April 2015 – The Logical Blog

April 28, 2015

eLearning and TechComm: Click, Select, Choose, or Press?

by Jennie Ruby

Right at a time when flat design has become the rage, removing the three-dimensional look that for 30 years (happy anniversary to Windows this November!) has informed us that "this thing looks like you can poke it in! It must be a button!" people are starting to worry and become uncertain about the clear vocabulary that has helped us to write about software and computers for just as long.

In a recent class I had one participant tell me her office has forbidden the word "click" in favor of "select." Another told me that her office had done just the opposite!

The two concerns in question are whether the word "click" loses its meaning on mobile devices, and whether the word "click" is exclusionary toward individuals with disabilities or different abilities.

The good news is that using the word "click" is not ableist, nor is it declaring the hegemony of mouse users over mobile device users. It is just the standard word in technical communications to indicate "execute," on certain kinds of interactive items on screens. In other words, "click" means "hey you, button, do that thing you do."

The button, as with so many things in the computer realm, is an analogy to real-world little pokable nubbins that make things happen on electric devices from vacuum-cleaners to doorbells. Even real-world buttons have undergone some changes in the ways people use them. The buttons on my microwave and stove are now flat to the surface and covered with a plastic sheet so that spaghetti sauce and porkchop grease can't get in and ruin the mechanism. But you still actuate them by pressing them–and most of them still emit a satisfying "click" sound (or a beep) when you do so.

By analogy, "click" is whatever action you do to an on-screen button to make it do its thing. It is executed on various devices and by various computer users in various ways. Many of us already made the leap from "press and release the left button on a mouse device" to "press and release the left side of your mouse even though it no longer has a button" to "press and release the entire touchpad on your Mac laptop so that emits a click sound" to "tap ever-so-gently on the hair-trigger touchpad of your new Windows laptop" to "tap once on the screen of your iPad or phone" to "tap once on the screen of your touch-screen laptop" to "tab to the button and press the Enter key on your keyboard." And with Windows Speech Recognition, to actuate a button, you actually speak the word "click," as in, "Click OK;Click File; Click Bold; Click Save; Click Close," and so on.

To back away from the word "click" right now is as unnecessary, and even nonsensical, as deciding that the Save icon has to be changed because no-one has used an actual mini floppy disk since 2005. The Save icon has become a symbol that will retain its meaning like other permanent glyphs, such as the Arabic numerals or the smiley face. And the word "click" is the way you indicate "actuate" for certain screen items.

But that is not to say that the word "click" should be used for every screen action. By now I hope I have made clear that a "click" is a characteristic of certain screen items-buttons, icons, tools-not of the physical method by which you actuate them. So even though you may also click your mouse to execute the following actions, the word "click" is not the clearest vocabulary word for them.

You "choose" something from a menu, because you are "choosing" from a list of "choices," and once you "choose" the one you want, the chosen command is immediately executed.

choose File > Close

You "select" something that, once you select it, stays selected. You select a cell in Excel. You select part of the text in a document. You select an option from a list and the option stays selected-as in a drop-down list or a list-box. You select a radio button, and you select a checkbox. And they stay selected. Until you "deselect" them.

select the Portrait Orientation radio button

select the Kerning checkbox

from the Font drop-down list, select Verdana

select the first paragraph in your document

deselect the Enable Live Preview checkbox

You "press" a key on a keyboard or a real button on an actual piece of hardware. (The word "press" definitely cannot be used to describe what you do to an on-screen button, because it may create ambiguity: Does "Press Home" mean on the screen or on the keyboard?)

press the Enter key

press the F6 key

press the Power button (on the microwave)

And finally, you "click" an on-screen button, an icon, or a tool.

click the OK button

click the Bold tool

click the Wifi icon

As this vocabulary discussion continues, I would love to hear your take. Is your office using "select" for everything? Are you using "press" for mobile devices? Or tap? Are you combining commands, as in "click or tap the link"? Email me.

References

Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications: "Do not use choose as an alternative to click or double-click. Choose does not convey any additional information to those who do not use a mouse, and such users normally understand the equivalent action that they must take when a procedure step says to click."

Web page: Use Speech Recognition to operate windows and programs

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Do you need to learn how to write eLearning scripts? Come check out my live, online mini course.

April 26, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Object Hyperlinks

by Kevin Siegel

Last week I taught you how easy it is add a hyperlink to caption text in Adobe Captivate. This week, let's tackle object hyperlinks.

First of all, keep in mind that any interactive object can take a learner to a website. Interactive objects include, but aren't limited to, click boxes, buttons, text entry boxes, and smart shapes (assuming the smart shape is being used as a button).

To insert an interactive object, click Interactions on the Main toolbar. In this example, I'm going to use a Button.

Captivate Interactions

With the object selected, go to the Properties Inspector and select the Actions tab. From the On Success drop-down menu, choose Open URL or file.

Select Web Page from the Link To drop-down menu and then type in the web address. And just like I mentioned last week when creating a text hyperlink, prior to clicking the OK button, visit the drop-down menu to the right of the web address. Select New from the list of options. (This will ensure that the page that appears after the learner clicks is a new page or tab, rather than a page that replaces the current lesson.)

When viewed via a web browser or a PDF, the learner will be taken to the web address you specified in the Link To area if the interactive object is clicked.

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If you'd like to learn more about eLearning, come hang out in my next eLearning basics mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Captivate, Presenter, or Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.

April 24, 2015

Adobe InDesign: Nested Styles

by Mira Rubin

If you've spent any amount of time working with Adobe InDesign, you probably know how to create Paragraph and Character styles. Nested styles take Paragraph styles to a whole new level with complex formatting you can apply with the click of a button. Nested styles are ideal when the paragraphs being formatted follow a consistent pattern such as entries in a catalog, directory, or bibliography.

Let's take the example of a contact list, where each entry is a paragraph with the following elements in common:

Last name, First name: (Phone Number Exchange) Phone Number

In this example, the paragraph structure is an assemblage of modules separated by markers–the comma between last name and first name, the colon before the phone number and the parentheses around the number exchange. You can apply different formatting to the modules using the markers as transition points. The trick to nested styles is to first create character styles that capture the variations in formatting. The character styles are then assembled to build a super smart paragraph style.

The example we'll use employs four variations in formatting. The phone number itself will be captured in the foundation paragraph style and the other three formats will be captured as character styles.

To begin, set up the paragraph so the last name, first name, number exchange and phone number all have distinct formatting. Be sure to include the comma, the colon, and the parentheses around the phone number exchange.

With the Type Tool cursor positioned in the last name, choose Window > Styles > Character Styles. When the panel opens, hold the Alt key (Windows)/Option key (Mac) and click the Create new style button at the bottom of the panel.

Create New Style

When the New Character Style dialog opens, name the style lastName. Notice the summary of formatting properties in the Style Settings section of the dialog.

Style summary.

Click OK to close the dialog.

Repeat the process and create character styles that capture the formatting of the last name and the phone number exchange (name the styles accordingly).

Three character styles

Now comes the fun part–assembling the paragraph style from the character style components.

Because InDesign captures paragraph properties from the formatting of the text at the cursor location, position the Type Tool cursor in the main phone number text. Choose Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles and, when the panel opens, Alt+Click/Option+Click the Create new paragraph style button at the bottom of the panel. Name the style listing.

Click the Drop Caps and Nested Styles category at the left of the New Paragraph Style dialog to display the nested styles options.

Click the New Nested Style button, then click the drop-down menu to the right of the word None in the first text field. Choose lastName from the list of character styles.

You want the last name and the comma following it to have the same formatting so, ensure that through is selected in the second column of options.

Select the word Words in the third column, and press the comma key on your keyboard to enter the comma as the delimiter.

Click the New Nested Style button again, this time assigning the firstName style and a colon as the delimiter.

Click the New Nested Style button a third and final time and assign the exchange style with a closing parenthesis as the delimiter. (Click OK to complete the style and close the dialog.)

Nested styles

To use the style, select the paragraphs you want to format and click the style name in the Paragraph Styles panel.

Whether it be one paragraph or a thousand, as long as the paragraphs in your document are uniformly structured, nested styles make it possible to apply complex formatting reliably and consistently at the click of a button.

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Looking to learn Adobe InDesign? Check out these live, online classes.

April 22, 2015

eLearning: Top 20 Must-Read BLOGS

by Sean Stoker

In our own, considered, humble opinion, we have an awesome blog that every eLearning professional should read.
But sometimes we like to see what our colleagues are doing, which means taking a look at the multitude of eLearning knowledge that exists all over the web. Here are a few blogs that you simply must bookmark and read on a consistent basis:

