which content. Since you can have multiple Map files and multiple Content Categories, this new feature makes all of the sense in the world.

To assign a Map file to a layout, go to the Single Source Layouts pod and show the Properties of your layout.

From the Content Categories group, select Content <Default>. From the Map Files area, select your Map file. Then save, Generate and Publish.

Selecting the Map File is such a simple step. But forget to do it and your CSH calls will give you fits. As mentioned above, the calls will open your layout's default topic instead of the mapped topic.

Thanks John. The first round is on me at WritersUA!

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Looking to learn RoboHelp, and fast? I'm teaching a live, online class that will give you the most essential RoboHelp skills… and in just two days.

February 14, 2011

PowerPoint 2010: Paste Linking

by AJ George

Recently I was asked if it was possible to paste link an image into PowerPoint so that if the original image is ever updated, the image in PowerPoint would automatically reflect the change. Sadly, PowerPoint cannot do this, but there are some types of source files that can be Paste linked.

Let's say, for example, that you have been sent an Excel spreadsheet for your PowerPoint presentation with the first and second quarter earnings. The spreadsheet has been left blank until the numbers for the remainder of the year are received. By Paste Linking the data into your presentation, the information in your presentation will automatically be updated when the Excel spreadsheet is updated.

To know if something will Paste link into a PowerPoint presentation, first copy the object to the clipboard. (If you are copying from another Office program, make sure that the document has first been saved.) In PowerPoint, click the Paste button from the Home tab and choose Paste > Paste Special.

Paste Special

If Paste link is available at the left side of the Paste Special dialog box, you will be able to Paste Link.

Paste Special dialog box

If you were able to Paste link, try making a change to the content you have copied (in this example you would be editing the Excel spreadsheet) and then save your work. In that case, the content in the PowerPoint slide will automatically update.

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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."