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ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Adding Text Hyperlinks
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ADOBE CAPTIVATE: The Fix for Corrupt Themes
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ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Control the Startup Screen for a Published Project
by Kevin Siegel, COTP, CTT
Not all that long ago controlling what learners see first in Adobe Captivate published eLearning content was as simple as creating a visually-appealing first slide in the project. However, if you’ve created content with either Adobe Captivate 2017 or 2019 things aren’t quite as simple. Perhaps you’ve noticed that a mysterious screen now appears when your lesson opens within most web browsers.
The default startup screen is a bit plain-looking (it's nothing more than a gray background and a play button).
I bet you’re wondering why this screen exists, where it came from, and if there’s anything you can do to control it. The screen (known as an Auto Play screen) is necessary thanks to modern browser security protocols that prevent multimedia (such as eLearning content) from automatically playing for a learner without the learner taking the extra step of clicking a Play button.
Unfortunately, the Auto Play screen isn't among your Filmstrip slides so there does not appear to be a way to modify or brand it. However, while you cannot stop a startup screen from appearing, but you can control how the screen looks. Instead of the plain gray screen shown above, I want my learners to see the image below (I created the image with an image-editing program and saved it as a PNG.)
To use the image as the startup screen, open the project’s Preferences dialog box via Edit > Preferences (PC) or Adobe Captivate > Preferences (Mac).
From the Category list at the left, select Start and End. If necessary, remove the check mark from Auto Play. (In older versions of Captivate, you could control the initial screen seen by learners by selecting or deselecting Auto Play. In recent versions of Captivate (2017 and 2019), Auto Play cannot be disabled, even if you deselect Auto Play. Nevertheless, to use your own image as the startup screen, you must deselect the Auto Play check box before you can browse for an image of your own. I know, I know, deselect to select? it's a bit wacky but it's true.)
Click the Browse button and a background image. (In the example below, the name of the background I’d like to use is called aquo.png.)
When I previewed the project, the imported image (which was the same width and height of my project) is used as the startup screen.
***
Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. 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.ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2019: Interactive Videos
by Kevin Siegel, COTP, CTT
I’m a huge video fan. In my experience, videos offer a higher level of learner interest and knowledge retention than just text and/or images. However, as much as I love videos, I’m not happy with a core video limitation… a lack of learner engagement or interactivity. Sure, learners can stop, rewind, and fast-forward through most videos, but those abilities hardly equate to interactivity or engagement.
I was delighted to learn that Captivate 2019 has taken an awesome leap forward by allowing for videos (any videos) to include a high level of interactivity via knowledge checks, learner interactions, and more.
To begin, I created a new, blank project with Captivate 2019. On the toolbar, I clicked Interactive Video.
You can either link to an existing YouTube video or insert a video from your computer. In my example, I selected From your Computer and opened a video loaned to me by Professor Art Kohn.
I then added two more slides to my project: two Knowledge Check slides. These slides will become overlays on the video.
On the Timeline of the slide containing the interactive video, I positioned the Playhead where I wanted the interactivity and then inserted two bookmarks (one for each of the knowledge check slides) by clicking the square icon just beneath the Playhead. Bookmarks can be used as breadcrumbs or as targets for jumps. I've found bookmarks to be very useful when I'm working with a longer video and I tend to add them prior to adding any interactive components. (Otherwise I seem to always forget exactly where I want the interactivity to occur.)
To add the knowledge check slides as overlays (which will then automatically become interactive components of my video), all that was left to do was position the Playhead at a bookmark, and then click the Insert Overlay icon beneath the Bookmark icon.
From within the Overlay dialog box, the last step was to select a slide and click the Insert button.
I repeated the Overlay process one more time for my second Knowledge Check slide. On the Filmstrip, notice that my two overlay slides are represented as such by the overlay icon just beneath the slide thumbnail.
