Category: eLearning

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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: TREC vs. AVI

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP

While recording a software demonstration using the Camtasia Recorder, you have two choices when it comes to the file format for your video capture: TREC and AVI. Audio Video Interleave (AVI) is a popular Microsoft format that can contain both video and audio. It plays nicely on multiple devices and operating systems. AVIs can be imported into the Camtasia Editor or other eLearning development tools and multimedia editors. TREC files are a proprietary format developed by TechSmith. As with AVI files, TRECs can contain audio and video and can be imported directly into the Camtasia Editor. However, unlike AVI files, TRECs cannot be edited or imported into any other development program (such as Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline).
 
Prior to recording, you can switch between the AVI format and TREC format by choosing Tools > Options. On the General tab, you’ll find both options in the Saving area, Record to drop-down menu.
 
 
Because AVIs are the more widely-accepted video format for non-Camtasia developers, it makes sense that you should choose AVI when using the Camtasia Recorder to create videos, right?
 
Not so fast.
 
If you create an AVI and then import it into the Camtasia Editor, you won’t be able to add effects to the recorded cursor. Beyond cursor data, the TREC format captures keyboard shortcuts, the webcam, and audio (all of which are editable once the TREC is imported into Camtasia).
 
In my experience, it’s best to always use the TREC format when recording with the Camtasia Recorder. Keep in mind that if you need an AVI at any point, you can select AVI when Sharing (Publishing).
 
 
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If you'd like to learn how to use the Camtasia Recorder to create awesome videos, check out this $49 Live, Online Camtasia Quick Dip class.
 
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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.
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ELEARNING PRODUCTION: iOS 11 Makes Mobile Demos a Snap (or a Tap)

by Kevin Siegel, CTT, COTP

Not so long ago we were tasked with creating an eLearning project that included a software demonstration of an iPhone mobile app. We experimented with several techniques for capturing the app including using a program that reflected the iPhone onto the computer. (To reflect our iPhone to the computer, we used a program called, wait for it, Reflector. Once the phone and computer were on the same wireless network, it was fairly easy to get Reflector to show the mobile device on the computer. And once displayed on the computer, it was a breeze to capture the reflection. We used Adobe Captivate, but any eLearning tool will work including Articulate Storyline and TechSmith Camtasia.
 
As an alternative to reflecting the mobile device and capturing what's shown on the computer, you can create individual screen captures of an app directly on the mobile device; then you can send the images to yourself via email, Dropbox, or any one of a several file transfer capabilities available on today’s mobile devices. (Just about every modern mobile device allows you to create screen captures.)
 
The only problem with manually creating screen captures is, well, you’ll need a lot of screen captures for a software demonstration. And that brings me to the latest and greatest innovation I’ve seen in iOS 11: video demos can now be created natively on the iPhone, saved, exported just like an image (only the video is an mp4), and then imported into your favorite eLearning development tool. 
 
Here's how easy it is to record a demo on an iPhone via iOS 11: In this scenario, I'd like to demonstrate the process of enabling the Personal Hotspot feature on an iPhone. To enable recording, swipe up from the bottom of the phone. Tab the button indicated below and, three seconds later, you're recording everything you do on the device.
 
 
When finished, tap the red bar at the top of the device and your recording will be saved among your other videos and photos as an MP4. In the image below, you can see the demo I captured as it appeared in the Camera app on my iPhone.
 
 
To add the video to a Captivate project, choose Video > Insert Video. In Camtasia, go to the Media Bin, right-click, and Import Media. And in Storyline, go the Insert tab on the Ribbon and, from the Media group, click the Video drop-down menu, and then chooseVideo From File.
 
Here's the video I captured and put into YouTube. (I imported the video into Camtasia and shared it. I didn't make any edits to the video but could have easily added audio, music, callouts, animations, you name it.)
 
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Looking to learn how to create eLearning in any of the top development tools (including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and TechSmith Camtasia)? Check out these live, online, and highly interactive classes.
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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.
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ELEARNING PRODUCTION: Integrating GoAnimate Animations

by Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP

Our reader Linda Tromanhauser of ADP (Automatic Data Processing, Inc.) writes: "We often use GoAnimate videos in eLearning. One thing I discovered on my most recent project is that in Storyline, you can insert a GoAnimate and have clickable items on top of it, on the same slide. So the video plays, and then the learner can select an option. I thought that was cool."
 
That does sound cool! I have a project under way in which I will add the same kind of functionality in Captivate. But in the meantime, I figured out I could do something similar in Adobe Presenter! 
 
Adobe Presenter is a PowerPoint add-in. Taking advantage of GoAnimate’s ability to import PowerPoint, I used GoAnimate to create an animated teacher for a grammar lesson. She talks, moves, points, and discusses text that appears on the slide with her. And then at the end of the video, my animated grammar teacher introduces a quiz.
 
To integrate the video with the quiz I had created in Adobe Presenter, I first created a button image in GoAnimate. Then I have my animated teacher point to the button and say, “Click here to take the quiz.” To bring functionality to the button, and to bring my learners into the quiz, I took a screen shot of the GoAnimate character pointing to the button at the end of her scene.
 
 
That screen shot serves as the first slide after the video in Adobe Presenter. In Presenter, I placed a transparent, clickable shape over the button, and assigned it a hyperlink that takes the learner to the next slide: the first question in the quiz. 
 
The learner then takes the quiz, the quiz is scored, and the quiz reports its results to the LMS. From animated lesson all the way to SCORM-compliant reporting. There is a lot to love about integrating GoAnimate with eLearning, regardless of which eLearning software you use.
 
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Looking to learn GoAnimate? Check these live, online classes.
 
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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.
 
 
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TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: Delete vs. Ripple Delete

by Kevin Siegel, COTP, CTT
 
Deleting a portion of an object on the Camtasia Timeline (a few seconds from the end of a video for example) is simple: drag the red in- and/or green out-point on either side of the Playhead, right-click, and then choose Delete. However, after deleting the selection from the Timeline media, you’ll typically be left with a gap. If left unaddressed, the gap (otherwise known as dead air), will result in a black screen when the lesson is seen by your eLearners.
 
In the image below, notice that there is an item on the Timeline to the right of a video I'd like to edit. I've already made a selection with the in- and out-points.
 
 
The next step for most people is to right-click the selection and choose Delete.
 
 
Deleting a selection works of course, but there's a gap left between the edited object and the next object on the Timeline (dead air).
 
 
As an alternative to simply Deleting (and getting a gap), this is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of an often overlooked Camtasia feature: Ripple Delete (the option is just below Delete in the menu).
 
 
By Ripple Deleting, the dead air isn't an issue because the item to the right of the edited object automatically slides left and fills the gap on the Timeline.
 
 
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Looking to learn how to create eLearning in any of the top development tools (including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and TechSmith Camtasia)? Check out these live, online, and highly interactive classes.
 
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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.
 
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MICROSOFT POWERPOINT QUICK TIP: Smoothly Animate with Morph

by AJ Walther, COTP

Raise your hand if this is you. You want to animate something on a slide and then on the next slide, you want that same object to do something else.
 
The problem is that you used motion paths to move this item from Point A to Point B on Slide 1 and then on Slide 2 you want that object to appear in the exact spot it ended on Slide 1 before it does something else. And getting that item in that exact spot is a total pain in the you-know-what.
 
 
Sure, there are ways to do this. In fact, I wrote an article about this very thing many moons ago: Perfecting the Motion Path. There are also add-ins you can download that will make quick work of this, but one that I downloaded may or may not have been the cause of my software acting glitchy and crashing, so I uninstalled it just to be safe. But, let's keep it real: ain't nobody got time for that.
 
A new PowerPoint 2016/365 transition might just solve this problem. Using the Morph transition, objects from one slide can smoothly transition to whatever spot you place them on the next slide. 
 
Let’s use these birds as examples. 
 
 
They’re love birds and they just want to sit together on the same branch. 
 
 
And then they want to say via speech bubble how in love they are.
 
 
All I need to do for this to work is:
 
  1. Create a slide with the birds on opposite branches
  2. Duplicate the slide
  3. Move the birds together on the second slide
  4. Add the morph transition between the two slides
  5. Either add a third slide or use an “appear” animation for the speech bubble 
I'm including two versions of the animation below (just in case your email software doesn't play one or the other). The first one below is an animated gif. A video of the animation is next.
 
 
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Looking to learn the best ways to use PowerPoint in your eLearning initiatives? Check out my live, online, and highly interactive classes.
 
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AJ Walther, COTP, is IconLogic's Chief Creative Officer (CCO), a seasoned online trainer, eLearning graphic designer, and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials." AJ made her own interdisciplinary studies major, focusing on writing and art. Her combined expertise in PowerPoint, graphic design, and writing allows her to bring a unique skillset to the eLearning community.
 
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GOANIMATE: Character-Based eLearning Made Easy

One of the hottest new tools for eLearning development is GoAnimate. Whether you want to create an animated whiteboard video (moving hand draws objects on your screen right before your eyes!), or a more character-based video (animated characters walk, move, talk, and emote), GoAnimate makes it possible. Even for those of us with limited or no drawing skill or knowledge of how to create animation.

 
I’ve been working more and more on ways to integrate GoAnimate with more traditional eLearning lessons and content. For example, I wanted to add a human, interpersonal touch to an Excel lesson. So I created a GoAnimate video in which one colleague helps another with his Excel spreadsheet. 
 
Now, it’s one thing to simply embed a video into an Adobe Captivate slide as a stand-alone, and then go on with a standard Captivate lesson in the next segment. But I wanted a tighter relationship between the video and the Excel software simulation lesson. So at one point in the GoAnimate video, the animated character is sitting at his desk, with his computer screen showing. 
 
 
Check out the computer in the image above… that’s not just a fake image on that screen. That is actually a screenshot of an Excel software simulation created in Adobe Captivate.
 
What happens next is magic. In GoAnimate, I used the Camera Effects to zoom in on the screen, until the spreadsheet simulation was full size. And at that moment, the GoAnimate video ends. And Captivate takes over. Suddenly, the mouse starts moving, the voiceover from the GoAnimate is still talking us through the lesson (I’ll explain the trickery with the voiceover in a later article), and we are into a software simulation demo on Excel.
 
Now that we are in Captivate, the lesson goes on with a training or practice Excel lesson, followed by a graded assessment. Between those segments, additional GoAnimate videos come in and explain what to do every step of the way.
 
By integrating GoAnimate videos with your eLearning projects, you can add humor, engagement, and a fun touch that learners love. But what may be more important, you can publish your projects as fully SCORM-compliant training that can be uploaded to your LMS, with all of the record-keeping and reporting that you may need.
 
Have you integrated GoAnimate videos into your training offerings? We’d love to hear from you. And if you are interested in more on using GoAnimate in eLearning, sign up for Jennie’s live, online GoAnimate course.
 
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Looking for GoAnimate training? Check out this live, online classes.
 
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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.
 
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ELEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Background Music & Copyright

by Kevin Siegel, COTP

Over the past few months, I've received more and more calls and emails about the pros and cons of adding background music to eLearning projects (specifically projects created using Adobe Captivate and TechSmith Camtasia).
 
First and foremost, it's a simple process to add background music using your tool of choice. For instance, in Captivate, choose Audio > Import to > Background. In the image below, I've imported a music file called Acoustic Mellow.mp3. The file comes with Captivate and can be used in your Captivate projects royalty-free.
 
 
In Camtasia, drag music media from the Media Bin or the Music Tracks folder in the Library to the Timeline. In the image below, I've added morningcafe to the Timeline. Because this asset ships with Camtasia, it's free to use just like the assets that come with Captivate.
 
 
While the process of adding background music to projects is simple, there are two bigger questions that need to be asked. First, is it a best eLearning practice to include background audio? Second, does it break copyright law to add the music without permission from the copyright holder?
 
Is It a Best Practice to Add Background Music to eLearning?
 
Ask 20 eLearning developers if it's cool to add background music to eLearning and you can expect 20 wildly different opinions. From my perspective, background music can be as polarizing as politics or religion. Case in point: everyone knows that Led Zeppelin rules and the rest are fools. Forget that… let's go with Justin Bieber! How about a bit of jazz music to get you in the mood to learn… or to put you to sleep? Country? Punk? Soft Rock? The bottom line is that the background music you choose is going to make you happy, but bum out at least 50% of your audience. My advice is not to do it.
 
Copyright Law as it Relates to Using Music in eLearning
 
So you ignored my advice above and you're going to do it. Fine! But is it legal? In the two examples above, the background music was included with the eLearning development tool so you're allowed to use it. But what about Bieber's greatest hits? Can you use his music in your projects? What about that cool melody you found via a Google search?
 
