2015 – Page 3 – The Logical Blog

October 16, 2015

“Adobe Captivate 9: The Essentials Workbook” Now Shipping

We are proud to announce that our newest book, "Adobe Captivate 9: The Essentials Workbook" has begun shipping.

This book is a self-paced training manual that teaches the core Adobe Captivate skills needed to create interactive eLearning and mLearning content.

By following step-by-step instructions, you will learn how to create a soft-skills lesson from scratch. You'll also learn to record and produce software demonstrations and interactive training simulations.

By the time you finish working through this fast-paced book, you'll know how to control the mouse pointer and add such standard objects as text captions, images, characters, assets from the eLearning Brothers, and highlight boxes. You'll be able to record, import and edit audio, and further enhance the learner experience by adding interactivity via click boxes, buttons, and text entry boxes.

Have you already created content using Microsoft PowerPoint? Don't throw that presentation away. You'll learn how to import existing PowerPoint content into Captivate.

Last, but not least, you'll learn to publish your project in SWF and HTML5 formats so that your content can be uploaded to a web server for consumption on virtually any device, including the iPad, iPhone, and other mobile devices.

Order here.

October 12, 2015

Social Media: Gathering LinkedIn Recommendations

by Sally Cox

My colleagues know that I am a fanatic about LinkedIn. It's my top source for work; and when I hear people complain about it, I always think, "What could I do to help them strengthen their LinkedIn profile?"

One of the most powerful features of LinkedIn is the ability to collect recommendations on your profile. If you take the time and effort to set up your LinkedIn profile correctly, it becomes your online resume. And recommendations are an important part of that. Instead of a leather portfolio filled with letters of recommendation, in today's world recommendations are part of your online LinkedIn profile. Let's take a closer look.

Ask for Recommendations

It's perfectly acceptable to ask a colleague for a recommendation. However, it's customary to return the favor so if you don't feel comfortable recommending a colleague, don't ask them to recommend you.

Here's how to ask for a recommendation. Go to your LinkedIn profile (you've already signed in at this point), then choose Profile > Edit Profile.

Hover over the arrow next to View profile as and choose Ask to be recommended. This allows you to select someone in your Connections list to send them a message.

This navigation bar appears with several options. Notice the heading Recommendations. Under Ask for recommendations, LinkedIn suggests connections but I ignore that. I choose from the list of connections below that navigation bar.

You'll also see an option to choose which company/role you wish to have them recommend you for.

Here are a few tips for gathering recommendations:

It's acceptable to send a message and ask them to recommend you for a certain skill or role. I once had a colleague recommend me on LinkedIn by emphasizing how "fun" I was to work it. I politely thanked them for their recommendation but asked them to edit it, and focus on my project management skills (which he did).
Don't recommend anyone you would not trust to work for you. Your reputation is in play here; so friend or not, if they aren't a good candidate–don't recommend them!
Don't send 150 requests for recommendations in one day. When people recommend you, it leaves a time stamp. Fifty in one day looks suspicious and recruiters notice things like that.

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Want to learn more about LinkedIn? Come check out my live, online 3-hour LinkedIn mini course. Among other things, you will learn to build a strong LinkedIn profile and tons of other awesome LinkedIn tips and tricks.

October 8, 2015

Publishing Adobe Captivate Projects: SWF, HTML5, or Both?

by Kevin Siegel

If you attend our Adobe Captivate Beginner class, you will learn how to publish projects as SWF (for desktop users) and HTML5 (for mobile users).

Publishing in Captivate takes your source content and outputs it into a format that can be consumed (viewed) by the learner. Currently, the most common way to publish a Captivate project is as a Flash SWF, an excellent solution because SWF files provide the best multimedia experience for your learners. In addition, SWFs can be used by the vast majority of the world's desktop computers, laptops, and browsers. Your learners do not need Captivate installed on their computer to use an SWF, but they do need a modern web browser and the free Adobe Flash Player. According to Adobe, the Flash Player is installed on the majority of the world's computers.

Of course, SWFs have a problem. Learners using a mobile device that does not support Flash such as the iPad, iPod, and iPhone (that's millions upon millions of potential learners), cannot use SWF content. When trying to access SWF content, those learners will be met with a warning that SWFs are not supported. The only way around the warning is to use a supported device (meaning, those learners will have to access the eLearning content via a desktop or laptop computer… which might not be convenient or even possible).

As an alternative to SWFs, Captivate allows developers to publish content as HTML5. Lessons published as HTML5 play on any computer or mobile device that supports HTML5, including the Apple mobile devices.

