Month: September 2014

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Adobe Captivate 8: Watch for Large Cache Folders

I've written about Captivate's Cache folder in the past. In case you aren't familiar with it, a cached version of your project is created in the Cache folder every time you save your Captivate project. The cached projects can make the process of opening, saving and working on a project faster than what one experienced with older versions of Captivate. However, with Captivate 8, developers are complaining about the increased size of the Cache folder.

Those folks aren't imagining things. It looks like Captivate is creating more folders of each project than before. Adobe is aware of the problem and you can expect an update to Captivate that will fix the issue. In the meantime, you should manually backup your projects (to an external drive) and clear the Cache folder at least once a month (by clicking the Clear Cache button).

Adobe Captivate: Clear Cache button

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Microsoft PowerPoint: Working with Guides

by AJ Walther Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
For some PowerPoint projects you may find that you would like to line up elements in a certain way and that having guides on the slide would be useful. In the steps that follow, I will show you how to make guides visible and (because there is only one horizontal and one vertical guide that intersect in the center by default) how to add extra guide lines.

Show the Guides & Ruler 
  1. Click the View tab and, from the Show area, select Guides. (Two guides appear on the slide by default,  one vertical, the other horizontal.)
  2. Select Ruler from the Show area of the View tab.
     Adding right-click funtionality

Most people who use the guides need things lined up at specific measurable spots on the slide. The Ruler will help with this. 

 
Reposition a Guide
  1. Click and hold one of the guides. (You will see a 0.00 indicating that the guide is in the center of the slide.)
    Center Guides
  2. Drag the guide one direction or the other to change its position.
Create a New Guide
  1. Ensure the original guide is at its starting 0.00 position.
  2. Press the [Ctrl] key on your keyboard and then click and hold the guide. (When you drag you will create a new guide.)
     
  3. Place the new guide wherever you would like.

    Be sure to release the mouse button first and then the [Ctrl] key. If you release the [Ctrl] key first the original guide will not be duplicated but will be repositioned instead.

    Note: To delete a guide, simply drag it off the slide. 

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If you love AJ's articles, you'll love her Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations mini course.
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Writing & Grammar: Confusing Words for 600

by Jennie Ruby View our profile on LinkedIn
 
This week's confusing words pop up often in writing about training, creating a minefield of potential spelling errors.

First, let's look at lead versus led. Lead is a toxic element formerly found in gasoline and other products. It is also the common term for the graphite in pencils. As a verb, lead means to go first and show the way, so many of us lead classes. But if we did that yesterday, we led the class–the past-tense form of the verb to lead.

Peek, pique, and peak all three may appear in writing about training. A peek is a quick look. The verb pique means to arouse or cause something, typically interest or anger. As a noun, it means anger. Peak can be a verb or a noun, and always indicates a pinnacle or high point.

Select the right word in each sentence (watch for additional problems in the same sentence)!

  1. I need a lead/led pencil to mark this answer key.
  2. Who is the lead/led instructor for Friday's class?
  3. Who lead/led last week's discussion session?
  4. This instructor-lead/instructor-led training is offered monthly.
  5. The training room does not have any lead-based/led-based paint.
  6. We hope this preview of our training will peek/pique/peak your interest.
  7. This training comes just as the interest in gamification reaches its/it's peek/pique/peak.
  8. Here is a quick peek/pique/peak into the topic of next month's/months conference.
  9. The unhappy, stressed-out student left in a fit of peek/pique/peak.
  10. The participant-lead/participant-led workshop peeked/piqued/peaked the interest of several conference attendees/attendee's.

When ready, please post your answers as comments below.

*** 

Answers to the Confusing Words for 500 challenge are brought to you by Chris Zimmel

  1. The director asked me to keep her appraised/apprised of the project status.
  2. We later met to flush out/flesh out the details of the project.
  3. During the buyer's walk-through, some squirrels were fleshed out/flushed out of the attic.
  4. Please appraise/apprise the seller of her rights regarding the negotiated price.
  5. We need to appraise/apprise the governor of the details of the scam.
  6. Can we flush out/flesh out this outline before we submit it to the client?
  7. The plumber appraised/apprised me of the condition of the old iron pipes.
  8. The main line needed to be fleshed out/flushed out to allow water to flow freely.
  9. We met with the plumber to flesh out/flush out the plan for upgrading the pipes.
  10. We need to appraise/apprise students of how toaccess/excess the supplemental material.

Other winners of Confusing Words for 500 challenge, approximately in order of receipt: Lynn Walpole, Sonia Verma,Melanie Elick, Tara Allen, Geri Moran, Michael Shepherd,  Phyllis Muder, Patrick Brown, Tonya Bowles, Christine Pass, Lisset Vega,Karyn Highet, Kolja Fuchs, Irene McCoy, Kay Honaker, Vera Sytch,Lisa J Stumpf, Ginny Supranowitz, Tanya Davis, Stacey Edwards, and Denise Miller.

Fair warning… next time I will start counting missed additional problems later in the sentence against you!