I'm not a copyright lawyer (and I don't play one on TV), however, I have had more than one copyright lawyer in my Captivate, Storyline, and Camtasia classes over the years who have agreed that it is "perfectly fine to use copyrighted music in your projects, provided the lesson you create is meant for educational purposes and that you do not use more than 10% of the copyrighted works or 30 seconds, whichever comes first."
 
Cool, go forth and add that music to your projects!!!
 
Not so fast! Did I mention that I'm not a lawyer? And did I also mention that more than one lawyer/student in my classes has said that the statement above is correct? And that I've also had students/lawyers in class who have said that it is never okay to use copyrighted works without permission?
 
So there you have it… it's okay to use copyrighted music in your lessons; it's not okay to use copyrighted music in your lessons.
 
So here's another personal recommendation that you're probably going to ignore (you ignored me when it came to The Biebs, didn't you?). My personal opinion when it comes to adding copyrighted music to eLearning is don't do it, unless you have written permission from the copyright holder to do so.
 
Having said that, I thought you might like to learn a bit more about copyright from two sources.
 
Source 1: Copyright Law According to the US Copyright Office
 
The US Copyright Office says the following about copyright: "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship," including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works."
 
That seems straightforward enough, until you get to this blurb, also provided by the US Copyright Office: "It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope. Sections 107 through 121 of the 1976 Copyright Act establish limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of "fair use," which is given a statutory basis in section 107 of the 1976 Copyright Act."
 
If you review section 107 via the link above, this passage jumps out (and is the most important if you are creating eLearning for training purposes: "the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright."
 
Hmmm, when I see the word "teaching" above, it leads me to believe it's okay to use music in my eLearning projects because I'm using my lessons to teach a concept. Right? Or does the word "teaching" refer to teaching the music in question (for music teachers only)?
 
At this point, if I've learned anything about the copyright laws, I've learned that attempting to interpret the language can be an exercise in futility! While that explains why lawyers make the big bucks, it doesn't explain why lawyers often provide different interpretations of the law. Shouldn't this stuff be black and white?
 
Perhaps the next source will help set things straight.
 
Source 2: Music Copyright Myths
 
Note: The following article was originally published at www.premiumbeat.com, a leading Royalty Free Music Library.
 
Ever downloaded music from the Internet? Perhaps you wanted to use it in the classroom, or needed it for your website, or to add to a flash movie, or maybe to jazz up a multimedia project… Whatever the end use, more and more of us are frequently turning to the Internet as our one-stop resource for digital music because we know that it is a fast and easy way to get just what we are looking for! Unfortunately, what many of us don't know is that it may not be legal to do so. Downloading music files for free from the Internet and using them like they belonged to you means that not only are you infringing upon the copyright, but you are also risking being fined and even being legally prosecuted.
 
The law does not recognize if you are unaware of copyright laws. So, don't put yourself in an illegal situation when it is so easy and affordable to use Royalty Free Music from music production libraries such as http://www.premiumbeat.com. And don't base your online actions on hearsay. 
 
This article attempts to bust some common myths that abound in the virtual world and put you on the right side of the law.
 
Myth 1: It is legal to use any music for 7 seconds
 
Fact: No. Unlawful use of even a short excerpt from a song is enough to land you in a copyright infringement case. Don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise, unless he is a copyright attorney! Remember, there is nothing like free to use music… not for 30 seconds, not for 7 seconds, not even for the first eight bars! You need a license to use music without landing into trouble.
 
Myth 2: I bought a music CD, I can use the music on my website since I paid for it.
 
Fact: Wrong. You bought the CD… not the music! Buying a legitimate CD gives you the right to play the music privately. You definitely need permission from the composer of the music as well as the sound recording company to use the music on the CD as background music for your website.
 
Myth 3: The composer is dead- his music is no longer under copyright.
 
Fact: Untrue. The copyright for a music composition lasts for approximately 70 years from the death of the composer. It does not automatically expire with its creator. And even if the composer has been dead for a long time (like Mozart for example) you still don't have the right to use someone's interpretation of their music without a license.
 
Myth 4: It's for a non-profit organization, so I can use any music I want for free.
 