eLearning Industry. This website publishes original eLearning content with 360 authors and more than 90 original articles published per month.
The eLearning Coach. Instructional design know-how from a highly experienced eLearning guru, Connie Malamed.
E-Learning Provocateur. E-Learning Provocateur is the brainchild of Ryan Tracey, a member of eLearn Magazine's editorial board. Tracey hopes to "provoke deeper thinking" in the world of eLearning.
Cathy Moore. Cathy Moore is an impassioned advocate for interesting and stimulating eLearning. As a speaker and adviser she is in very high demand, and her impressive resume includes companies such as Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, FedEx, and even the American Government, amongst a multitude of others.
E-Learning 24/7 Blog. Blogger Craig Weiss was recently named the most influential person in the eLearning industry. He is an expert on Learning Management Systems and a well-known public speaker.
OpenSesame. OpenSesame is a unique website that allows for easy buying and selling of eLearning Courses.
The Learning Generalist. Written by Sumeet Moghe of Thoughtworks Technologies Pune.
Social Learning Blog. An industry blog brought to you by LMS giant Interactyx.
Upside Learning. One of the most socially shared eLearning blogs on the internet.
Technology Enhanced Learning Blog. By David Hopkins, the 2014 ALTC Learning Technologist of the Year.
Learning Solutions Magazine. The eLearning Guild's publication, boasting more than 1000 articles since 2002.
Rapid eLearning Blog. By Tom Kuhlman, an eLearning pro with two decades of experience.
I Came, I Saw, I Learned. An informative blog about the software and design side of things from IconLogic.
Allison Rossett. A blog hosted by Dr. Allison Rosset, an eLearning expert and professor of Educational Technology at San Diego State University.
The Spicy Learning Blog. "The Spicy Learning Blog" is posted by Saffron Interactive, Europe's prolific eLearning organization.
Kasper Spiro. From the mind of Kasper Spiro, CEO of easygenerator.
Docebo E-Learning Blog. A blog created by Docebo, one of the Top Ten Learning Management Systems of 2015.
LMS Blog. Insider knowledge from the respected LMS, Latitude Learning.
E-Learning Acupuncture. An eLearning blog created by accomplished scientist and Educational Developer at Queen's University, Eric Tremblay.
E-Learning Academy. Tips from e-coach Alison Bickford.

Is there a blog you would like to add to this list? Feel free to name your go-to blog in as a comment below.

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Looking to learn to create your own eLearning? We offer several live, online classes that'll get you up and running in no time. Classes range from 3-hour mini courses to full-day, multi-day events.

April 16, 2015

eLearning: Become a Pedagogical Agent

by Jennie Ruby

If you've taken any of our Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, or Articulate Storyline classes, you are probably aware that these programs provide a selection of screen characters–cut-out pictures of professional actors in business, medical, or business-casual clothing posed as if they are talking to you. They are intended for use as a kind of avatar of the trainer.

There is research that shows that using a screen character as a pedagogical agent or learning coach, who speaks informally and appears to be giving the lesson, increases learning. (My reference for this is Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer, eLearning and the Science of Instruction.)

Over the past few weeks, I've had multiple students ask how hard it would be to use themselves as the learning coach. Believe it or not, becoming a pedagogical agent is easier than you think.

Put Your Picture into the Lesson. Place a professional head shot of yourself, your trainer, or expert on the introductory slide (including job title, credentials, etc.), and then have that individual record the audio narration for the project.

Create your own screen characters. Photograph your expert on a green screen background for a full set of screen characters in various poses. The IconLogic Blog has a whole series of articles on how to do this:

Green Screen Part I

Green Screen Part II

Green Screen Part III

Green Screen Part IV

Create cartoons of yourself or your in-house experts. You can use the images over and over in on-going training videos. Here is one article to get you started: Using Bitstrips Characters.

If you don't have specific, known individuals in your company to act as your learning coaches, you are not stuck with the same four or five actors that come with your software. You can purchase additional screen characters from The eLearning Brothers. Or you can just make good use of some inexpensive clip art. By trimming out the background in ordinary office photographs, you can get some nice effects.

Whether you use generic actors or your own home-grown experts, screen characters are an excellent way to add the personalization, engagement, and local feel that will bring your eLearning to the next level.

Once you have your screen characters, how do you know what to make them say? Join me for an afternoon mini course on writing voiceovers to find out.

April 13, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Text Hyperlinks

by Kevin Siegel

Over the years I've had more than a few eLearning development clients ask us to create links to web resources on a slide. There's more than one way to accomplish the task. Over the next couple of weeks I'll discuss some of my favorite techniques. Up first, text hyperlinks.

To create a text hyperlink, select some text (the text can be contained within a text caption or a smart shape). Then, on the Properties Inspector, select the Style tab. From the Character area, click the Insert Hyperlink tool.

From the Link To drop-down menu, choose Web Page. Next, type a web address into the field.

Prior to clicking the OK button, visit the drop-down menu to the right of the web address. I think it's a good idea to select New from the list of options. (This will ensure that the page that appears after the learner clicks is a new page or tab, rather than a page that replaces the current lesson.)

When previewed in a web browser, the text hyperlink will look similar to the image below. If clicked, the learner will be taken to the web address you specified in the Link To area.

Should you change your mind about the text hyperlink, removing the link is as simple as selecting the text and, back on the Properties Inspector, clicking the Remove Hyperlink tool.

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Adobe Presenter Video Express: Creating Software Demos

by Jennie Ruby

If you've tried Adobe Presenter with Video Express, you are probably aware that you can create a video of yourself as you present your PowerPoint slides, and then display either yourself, your slides, or both in the published project. However, a well-kept secret is that Video Express actually enables you to take a simultaneous video of yourself and anything you have on your computer screen–it doesn't have to be PowerPoint slides.

Here's an example: I needed to show a few different functions in Word 2013. I'm creating an update lesson, not a full how-to video. I want to be able to list the changes in 2013 from the 2010 version of the software, and show just a quick mini-vid of things that have been changed.

First, I turn on Video Express independently of PowerPoint and Presenter. (On my Windows 8 touch-screen machine, I went to the Start screen and tapped the Video Express icon. You can start your copy of Video Express just as you would start any application.)

Next I created a script (you can't do anything without a step-by-step script, and possibly a voiceover script to go with it), and opened my target application, Word 2013, in maximized view. Video Express is automatically set to capture the entire screen.

From the task bar, I retrieve Video Express, and hit the Create New Project button.

Create New Project

I ignore the fact that my video camera is now showing my face–I'm not going to display that aspect of the video in my end product. No need for lighting, makeup, etc. on this one!

I click the Record button.

Record button

Video Express disappears, a count-down from 5 to 1 rolls, and consulting my script, I take a live video of some screen actions, narrating as I go.

When I've finished the steps, I hit the stop recording short-cut key combo, Shift-End.

My video opens in Editing view.

At the bottom of the screen, I click the Presentation Only tool.

Presentation Only tool

Now the published output will display only the screen actions, and not my face, but my audio narration will play throughout.

Since the video was shot with Word maximized, I click the Pan & Zoom tool at a crucial point along the timeline.

Pan & Zoom tool

Then I adjust the Pan and Zoom to focus on the part of the screen that is of interest.

Adjust the Pan and Zoom

Later along the timeline, I could choose to zoom back out, but that is not needed for my project.

Finished with editing, I go to the lower right corner of the Editing screen, and click Publish.

From the options displayed, I choose Export to PowerPoint. I've decided to create a slide show of the Microsoft Word updates, with a mini-video of each change.

Export to PowerPoint

After some processing, PowerPoint opens with my inserted video ready to go on a new slide. I'll add an intro slide and explanatory slides along with additional slides showing my other mini-videos.

Now I can save my project, then use Adobe Presenter to publish it as one continuous movie, with my embedded videos playing automatically in between explanatory slides. Sweet!

So okay, I did end up using PowerPoint and Adobe Presenter along with Video Express after all, but that combo was just what I needed for this hybrid project.

Want more on Video Express? Sign up for my Video Express mini course for just $79, and you'll be ready to make expert videos after just one afternoon session!

April 7, 2015

Adobe Illustrator: Working with Artboards

by Sally Cox

I create all my graphics for my eLearning courses in Adobe Illustrator. I try to draw everything myself but also refine stock vector art when I am in a rush. My Illustrator files have a lot of artboards and they can get out of order easily. Let me show you how to rearrange your Artboards to help keep you sane and organized.

When you create a New Document in Illustrator, there is an option to add more than one Artboard. Two or more Artboards gives you more options.

Next to the number of Artboards are four icons and an arrow. The four icons give you options to arrange your Artboards. I usually leave it on the first option, which will arrange them from left to right and add rows going down. I also recommend adding to the Spacing (area between Artboards).

Artboard Tool

When you want to edit or add new Artboards, use the Artboard Tool (Shift O).

Here's an example of what one of my files looks like. Okay, I admit I haphazardly add Artboards and they do get out of order.

When you choose the Artboard Tool, the current Artboard gets a bold dashed line around it.

The Artboard I currently have selected with the Artboard Tool is highlighted with a bold dashed border.

Drag the handles to resize the Artboard, select the Trash Can on the options (at the top of your screen) to delete an Artboard. There are icons to add new or rename Artboards, change x and y positioning, and adjust width and height, among others. Hover over the icon to learn its function.

One final step with Artboards is the Artboard Panel (which provides an easy way to reorder and rename Artboards). You will find the Artboards Panel in the Windows menu.