If you'd like to experience the awesomeness of interactive videos for yourself, check out the quick sample I posted to the IconLogic website. And while you're at it, enjoy Professor Kohn's brief video on strategies for boosting learner retention.
***
Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. 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.ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Make Software Simulations Scorable
by Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP
The Assessment recording mode in Adobe Captivate creates a step-by-step software simulation that is intended to function as a test. It is part of the three-part formal software lesson: Demo, then Training (practice), then Assessment (test). The Assessment requires the learner to click through the steps without any hints, and it is set up to report each correct click as a point. But if you actually put a Quiz Results slide at the end of your Assessment and try out your test, you’ll find that you get 100% every time!
“Well, of course!” you might say, “You know all of the answers, because you are the one who created the lesson!”
And if you said that, you’d have a good point. However, you’d be wrong.
The reason you get 100% every time is that by default, each click box in the Assessment simulation is set to Infinite Attempts. You can click the wrong thing two, three, five times—and you’ll get a Failure caption every time. But the lesson will not proceed until you finally click the correct command, whereupon you receive a point for your correct answer, and the assessment proceeds. Voila. 100%.
To get an accurate score on an Assessment simulation, you have to set each click box—the clickable object that makes the software simulation advance—to allow only 1 attempt.
Select the click box and, on the Properties Inspector > Actions tab, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Then set the No. of Attempts to 1.
Still on the Actions tab, in the Reporting section, select Include in Quiz. Assign the number of Points you want (1 works fine), and then select Add to Total.
You’ll need to make these changes or ensure that these settings are consistent throughout your entire project. For the Reporting settings, once you have set them for one click box, you can use the fly-away menu next to the Reporting heading to update all of your click boxes:
In the Properties > Actions tab, to the right of the Reporting heading, click the fly-away menu (shown in the highlight box below) and choose Apply to all objects of this type.
The Reporting settings are applied to all of the click boxes in your project.
For the number of attempts, however, you’ll need to navigate to each and every slide and set that manually. Ugh. But here is a tool that will help: Advanced Interactions (which help you navigate to each click box in turn). One or two clicks per checkbox (depending on the point value you want to set), and you’re done.
Make sure you have set all of your click boxes to be included in quiz. Then, access the Advanced Interactions window to help ease the pain of setting them all to one attempt via Project > Advanced Interactions.
Ensure that the View filter is set to All Scorable Objects. If necessary, click the black twisty triangle to expand the list of scorable objects on each slide. In the Advanced Interactions window, click the first line that says Click box.
You are navigated to that slide in the Filmstrip, and the click box on the slide is selected. On the Properties Inspector, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Repeat for each click box in the project.
In your Quiz Preferences > Settings, ensure that Show Score at the End of the Quiz is selected. Then make sure the Quiz Results slide is at the end of your Assessment project. Preview the Assessment, purposely get a few clicks wrong, and you will see an accurate score at the end of the assessment.
Want to report the results? We cover how to set up a “quiz” such as this one as a SCORM-compliant content package, and how to upload it to your LMS, in our Advanced Adobe Captivate class. Interested in other classes? We've got a huge catalog of courses all online, all 100% hands-on and interactive.
***
Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.ELEARNING AND PRESENTATIONS: In Search Of Free-to-Use Images
by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP
When trying to find quality images for use in PowerPoint presentations or eLearning projects created with any development tool such as Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, or TechSmith Camtasia, most people turn to Google. And why not? With a quick search you are sure to find the image you’re looking for.
For instance, I recently wanted to find an image of a puppy for use in an eLearning project. (I know, I know, I was enthralled with puppies in my last article… but come on, puppies!)
Check out some of the awesome puppy images Google found for me. It's unreal that these images are now mine, all mine!
As tempting as it might be to use images found via a Google search in your project, I’d caution against it. Most of the images you’ll find on the Internet while using any search engine are protected by copyright law. Using that adorable puppy on your web page, promotional materials, or even your eLearning project without permission from the copyright holder can lead to some hefty fines. In fact, according to Purdue University, “the law provides a range from $200 to $150,000 for each work infringed.”
Still wanting to search the web for an image of a puppy to use in a work project? There’s hope. Go to Google's advanced search page. In the all these words area, type puppy.
Scroll down to the usage rights area and, from the drop-down menu, choose free to use, share or modify, even commercially.
After clicking the Advanced Search button, plenty of images appear, just like a regular search. However, this time your search results are full of results you can actually use! But, not so fast! Be sure to put in the legwork. Click through to the image you'd like to use and check its usage rights. Some images will be labeled Creative Commons Zero. This means you can truly use, share, or modify the work, even commercially, without crediting the owner. But a lot of these results, while available for you to use, will still have some use restrictions like citing your source. Failure to do so could result in copyright fines.
But what if you already have an image on your computer or in a PowerPoint presentation or on a Storyline slide (perhaps the image was already being used in your project when you took it over)? How can you ensure that the image wasn’t “borrowed” from a website “accidentally?” For instance, I’d like to use the king-of-all-cuteness image shown below in my project. My friend Biff gave it to me. And nobody knows where he found it. (Biff, for his part, isn't talking.)
In this scenario, you can perform what is known as a “reverse lookup” that will find similar images and/or websites that are already using the image (a possible indicator that the image is protected by copyright).
To begin, go to https://images.google.com and click the search by image icon.
Click the Upload an image tab and then upload the image from your computer or server. In my example of puppy cuteness, the mighty Google took just seconds to burst my bubble. My puppy image was being used by a site selling images for use on a phone. While the website owning the image might have granted me permission to use their image, it just wasn’t worth the time or effort (so off I went to perform an advanced Google search for free-to-use puppies).
Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP, is the founder and president of IconLogic. Following a career in Public Affairs with the U.S. 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.ADOBE CAPTIVATE: Make Your Software Simulations Scorable
by Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP
The Assessment recording mode in Adobe Captivate creates a step-by-step software simulation that is intended to function as a test. It is part of the three-part formal software lesson: Demo, then Training (practice), then Assessment (test). The Assessment requires the learner to click through the steps without any hints, and it is set up to report each correct click as a point. But if you actually put a Quiz Results slide at the end of your Assessment and try out your test, you’ll find that you get 100% every time!
“Well, of course!” you might say, “You know all of the answers because you are the one who created the lesson!” And if you said that, you’d have a good point. However, you’d be wrong.
The reason you get 100% every time is that by default, each click box in the Assessment simulation is set to Infinite Attempts. You can click the wrong thing two, three, five times—and you’ll get a Failure caption every time. But the lesson will not proceed until you finally click the correct command, whereupon you receive a point for your correct answer, and the assessment proceeds. Voila. 100%.
To get an accurate score on an Assessment simulation, you have to set each click box—the clickable object that makes the software simulation advance—to allow only 1 attempt.
Select the click box and, on the Properties Inspector > Actions tab, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Set the No. of Attempts to 1.
Still on the Actions tab, in the Reporting section, ensure that the Include in Quizcheckbox is selected. Assign the number of Points you want (1 works fine), select Add to Total, and then select Report Answers.
You’ll need to make these changes or ensure that these settings are consistent throughout your entire project. For the Reporting settings, once you have set them for one click box, you can use the fly-away menu next to the Reporting heading to update all of your click boxes. (Click the menu and choose Apply to all objects of this type.)
For the number of attempts, you’ll need to navigate to each and every slide and set that manually. Ugh. But here is a tool that will help: Use the Advanced Interactions dialog box to help you navigate to each click box in turn. One or two clicks per checkbox (depending on the point value you want to set), and you’re done. Make sure you have set all of your click boxes to be included in quiz. Then, access the Advanced Interactions tool to help ease the pain of setting them all to one attempt. Here’s how:
Choose Project > Advanced Interactions. Ensure that the View filter is set to All Scorable Objects. If necessary, click the black twisty triangle to expand the list of scorable objects on each slide. In the Advanced Interactions dialog box, click the first line that says Click box. (You are navigated to that slide in the Filmstrip, and the click box on the slide is selected.)