Fact: False. Your project (website, presentation, video… anything) may be non-profit, but when it becomes available to other people, you are allowing them to hear music they didn't purchase. That is a breach of the copyright law, no matter if you are making money on the project or not.
 
Myth 5: I can use this music for free because I found it on the Internet.
 
Fact: Absolutely not. All music found on the Internet is under copyright. If you reproduce, perform, or distribute musical compositions and sound recordings without the requisite licensing, you are violating copyright law.
 
Myth 6: I can use music because the website did not carry a copyright notice.
 
Fact: Beginning March 1, 1989, it was no longer mandatory to display the copyright notice to protect one's intellectual property, in this case, music.
 
And if you are still not convinced, consider this: Would you pick up produce from a farm and walk away without leaving money for what you took? Most certainly not! You wouldn't deprive a hard working farmer from his rightful income. Likewise, if you violate copyright law, you deprive a composer of the royalties derived from the purchase of their work. Think about it! 
 
Conclusion: I think the US Copyright Office sums it up best when it comes to using copyrighted music in your eLearning: "For further information about the limitations of any of these rights, consult the copyright law or write to the Copyright Office."
 
That's great advice (the write to the Copyright Office part). If you'd like to contact the Copyright Office, their phone number is 202.707.3000.
 
Here is the address: 

U.S. Copyright Office
101 Independence Ave. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

Finally, here is their website: http://www.copyright.gov/.
 
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Looking for eLearning training? Check out these live, online classes.
 
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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.
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eLEARNING DEVELOPMENT: Audio, Text, or Both?

by Kelly Barett, COTP

Over the years, I’ve taken a lot of eLearning courses; and at this point, I’ve seen it all. Some of the courses I’ve taken were clearly PowerPoint presentations and designed to be eLearning. The "courses" were usually  text-heavy affairs and visually boring. There was usually so much information on the slides that it was nearly impossible to retain anything. 

I’ve seen courses that included page numbers. Once I see a slide that says I’m on slide 1 of 80, I tend to immediately shut down. 

If the course is boring or too long, I admit that I tend to skim through the presentation or simply click the Next Page button until I get credit for the course. Did I learn anything from most of these courses? Nope. 

I’ve also seen eLearning courses developed with rapid development tools like Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline. Instead of a bunch of bulleted text, the slides contain text captions that pop up and then disappear after a few seconds. But what if I’m not a fast reader? After the text disappeared, it was replaced with a new one. And now I’m in a panic trying to find a pause or rewind button.

And I’ve seen courses that included voiceover narration but little (or no) text on the screen… just some very dated clipart.

When it comes to effective eLearning, should there be more text on the screen? Should there be less text but more images? Should there be voiceover audio combined with text and images? What should I do with my eLearning courses to ensure most of my learners actually learn?

According to Dr. Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer, the Modality Principle dictates that people learn best via narrated text instead of visual text alone. 

I’ve heard more than once that people are either visual or auditory learners. However, a study published in the Psychological Science in the Public Interest indicates that there is no evidence or scientific validity to support this commonly-accepted theory. In fact, the study says that most people learn best with a combination of audio and visual.

Why Developers Don’t Record Their Own Audio

If you agree that combining voiceover audio, text, and images leads to the most effective eLearning, why is it that people don’t include voiceover audio? These days, all the eLearning tools allow you to record and edit your own audio. And if you find that your eLearning tool does not have the audio editing power you need, there are dedicated audio editing tools like Adobe Audition. 

So why aren’t people recording their own audio? Simply put, many people don’t like the sound of their own voice.

Have you ever listened to a recording of yourself and thought, "that’s not me!"? There are many reasons for that, but mainly when you hear your own voice, you are hearing it from your vocal chords through the bones in your skull and then to your eardrums. However, when you hear others speak, there’s a direct sound wave straight from the speaker to your ear.

Another hurdle is people don’t know what audio equipment to buy or are unfamiliar with recording narration. Maybe they are intimidated by the complexity of editing their recordings. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.

Recording and editing audio is not as difficult as it may seem. Especially when you have the right tools, which includes the following:

  • USB Condenser Microphone. I don't recommend that you use your headset microphone!
  • Pop-Filter. Required so you don’t blow your listener’s ears out with your plosive “p” and “t.”
  • Sound Shield. Helps reduce or eliminate ambient sounds or echo.
  • Headphones. Allows you to hear more accurately what your listeners will be hearing.
  • Software. Adobe Audition CC is my tool of choice.