***

If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.
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Articulate Storyline: Insert Unused Screen Recordings

by Kevin Siegel Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube

Recording screen actions with Articulate Storyline couldn't be much easier… all you need to do is click Record screen on the Storyline Welcome screen and off you go.

Articulate Storyline: Record screen

During the recording process, Storyline records your screen actions using three different modes: View, Try, and Test. Once you have finished recording, the Insert as dialog box opens and, if you select Step-by-step slides, you can choose to insert any of the three modes into your project.

Articulate Storyline: Insert as Step-by-step slides

But what happens to the two unused modes? And what if you change your mind about the mode you used and instead want to use one of the other modes? At first glance, the unused modes are thrown away. If you want to use a different mode, it seems like you'll need to re-record. But that wouldn't be much fun, would it?

You'll be happy to learn that Storyline keeps each of the modes hidden away in the project and you can insert them into the project whenever you want.

From the main toolbar, click the Record Screen tool to display the mode you're currently using.

Articulate Storyline: Adding another mode

Click the thumbnail of the inserted mode and the Insert as dialog box opens.

Articulate Storyline: Three modes

Select one of the other modes from the Step-by-step slides drop-down menu and click the Insert button. The slides will be added to the project as a new scene.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Articulate Storyline? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Storyline classes. We've also just rolled up three new mini-courses. Check them out here.
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Writing & Grammar: Confusing Words for 500

by Jennie Ruby View our profile on LinkedIn
 

This week we examine two of my pet peeves–the confusion of appraise and apprise and the confusion of flesh out and flush out. And some other bonus words may appear in the problem sentences!

To appraise something is to estimate its value:

  • I need to have my used car appraised before I decide on a selling price.

To apprise is to inform (Webster's says "to give notice to") someone or something:

  • The officer apprised the motorist of her rights.

To flush out: something that happens in plumbing or with birds who suddenly fly up:

  • The dog flushed the grouse out of the thicket.
  • The dog scared the birds, causing them to flush.

To flesh out: to put meat on the bones; to fill in.

  • The architect fleshed out the details of the blueprint over the weekend.

Here is the confusing words challenge for this week:

  1. The director asked me to keep her appraised/apprised of the project status.
  2. We later met to flush out/flesh out the details of the project.
  3. During the buyer's walk-through, some squirrels were fleshed out/flushed out of the attic.
  4. Please appraise/apprise the seller of her rights regarding the negotiated price.
  5. We need to appraise/apprise the governor of the details of the scam.
  6. Can we flush out/flesh out this outline before we submit it to the client?
  7. The plumber appraised/apprised me of the condition of the old iron pipes.
  8. The main line needed to be fleshed out/flushed out to allow water to flow freely.
  9. We met with the plumber to flesh out/flush out the plan for upgrading the pipes.
  10. We need to appraise/apprise students of how to access/excess the supplemental material.

When ready, submit your answers as comments below.

*** 

Confusing Words for 400 Answers

 

For the Confusing Words for 400 challenge, Gary Kuchel was first to respond with correct answers, followed by absolutely everyone who answered (see list below). None of you made any incorrect answers, but some missed additional problems elsewhere in the sentence. And Lorna McLellan was the only one to notice the typo on foregone!

Special thanks to Alan Sloan, David Pitts, and Karyn Smith for providing the name of the comedian(s). I was amused to see that each of you had a different take on who said, "Who's on first," and I re-watched one of the several versions of the video about three times from beginning to end. Both Abbot and Costello say "who's on first" so many times it is ridiculous to cite one over the other, except to say that Bud Abbot said it first, but Lou Costello asked it as a question.

Answers to the Confusing Words for 400 challenge are brought to you by Lorna McLellan.

  1. Its/It's not a foregone conclusion that your/you're going to get these right.
  2. Your/you're spelling checker may not correct these errors.
  3. Your/You're likely to forget to save your/you're file if you leave work to/too quickly.
  4. Whose/Who's to blame if the database is not updated properly?
  5. Whose/who's keys are these?
  6. The program may crash if its/it's cache is not cleared.
  7. The client whose/who's form was received yesterday told us there was an error in its/it's text.
  8. "Whose/Who's on first?" asked the comedian, whose/who's name escapes me at the moment.

Here are the correct-responders of last week not otherwise acknowledged above:

Cyndi Marino, Eric Nilsson, Lynn Walpole, Sonia Verma, Chris Zimmel, Patrick Brown, Elaine Study, Geri Moran, Julie Horn,Toni Wills, Pat Jones, Michelle Nienhuis, Alan Sloan, Renita Coleman, Karyn R Smith, Amy Grittman, Lisset Vega, Anne Louque, Lisa Mileusnich, Ginny Supranowitz, Jay Herman, David Pitts, JoAnn Bridges, Joanne Hofmeister, Mary Schoeller, Kay Honaker, Karyn Highet, Christine Pass, Vera Sytch, Kim Bullman, Julie Robertson, Susan Czubiak, Sharon Urquhart, Amanda Prussing, Denise Miller, Lisa J Stumpf, and Tanya Davis.

