by Kevin Siegel 
I received an email from a fellow Captivate developer who was distressed. He had captured several software simulations using Captivate's Application option. He had a huge monitor and had maximized the application he was capturing. And he had Snapped to the Application window.
In the image below, I've set my Captivate Recording Size options to match his options (except I was capturing Notepad). Notice that I've selected both Application and Application window.
Why the developer's distress? A lesson recorded at a higher resolution, and set to capture a maximized Application window, will result in one very large video. Sure enough, the developer's customers soon complained that they had to scroll way too much to interact with his simulations.
Selecting the options mentioned earlier isn't necessarily wrong, assuming you don't make the Application window too big… and that your display resolution isn't too high.
What perplexed the developer was that the published videos looked perfect on his computer. He learned too late that most of his customers had smaller displays and lower resolutions. Since he recorded his Captivate videos using a maximized Application window, and he had a higher resolution than his learners, they were not able to see his entire video screen without the dreaded scrolling.
I told the developer how to resize the projects smaller (Modify > Rescale Project). While the technique worked, there was a drawback: the screen icons, which were already on the small side because of his high screen resolution, were now much too small for the average person to read.
In the end, the developer's boss insisted that the lessons be re-recorded at a lower display resolution and smaller Snap to area. Ouch!
To ensure that you don't find yourself in a similar situation, I offer the following information about Screen (Display) Resolution and the Snap to area. I'd recommend that you review this information before you record a single video using Captivate.
Screen (Display) Resolution
A computer monitor is measured in pixels–a little square that is the basic component of any computer graphic. If a monitor is set to show more pixels, it is known as increasing the resolution. Graphics look better, but smaller. The fewer pixels you request, the lower the resolution, and the larger the screen elements appear.
- Mozilla FireFox is the most popular web browser at 43.5%
- Internet Explorer is second at 25.8% followed closely by Google Chrome at 25%.
- Safari (the Macintosh browser) is a distant fourth at 4%
- Most computers today are using a screen resolution of 1024×768 pixels or higher.
While the last bullet above says that "most computers today are at 1024×768 or higher," you will need to know what is typical at your organization and take that resolution into account. And keep this in mind: a learner with a display resolution setting of 1024×768 pixels, and a maximized browser window, will only have approximately 1000×700 pixels of usable screen space left when you factor in typical toolbars and scrollbars.
Snap to
The Snap to area is the part of the screen that you will be recording (also known as the Recording Size or area). When you record a Captivate video, you will see the Snap to area as a red box on your screen that includes resizing squares.
You can select several Snap sizes from the drop-down menu and, assuming you haven't selected Application window, you can stretch the Snap area to any custom size you need. Most of the lessons that I record use one of two Snap sizes: 640×480 or 800×600. Either of these sizes result in published videos that view well over the web or an intranet.
The Bottom Line:
I recommend that you record your Captivate videos at a display resolution setting that matches the display settings of a typical learner in your organization. In addition, a Snap to area of 800×600 is ideal, assuming the application you are recording comfortably fits inside an 800×600 window. If it won't, use the smallest Recording Size that will work. When it comes to the Snap to size, I typically tell my Captivate students and developers that they should capture the smallest possible area of their screen, but that they should go as big as needed to get the job done… just not too big.