In the image above I am renaming my Artboards to make it easier to navigate through them.

April 6, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp: Create Merged Help

by Willam van Weelden

Merged help is the process of combining outputs from multiple RoboHelp projects into a single help system. While the content is created from multiple projects, your users see a single, integrated help system.

Over the next couple of weeks I will teach you how to create merged help for several output formats. Since RoboHelp's layouts work differently, I will go over each layout in turn.

Why Merge Help?

Generally speaking, if any of the following items are true in your environment, merging may be for you:

You have a very large project (thousands of topics). Splitting the project into smaller projects may make maintenance easier.
Multiple writers work on separate parts of the documentation and you don't have source control. Without source control, only a single author can work in a project at the same time. Having multiple smaller projects makes collaboration without source control easier.
You need to update parts of the help separately from other parts. If you have a single project, you create an output for the entire project. You can publish only changed files, but you can't update only a single part. With merged help, you can.
You have modules that are reused in different products. With merged help you maintain a single version, and reuse that.

Which Outputs can I Merge?

You can merge the following outputs:

Adobe AIR
Microsoft HTML Help (CHM)
FlashHelp
Multiscreen HTML5
Responsive HTML5
WebHelp

Master Project and Child Projects

When you merge help, you always have one master project and any number of child projects. The master project is the glue that holds everything together. When you generate your output, the master project makes sure that your help system is shown as an integrated whole.

Your master project is a regular RoboHelp project. You can use any features you want in the master project.

Merged Microsoft HTML Help

Generate a CHM file for every child project. (Using the Single Source Layouts pod, generate Microsoft HTML Help.) Then open the project that is to be the master project.

Open the layout's table of contents and click New Merged Project.

Adobe RoboHelp: New Merged Project tool.

On the HTML Help tab, click the browse button (the yellow folder) and open the CHM file of the child project you published.

Adobe RoboHelp: Merged Project dialog box.

Click Yes when prompted.

Adobe RoboHelp: Click Yes to the alert dialog box.

Click the OK button to merge the CHM file.

Adobe RoboHelp: Child project ready to add to a master project.

The child project will appear in the Master project's TOC.

Adobe RoboHelp: Child added to the TOC.

Save your project and generate the layout.

All that's left to do is deliver both CHM files as your help system.Whenever the child project changes, generate the CHM from the child project. Replace the CHM in the master project directory and generate your master project. You can also replace the child project CHM in the output directly.

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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.

April 3, 2015

eLearning: Is Gamification Really Necessary?

by AJ Walther

I like the idea of games in learning, generally speaking. Why shouldn't learning be fun? Set the capitals of the states to music, turn the stock market into a game, great. But lately the eLearning community is all aflutter about the gamification of learning. Game this. Video that. Avatar all the things!

Sure, I think there's a place for games in learning. Yes, I think to some degree games can improve learner engagement. But what about retention? What about actual knowledge gain? And mostly, what about the message we, as eLearning developers, are sending? Should everything be a game?

A game-based school for 6th graders opened in Los Angeles. It looks like attending the school would be a blast. But I have to wonder how kids attending a school where everything is a game are going to turn out. Will they be motivated to do anything if there's not a prize at the end? Will the students want to learn for the pure joy of discovery and the attainment of knowledge, or will they always only be focused on leveling-up? What about when they enter the workplace? Will their jobs need to be set up on an instant gratification game system? Or will it even matter, because at that point all of our job training and all of our work will be gamified as well?

Conversely, maybe these kids will go on to be super-motivated brainiacs because they "learned to learn" in an environment based upon fun and games. I certainly don't know. What's concerning to me, is that I'm not sure if anyone knows. Are we gamifying things because it's the new, fun, thing to do? Or are we doing it because it works? We'd love to hear from you.

I have mostly questions, and no answers. I've yet to come across any research that goes beyond how gamification can be applied, instead focusing on whether or not gamification works. What I did find was an interesting survey conducted by the Pew Research Center (Gamification: Experts expect 'game layers' to expand in the future, with positive and negative results). I found it interesting because it looked at gamification from both sides, pointing out that some industry experts think gaming can be "fun, useful, increasing engagement and personal improvement" while others say it can also be "manipulative, insidious." Because it was only an opinion survey, however, there was no statistical data on whether the gaming is working.

Check out this infographic from Knewton about the Gamification of Education. Looking for more? Here's an infographic by OnlineSchools.com that goes into a little more detail about gaming in education. (And, if you'd like to know how to make your own infographic, check out this blog post on using PowerPoint.)