***

If you love Jennie's articles, you'll love her classes. Check out some of Jennie's mini courses.
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Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel Lists

by Willam Van Weelden Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
Multilevel lists are an often overlooked RoboHelp feature… a shame because multilevel lists are very powerful. As the name suggests, Multilevel lists allow you to create complex lists with multiple levels. For example: consider what you would have to do if you need a list that uses upper alphanumeric characters on the first level, lower roman on the second level and bullets on the third level.

 

You can achieve the numbering scheme shown above by using a standard numbered list, but you would need to assign the correct list styling to every list level. That's a lot of manual labor. And it's not easy to quickly change the list style, especially if you've applied the style manually across multiple topics.

With multilevel lists, you create a single style that can be used in multiple topics throughout a RoboHelp project. And best of all: you control everything through the style sheet, allowing you to change all the multilevel lists in a central location.

In this article I will show you how to create and use a multilevel list. I will focus on the basic settings first. With these basic settings you can use Multilevel Lists in your projects. In a future article I will show you some cool things you can do with multilevel lists.

Create a Multilevel List

  1. On the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box.
  2. In the Styles dialog box, right-click Multilevel Lists and chooseNew.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Creating a New Multilevel List
  3. Enter a name for your list style and press [enter].
  4. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose Level 1.
    Adobe RoboHelp: Selecting a list level.
  5. From the Paragraph Style drop-down menu, choose a paragraph style. (I recommend using the Normal style so that the list uses the default topic formatting.)
  6. From the List Style drop-down menu, choose a list style. (In my example I chose upper-alpha.)
    Adobe RoboHelp: List Style.
  7. Return to the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu and select and format other levels as needed. (In the sample list pictured at at the beginning of this article, I formatted the first three levels.)
  8. When finished, click the OK button to save your changes.

The Multilevel list is now set up and ready to use.

Apply a Multilevel List To Topic Text

    1. Open a topic and select some text.
    2. Click the Create a Multilevel List tool. Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel List tool
    3. Select your Multilevel List in the Available Lists Styles field and then click the OK button.
      Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel lists

Note: To change the level of a list item, click the Increase Indent  or 
Decrease Indent tools. 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.
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Localization: Training and Development in Italy

by Jen Weaver Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 

We love their wine, culture, and food. But what do we know about Italians and their expectations when it comes to training and development? If your answer is "not much," keep reading!

Test Your Knowledge of Italian Culture

  1. The modern Italian language evolved from what region in Italy?
    1. Sardinia
    2. Tuscany
    3. Rome
  2. Who is the head of the Italian government?
  3. True or False. The official religion of the Republic of Italy is Roman Catholic.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Italy1:

  • Italians are fans of refined and formal interactions, appreciating a dignified and smooth approach. Out of formality, do not use first names unless invited to do so.
  • Rapport is huge in Italy. Spend time preparing the factual details of your training, but also allocate an appropriate amount of time to invest in developing a strong relationship. The standing of your relationship will determine the level of interest in and receptivity to your training.
  • English is spoken by many business people even though Italian is the official language. Be sure to clarify if there is a language preference for your training materials as many companies opt to offer training in Italian even if their employees are proficient in English.
  • Even with a substantial religious background, Italians tend to use subjective feelings to make decisions rather than ideology or objective facts. As such, you may find it hard to move learners to a new perspective or methodology even if your reasoning is sound.
  • As a foreigner, you are expected to be punctual for meetings, although your Italian counterparts may run behind. It's also common for the most important person in the meeting to arrive last. The further north you travel, the more efficiency you'll find in business interactions and schedules.
  • The Italian view of time is that it's best managed when spent well, not necessarily requiring that appointments start or end on schedule. They value building relationships and are also heavy proponents of a work-life balance, favoring more "life" versus the American favoring of "work".
  • Respect for authority must be demonstrated, and one's authority often travels with the individual, not necessarily his or her title.
  • Even if your host comments negatively about Italian culture or history, be careful not to chime in. Italians can say things about their own country that outsiders cannot. Instead, safe topics of conversation include art, food, wine, and sports.
  • Excited and expressive gesturing is common and expected.

Italian Culture Answers:

  1. (b) Tuscany. The Tuscan dialect was also the preferred dialect of some of Italy's greatest writers, including Dante and Boccaccio.
  2. The prime minister. The president is the chief of state.
  3. False. While a majority of Italians are Roman Catholic in heritage, there is no official religion.
References:
 
1Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.
 
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If you like Jen's articles, you'll love her live, online Localization classes. Check out her mini-course schedule here.
 
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Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.
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PowerPoint: Another Character Challenge Submission

by AJ Walther Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn
 
A few weeks ago I presented the Character Challenge and asked readers to send in their PowerPoint-created eLearning characters. Our one brave submission was from Tracey Stokely. But, her creativity got someone else's creative wheels turning. I received one more submission that I'd like to share this week.
Thanks Ricardo Llanes for this awesome submission!
 
Character challenge entry. 

And, in case you missed it, here's Tracey Stokely's submission from last week. 

Character challenge entry.

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If you love AJ's articles, you'll love her Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations mini course.