If you’d like to know specifics and learn some basics of using Adobe Audition for recording and editing your audio files so they sound as crisp and clean as possible, then I invite you to register for one of my upcoming audio mini courses where I'll demonstrate some basic voiceover techniques and offer suggestions on the ideal audio equipment to use for recording. I'll also offer some basic audio editing techniques in Adobe Audition that can help eliminate background noises like laptop fans, air conditioners, or other ambient noises.

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Kelly Barrett, COTP, is a veteran trainer and conference speaker. He is the founder and creator of Self-Help Online Tutorials (SHOTs), narrated microlearning videos. Kelly earned his BA in Electronic Media in 2003 where he first learned how to record and edit radio commercials and voice overs with Cool Edit Pro (later acquired by Adobe and renamed to Adobe Audition).

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ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2017: Wrapping Fluid Boxes

by Kevin Siegel, COTP, CTT

Fluid Boxes, introduced with Adobe Captivate 2017, make the process of creating a responsive eLearning project faster than ever.

I introduced you to Fluid Boxes a few weeks ago.  If you've spent any time playing them I think you'll agree that they're pretty, well for lack of a better word, fluid.

However, if the amount of email I've received recently is any indication, I'm betting you're struggling a bit with how to control the way content flows (wraps) in a Fluid Box when learners either resize their browser windows or access your content on different screen sizes. Let's see if I can make sense of the Wrap features you'll find when working with Fluid Boxes.

To begin, create a new Responsive project (it has to be Responsive because standard projects do not support Fluid Boxes).

Insert a new, blank slide into the project. Then, insert a two row Fluid Box with two rows (click the Fluid Box tool and choose Vertical > 2).

 

Select the second Fluid Box and draw four shapes. Do the same thing in the third Fluid Box. Then, beginning with the number 1, type a number into each box. In the end, you should have 8 shapes (from 1-8, similar to the image below).


Use the Preview tool to preview from your current slide. At first, you'll see that the shapes appear in the web browser exactly as you created them within each Fluid Box.


However, as you drag the size slider (at the top of the page) to simulate a smaller and smaller window, the shapes might not wrap within each Fluid Box as you'd like. For example, in the image below, I'm not happy with how two of my shapes ended up on a line all by themselves.


Back on the slide, use the Fluid Box Selector to select the Fluid Box containing the first four shapes. (Selecting a child Fluid Box can be a challenge. If you don't see the Fluid Box Selector on the Properties Inspector, on the slide click in a corner of any Fluid Box and see if that makes the Fluid Box Selector visible.)


From the Wrap area of the Properties Inspector, choose Squeeze in a column. Do the same thing to the second child Fluid Box.


If you preview now and resize the browser window, the Fluid Box shapes will get squeezed together within each box (none of the shapes will wrap to the next line).


It's certainly possible that you do want the shapes to wrap to the next line, but you’d like to ensure that no single shape is on a line by itself. No problem. From the Wrap area of the Properties Inspector, choose Symmetrical. Do the same thing to the other Fluid Boxes.


Preview again or drag the Preview Slider (shown in the upper right of the image below) to change the onscreen size and notice this time that the shapes wrap, but in even groups.

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If you're looking to learn Adobe Captivate, we've got you covered. Check out these live, online, and 100% interactive Captivate classes.

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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.
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eLearning Development: Hide desktop icons while recording software simulations

When recording software simulations or video demos using Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, or TechSmith Camtasia, you might need to record something that includes your desktop. Of course, that begs the question: how cluttered is your desktop?

Does the image below remind you of a desktop of someone near and dear to your heart? 

Look, your desktop is your desktop, so clutter away. However, including the clutter–the icons–in your eLearning project is not a good idea. Besides being a security risk, nobody wants to see your desktop icons.
 
Fortunately, you don't have to clean up your desktop before recording your screen. All you need to do is right-click your desktop and choose View > Show desktop icons. 
 
 
If the icons were there, they are gone. If they were hidden, they're back.
 
Remember this little gem the next time you're getting ready to click the Record option on your eLearning tool of choice, and you'll save yourself a bunch of work de-cluttering.
 
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