ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2017: Improved Closed Captions

When it comes to accessibility, Adobe's products have always been some of the best available. Nevertheless, Adobe found a way to improve them. Take Captivate's closed captions for example.

 

Closed captioning is the process of adding text to the screen to support learners with a hearing disability. The idea behind closed captions is for the hearing challenged learner to see exactly what the narrator is saying as the narrator is saying it.

 

While Captivate has featured closed captions for years, developers had limited control over how the text looked or where the captions appeared on-screen for the learner.

 

Adobe has raised the bar quite a bit with Captivate 2017. To add closed captions, add voiceover audio to a slide and then choose Audio > Audio Management. Select the slide you'd like to caption and click the Closed Caption tool at the bottom of the Advanced Audio Management dialog box. (This process remains unchanged from earlier versions of Captivate.)

 

Position the playhead (the red line shown below) and then click Add Closed Caption.

At this point, you can add the caption by typing or copying/pasting from an existing voiceover script.

Once you've added the caption, you'll be delighted to learn that the text can now be formatted without leaving the screen (for instance, you can now add emphasis to individual words or phrases such as bold or italic).

Once you've formatted the text within the caption, it's time for the best part of all. Click CC Settings at the right of the dialog box.

Notice that you can now select from several slide positioning options and control the captions for an entire project or slide-by-slide. (How awesome is that?)

Looking to learn Adobe Captivate? No travel budget? Check out these live, online, and very hands-on Captivate classes. 

Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the US Coast Guard and in private industry, Kevin has spent decades as a technical communicator, classroom and online trainer, public speaker, and has written hundreds of computer training books for adult learners. He has been recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide.