Month: January 2019

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ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Free Icons Galore!

I was teaching Storyline recently and one of my students wanted to put a check mark image into his project. Before I could blink, he was on Google, had searched for a check mark image, found a ton of them, downloaded the one he liked, and added it to his project. Done and done!
 
Of course, the image was copyrighted (as are most images you'll find via Google searches). Given that he is a Storyline 360 subscriber, I showed him a better way to icon-glory that's not only cost-free but copyright-free and royalty-free.
 
From the Storyline 360 ribbon, select the Insert tab. From the Content Library section, click Icons.
 
 
In the Search Icons area, he typed check mark and pressed [enter]. The result was more check marks than he could possibly ever use. Better still, he was able to quickly change the color of the shape once it was loaded onto his slide (something he would have been unable to do with a checkmark image lifted from the Internet).
 
 
Similarly, you can use the Search feature to find anything from puppies to kittens to boats. And again, everything you find is free to use and/or modify in your Storyline project.
 
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ADOBE ROBOHELP 2019: The Fix is In!

Adobe recently released RoboHelp 2019, a totally reimagined, rebuilt, re-everything RoboHelp. If you're a veteran RoboHelp user, I'm thinking you'll find the overhauled interface to be intuitive and significantly cleaner than previous versions of RoboHelp.
 

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In RoboHelp 2019, there are far fewer toolbars or tools. And while there are still some dialog boxes in RoboHelp 2019, much of the topic formatting work can be performed in panels to the left and right of the application window.
 
 
While Adobe has spent significant time streamlining RoboHelp's interface and development process, there are some awesome enhancements as well. One of my favorite features is Auto Fix Content. Although it is not necessary for you to know HTML to create RoboHelp projects, knowing a little HTML can pay off when imported content causes trouble because of misplaced or missing HTML tags.
 
I imported an HTML file into a project. I then opened the topic expecting to see it in the Author window as shown in the first image above (where you see the text and the heading About This Guide).
 
What I didn't know prior to importing the HTML file was that there were HTML code errors in the file. While the file imported without issue, upon attempting to edit the file, it automatically opened in HTML View.
 
In the HTML View, I noticed that there was an error icon next to line 20 as shown below.
 
 
I ran my mouse over the error icon and was alerted that the HTML file wasn't following conventional HTML rules (where tags must be paired). I'm comfortable with HTML and could have easily fixed the problem myself by adding the missing tag. However, if HTML isn't your thing, you'll love this awesome feature.
 
 
From the top of the HTML View window, I clicked the Auto Fix Content icon. 
 
In a blink, RoboHelp automatically fixed all of the errors. (For instance, in the image below, a missing paragraph end-tag was added on line 18.)

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Need to learn Adobe RoboHelp? Want to save on travel? Consider our live, online, and 100% interactive and hands-on RoboHelp classes. (If you prefer onsite training, send us an email. We can come to you!)
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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: Out of Sight, Out of Mind

How often have you had multiple objects on the Camtasia canvas and found yourself moving one object out of the way so you could work with another object? If you're like most developers, I'm thinking it's a common occurrence. And while it's not difficult to move an object (just drag and drop), you'll likely have to put the misplaced object back where you found it.
 
In the image below, I've positioned four objects on the canvas (each of the objects shown below are available for free via Camtasia's Library).
 
 
I'd like to change the behavior of the two people on the canvas. However, I consistently found myself selecting the house by mistake and either moving it or accidentally applying behaviors to the wrong object. Also, when previewing the video, I wanted to hide the house and focus instead on the two characters.
 
Fortunately, the solution to both problems is incredibly simple. On the Timeline, click the Disable Track icon (the eyeball) for the Track containing the item that's in the way.
 
 
 
Not only are the items on the disabled track hidden from view on the Canvas, they won't preview nor will they publish.
 
 
If you'd like the hidden objects back, simply Enable the track.
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Looking to learn how to develop eLearning in Camtasia like a pro? Check out our live, online Camtasia classes and one-on-one mentoring sessions.
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TRAINER TRAINING & CERTIFICATION: Next Online Class is February 19-20!

Learn to Teach Live, Online Classes
Master Some Amazing Tactics For Engaging Virtual Learners
Get Certified to Teach Live, Online

Teaching live, online classes isn't as easy as it sounds. Learn how to engage learners who attend your classes from anywhere in the world!
More and more companies are embracing live, online classes. If your company wants you to teach online, great. But teaching online isn't as easy as it sounds. For instance, how can you be sure that your class isn't boring? How can you keep your audience engaged, even when your content isn't very exciting?
 
The International Council for Certified Online Training Professionals (ICCOTP) promotes standards of excellence in delivering online training in a wide variety of formats by instituting a certification process for online trainers.
 
The Certified Online Training Professional (COTP) course aims to ensure that online training events and classes provide high-quality, memorable, enjoyable, and, most of all, effective learning experiences to participants.
 
Learn some best practices for engaging an online audience. Learn the hardware and software you'll need to host online training. Are your materials ready for an online world? We'll teach you how to prepare your existing materials for online access and even how to create awesome, visually-appealing presentations.
 
If you need to include quizzes in your online course, do you know how to create effective questions (and surveys)? We'll show you how. And you'll get a chance to take the controls of an online training room and teach for a few minutes to your fellow COTP candidates.
 
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Sign up for the February class using coupon code SKILLS10 and save 10% off the price of certification. Learn more about the certification course (and sign up) here.
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ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Publish a Portion of a Project

When publishing a Storyline project, it’s often preferable to publish a small section of the project instead of the entire thing (a single slide for instance or an individual scene). Fortunately, Storyline 360 makes quick work of this task, if you know where to look.
 
Open Storyline’s Publish dialog box by either using the Publish tool on the Ribbon or choosing File > Publish.
 
From the Properties area of the Publish dialog box, click the link to the right of Publish to open another Publish dialog box.
 
 
From here you can elect to publish the entire project, a single scene, or from the A single slide drop-down menu, specify any slide from any scene within the project.
 
 
Click the OK button and then click the Publish button to publish the selection.
 
Need to learn Articulate Storyline? Want to save on travel? Consider our live, online, and 100% interactive and hands-on Storyline classes.
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ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Getting Past the DPI Awareness Error

Creating software simulations has always been one of Captivate's core strengths. From the Home screen, double-click Software Simulation, select the area of the screen or application to record, select your mode (or modes), click the Record button, and away you go.
 
The recording process is seamless, except when it's not. These days I'm seeing a particularly frustrating error appear for more and more of my students. After double-clicking Software Simulation, instead of seeing a Recording Area and a control panel, users are seeing an error message about DPI Awareness. Specifically, the message says "Capture is disallowed since High-density displaying was detected. Please set 'DPIAwareness = 1' in AdobeCaptivate.ini and restart the application."
 
 
Fortunately, the error only seems to affect people running a recent version of Windows 10 and only developers who are using a PC with a Retina display (such as a Microsoft Surface Pro). Unfortunately, there are more and more people with Retina displays who are reporting the error.
 
You can manually locate the AdobeCaptivate.ini file mentioned in the message by looking in the Adobe Captivate application folder. You can then edit the file in Notepad and change the DPI Awareness from 0 to 1 (and then restart Captivate).
 

 
After changing the DPI Awareness and restarting Captivate, the Captivate software will be pretty small. However, you'll be able to move forward with recording the software simulation.
 
While it's not difficult to edit the ini file, I'm betting if you're like most people, editing a support file in Notepad isn't something you're anxious to do. If so, I have a few alternatives for you.
 
First, close Captivate. Then right-click your desktop and choose Display settings. From the Scale and layout area, choose 100% from the Change the size of text, apps, and other items drop-down menu.
 
 
Return to Captivate and try to create a software simulation. If the DPI Awareness issue is gone, great. If not, exit Captivate, right-click your desktop and choose Display settings again. From the Scale and layout area, click Advanced scaling settings.
 
 
From the Fix scaling for apps area, turn off the option that allows Windows to try to fix apps so they're not blurry.
 
 
Return to Captivate and try again to create a software simulation. If things still aren't working, don't panic… I've got one more trick up my sleeve. With Captivate once again closed, right-click the AdobeCaptivate.exe file (located in the Adobe Captivate application folder) and choose Properties.
 
 
On the Compatibility tab, select Run this program in compatibility mode and choose Windows 8 from the drop-down menu.
 
 
Click the OK button and restart Captivate. While the program itself may look tiny, you'll be able to move forward with your software simulation.
 
Until a better solution is made available from either Adobe, Microsoft, or both, one or a combination of the steps above will likely work for you. If you have a better workaround, please share via a comment.
 
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