A student in a recent Captivate class asked the following question: "If SWF's aren't supported on all devices, but HTML5 is, why not just publish HTML5 and do away with SWFs?"

That's an awesome question. While HTML5 may one day completely replace SWF, today is not that day. SWF is still a very popular multimedia format. And lots of cool Captivate effects that work great as an SWF simply do not work as HTML5. In addition, older web browsers don't support HTML5. A desktop learner using an old web browser would get a message saying that their browser doesn't support HTML5. (The reverse problem that a mobile user would have when attempting to access an SWF.)

One simple solution to the old browser issue would be to ask everyone to upgrade their web browser. Simple? Hah! Because many private users, companies, government agencies, and educational institutions aren't in any rush to upgrade their web browser technology, it's not a viable solution at all.

So which publish format should you choose, HTML5 or SWF? For some developers, the answer is both. However, if you publish both formats separately, you'll have to provide two published lessons for your learners… SWF and HTML5 versions. Then you'll need to tell your learners to choose the best format. Great… except many learners won't know which format they're supposed to choose, which is only going to lead to confusion.

Wouldn't it be great if could publish a Captivate project as both SWF and HTML5, at one time, and then let the learner's device (not the learner) determine the appropriate output to use based on its capabilities? That solution would be perfect… so let's do it!

Open Captivate's Publish dialog box (File > Publish). From the Output Format area, select both SWF and HTML5 (enable both options).

Publish the project (when the Publish process is complete, there's no need to view the Output). Minimize (Hide) Captivate and then open the folder containing the published assets.

The assets folder will contain a combination of the SWF and HTML5 output files. If you've published SWF or HTML5, you're likely familiar with the output files. However, now that you've published both outputs at the same time, there's a new start file in the folder: multiscreen.html.

If you make multiscreen.html the link for learners to click when accessing the lesson, desktop users who have Flash will automatically be served the SWF version of the lesson. Learners who are using devices that do not support Flash will automatically be served the HTML5 version of the lesson. How awesome is that?

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

September 23, 2015

Adobe Captivate 9: Effects Made Easy

by Kevin Siegel

You can also apply special effects to Captivate slide objects without ever leaving Captivate. All you have to do is right-click an object and choose Apply Effect. From there, you can use the Effects area on the Timing Inspector to add, remove, and control the timing of several effects that come with Captivate.

I needed to add an effect to a text cation. I selected the caption and, on the Timing Inspector, Effects area, I chose Entrance from the third drop-down menu. From the bottom of the Entrance Effects, I clicked the move right icon (>) and chose Fly in From Right.

On the Timing Inspector, the Effect was been added to the Applied Effects List. If I needed to delete the Effect, I could easily do so by clicking the Trash icon to the right of the Applied Effects List drop-down menu.

On the slide, I noticed that an FX had been added in the upper right of the selected Text Caption. In addition, there was a red line starting on the Pasteboard and ending up on the caption.

I went on to add a second effect to the object. Upon previewing the effect (via Preview > Play Slide), I noticed that both effects occurred at the same time (I wanted one to occur and then, after a brief delay, the other). That was easy to fix via the Timeline.

I clicked the arrow to the left of the caption containing both effects…

… then I dragged one of the effects right on the Timeline, and then changed its timing.

Changing the timing of an effect

What I love about this is that if you know how to use Captivate's Timeline, adjusting the timing of an Effect is no different than changing the timing for any slide object.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? Check out these awesome live, online Captivate classes.

September 17, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: Embedding Multimedia from Camtasia Studio

by Willam van Weelden

Integration between RoboHelp and Adobe Captivate has always worked well. Kevin taught you this integration some time ago. Using multimedia from other applications such as Camtasia used to be much harder. A recent patch for RoboHelp 2015 makes using media from Camtasia and other applications easy.

To be able to follow these steps, ensure you have the latest RoboHelp 2015 patch installed. You can check this by clicking the help icon in the right top of RoboHelp and choosing Updates.

Use Camtasia to create an MP4 file.
Open your RoboHelp project.
Open the topic where you want to include the MP4 file.
On the Insert tab, Media group, click Multimedia.
Click the yellow folder to the right of Source and open the MP4 file you created with Camtasia.
Click the OK button.
Save and generate your project.

The multimedia is embedded in the output.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? Come join me for my live, two-day online RoboHelp class (held once each month). And if you'd like to learn more about Dynamic Filters, check out my new 3-hour mini course: Adobe RoboHelp: Advanced Content Reuse.

September 11, 2015

Writing & Grammar: To Be or Not to Be?

by Jennie Ruby

I received a really interesting question from a reader this week (I've made it anonymous):

Question:

I work for a company with multiple locations across the country. I have noticed that team members in western PA consistently omit "to be" in certain sentences. Here's an example: "Do you think Manufacturing people need included?" Isn't this grammatically incorrect?

Answer:

You are absolutely right! This construction, using the verb needs without an infinitive to be is considered incorrect in mainstream English, but it is a widely used regionalism.

Yale Grammatical Diversity Project gives us the boundaries: Murray and Simon (2002) describe the rough boundaries as Western Pennsylvania, Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virginia, and Central Indiana. Pockets of speakers may exist in places as far-spread as Kentucky and Illinois. This construction is also attested in Scots English, which might be its historical source.

I've read elsewhere that it centers on Pittsburgh.

Got a grammar question? Send it in! It's possible that your question will end up in a future "Skills & Drills" issue.

***

Answers to my last challenge are brought to you by Christine Pass. Other correct answers came in from Lorna McLellan,Debbie Farmer, Denise Miller, and Anne Goldenberger. Others correctly solved the stated problem, but I counted off for comma splices and missing hyphens.

The lessons will be short and easy, with answers provided at the end.
The software provides a login, credential checking, and built-in encryption.
Our program provides a website, quizzes, and Excel report writing.
One course contains scenarios, interactions, and remediation.

September 10, 2015

eBooks with Adobe RoboHelp: Fix the “Remove DOC Type” Error

by Kevin Siegel

I write and produce all of the print versions of my "skills & drills" workbooks in Adobe FrameMaker. When it comes to creating digital versions of my books, I take the FrameMaker content into Adobe RoboHelp and then generate both ePubs and MOBI outputs. The whole process of going from FrameMaker to RoboHelp to eBook takes just a few moments. I've written about the workflow previously.

Normally my eBooks generate without issue. However, using the new Adobe RoboHelp 2015, I started receiving the following error message when generating my eBooks:

Validating against EPUB version 3.0

(http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck/)

September 2, 2015 1:05:34 PM EDT

———-

ERROR: RoboHelp2105.epub/OEBPS/__toc.ncx: External DTD entities are not allowed. Remove the DOCTYPE.

Check finished with warnings or errors!

I researched the error and it turns out the ePub 3 specifications do not accept references to DTD entities. RoboHelp was adding the reference automatically every time I generated. Because RoboHelp does not have an option to remove the DOCTYPE code from the eBook output, I was stuck. Thankfully, a quick email to my contacts at Adobe led to an easy fix that resolved the issue. Special thanks to Adobe's Amit Jha for the following:

Using Windows Explorer, open the folder where RoboHelp has been installed on your computer. (For me, this was C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe RoboHelp 2015\RoboHTML.)
Open EBooksExt\EPUB3\OEBPS\
Open the file named _toc.ncx. (It will open automatically in Notepad.)
Remove the following line of code from the file:
<!DOCTYPE ncx PUBLIC "-//NISO//DTD ncx 2005-1//EN" "http://www.daisy.org/z3986/2005/ncx-2005-1.dtd">
Save and close the _toc.ncx file.
Back in RoboHelp, generate the eBook layout.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe RoboHelp? Check out these awesome live, online RoboHelp classes taught by our very own Willam Van Weelden.

September 1, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Recording Narration to Multiple Slides

by Jennie Ruby

The best practice when recording a voiceover script to narrate a series of slides is to create a separate audio recording for each slide. But when you are recording directly into your Captivate project, it can be quite tedious to open the Audio menu, choose Record to > Slide, record the slide, save the recording, close the Slide Audio dialog box, and start the process over for the next slide.

Instead of closing the Slide Audio dialog box between every recording, you can record to multiple slides in one session.

Before you start, make sure you have typed or pasted the voiceover script for each slide into the Slide Notes pane.

To start the multiple slide recording process, choose Audio > Record to > Slides (notice the plural word slides).

The Record from Slide dialog box opens. Choose the range of slides you want to record and click the OK button.

The Slides Audio dialog box opens. Notice that on the waveform area, a marker for each slide has already been set.

To display your slides as you record, select the Preview check-box below the audio waveform. Use the blue arrows to navigate to the first slide you want to record to. (When you are on the first slide, the Previous slide arrow is grayed out.)

To display your slide notes, which contain your voiceover script, click the Captions & Slide Notes button at the bottom left of the Slides Audio dialog box.

Your slide notes for the active slide are displayed. Use the A tool at the upper right to adjust the font size for ease of reading.

After calibrating your microphone (refer to my Calibration article to learn how), ensure that the Continuous Play check-box is NOT selected.

The Continuous Play option advances the slides automatically as you record–whether you have completed the specific narration for a particular slide or not. By deselecting it, you retain control over when you move on to the next slide.

Click the Record button to start recording. After the countdown, record your narration by reading it from the Captions & Slide Notes window. When you finish the narration for your first slide, click the Stop Recording button.

To advance to the next slide, click the Advance Slide blue arrow below the waveform area.

The slide advances. The Captions & Slide Notes display window disappears, presumably to allow you to see the Preview of the next slide. Once you click the Record button, the Captions & Slide Notes window reopens automatically, displaying the notes for the next slide.

Click the Record button and record the next slide, then click Stop recording.

Continue in this way through all of your slides. The timing for each slide is automatically extended to accommodate the amount of time your narration requires.

After you have recorded the narration for the final slide, click the Save button at the lower right of the Slides Audio dialog box.

On the Filmstrip, each slide you recorded to now shows a speaker icon, indicating that your slide audio has been saved.

Once the narration has been recorded, you can preview the audio for each slide by clicking that speaker icon and choosing Play.

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Want to learn more about Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online Captivate classes.

September 1, 2015

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: New Book Now Shipping

Adobe RoboHelp 2015: The Essentials

We are proud to announce that our "Adobe RoboHelp 2015: The Essentials" workbook is now shipping.

"Adobe RoboHelp 2015: The Essentials" is a self-paced, step-by-step workbook that will teach you the essential skills needed to create and deliver user assistance (Help systems, policies and procedures, and knowledgebases). By following step-by-step instructions, you will learn to create RoboHelp projects from scratch and how to add content via importing from Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker, PDFs, and HTML.

You will learn to enhance your content with graphics, dynamic effects (DHTML), and multimedia (eLearning content created using Adobe Captivate). Enhance the navigation of your Help content by adding hyperlinks, indexes and glossaries. Improve your production efficiency by learning about cascading style sheets, variables, snippets, and master pages. Learn how to control the look of the final WebHelp output via Skins.

The output files you learn to generate (Single Source Layouts) will allow you to deliver content to the iPad and other tablets, smartphones, and desktops using output formats such as Responsive HTML5, WebHelp, Microsoft HTML Help, Adobe AIR Help, PDF and eBooks.

More information.

August 30, 2015

Adobe Captivate: Knowledge Check Slides

by Kevin Siegel

Last week Adobe announced a major update to Adobe Captivate: Adobe Captivate 9. While similar in appearance to Adobe Captivate 8, version 9 offers several enhancements that I'll cover over the next few weeks. This week: Knowledge Check questions.

When adding question slides to a project, you can insert graded questions, survey questions (questions that do not have a right or wrong answer), Pretest questions (questions with right and wrong answers that can be worth points, but are not graded along with regular question slides), and now, Knowledge Check Slides.

Similar to Pretest questions, Knowledge Check slides do not count against the overall quiz score. While knowledge Check questions aren't worth any points, they can provide a higher-level of feedback to the learner than Pretest questions.

To insert a knowledge check question, choose Quiz > Knowledge Check Slide.

As with all question slides, Knowledge Check slides appear on the Filmstrip. However, you'll notice that these slides include a graduation cap icon not seen with the other question types.

Once added to a project, Knowledge Check slides behave like any other question slide with a few notable exceptions. As mentioned above, Pretest questions can be worth points, Knowledge Check questions are not. And in the image below, notice the Actions tab (on the Properties Inspector) for a Pretest question. You'll notice that there's very little in the way of Actions.

Compare the Actions you see above with those available for a Knowledge Check slide. Simply put, there's more opportunity for you as a developer to ensure your learner is grasping a concept with a Knowledge Check slide than with a Pretest slide.

If you'd like to see the Knowledge Check feature in action, watch this YouTube video created by Adobe's Dr. Allen Partridge.

Important Note to Windows Users: Adobe is no longer supporting 32-bit operating systems. Captivate 9 will only work if you have Windows 64-bit . If you are using an older computer or OS, you won't be able to use Captivate 9 at all. It's a good idea to check out Captivate's new system requirements prior to upgrading to Captivate 9.

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Looking for training or help with Adobe Captivate? We've got you covered with an awesome collection of full-day courses, 3-hour mini courses, and mentoring/consulting services.