On the Properties Inspector, deselect the Infinite Attempts checkbox. Repeat for each click box in the Assessment simulation.
In your Quiz Preferences > Settings, ensure that Show Score at the End of the Quiz is selected. Then make sure the Quiz Results slide is at the end of your Assessment project. Preview the Assessment, purposely get a few clicks wrong, and you will see an accurate score at the end of the assessment.
Want to report the results? We cover how to set up a “quiz” such as this one as a SCORM-compliant content package, and how to upload it to your LMS, in our Advanced Captivate class. Take a look at our schedule for the next available Advanced Captivate class with me.
***
Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.ADOBE CAPTIVATE: It All Adds Up With Calculations
by Lori Smith, COTP
Did you know that Adobe Captivate can perform some pretty high-end math? If you’re new to Captivate, I'll bet that you didn’t! Even if you’ve been using Captivate for eons, asking an eLearning development tool to do calculations is not something that likely comes to mind when starting a project.
Let's say that you need to create an annual healthcare enrollment lesson for your employees. Everyone knows that Open Enrollment time is not exactly the most fun or easy thing to figure out. Employees are given tons of information and often left sorting through confusing documents or boring lecture. Using Captivate, you can create an eLearning lesson with interactive text entry boxes that will help pique the learner's interest.
In the image below, I created a form that allows employees to put in the cost for three selections and then calculate the total by clicking the "Calculate My Cost" button.
Here's how you get the form to work using Captivate. First, add four new user variables via Project > Variables named MedicalCost, DentalCost, RetirementCost, and AnnualDeduction. (Keep in mind that it’s always a good idea to fill in a the default value and description for your variables.)
After you’ve created the variables, ensure each variable is associated with the Text Entry Box. Go to the Properties inspector for each Text Entry Box and select the appropriate variable.
Create an advanced action via Project > Advanced Actions.
I named my Advanced Action calculateMyCost. In the action, I’ve used the Expression command to add my variables together. You can only add two things at a time. so I added the MedicalCost and the DentalCost and saved it in the variable AnnualDeduction. Next, I took that total, AnnualDeduction, and added it to the RetirementCost again (saving it in the AnnualDeduction variable).
That’s it for the action.
The last step in the process is to attach the advanced action to the "Calculate My Cost button" via the Properties inspector.
Was the process I wrote about above intimidating? If you’re not sure what all these variable and action things are, join me for my Variables and Actions series of mini courses. 101 starts off with the basics. We add a new twist to each class, so by the time you finish 401, you’ve got a solid handle on all of the ins and outs of variables and actions… with some great practice along with way.
If you'd like to test out the form for yourself, here's a link.
***
Lori Smith, COTP, is IconLogic's lead programmer and Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in Captivate. Lori has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MIT as well as a Master’s in electrical engineering from George Mason University. She has been working in the field of software engineering for more than 20 years. During that time she worked as an embedded software engineer at Raytheon (E-Systems) and ARINC.eLearning: Compare Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and TechSmith Camtasia
Welcome to the eLearning tool slug-fest. In this corner, it's Adobe Captivate. Over there? It's Articulate Storyline. And because this isn't a two-tool fight, look over there and you'll see TechSmith Camtasia. Attend this power hour and see demonstrations of all three tools. If you'd like to follow-along with your instructor, install trial versions of Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and TechSmith Camtasia (Mac or PC). Watch as your instructor, a seasoned eLearning developer and certified online training professional, puts each of these tools through its paces, compares their strengths and weaknesses, and helps you pick the tool that is right for you!
If you'd like to attend this live, online class, you can sign up here: http://www.iconlogic.com/compare-elearning-tools.html
The video below is a sample from a recent class.