TCS5 – Page 4 – The Logical Blog

August 5, 2014

Adobe Captivate 8: Custom Workspaces

by Kevin Siegel

From a new user perspective, one of the major complaints about Adobe Captivate has always been its cluttered user interface. There are so many panels and toolbars in Captivate (and most are open and visible when the program starts), some people feel that the program is more difficult to learn than other tools like Articulate Storyline and TechSmith Camtasia Studio.

People using Captivate versions 5, 6, and 7 have the ability to undock most of Captivate's panels and move them around the screen. Users can also save the location of the panels as custom workspaces (via Window > Workspaces > New Workspace).

While being able to customize Captivate's workspace is great, if you aren't careful things can quickly become a hot mess. I can't tell you how many emails I get from developers who can't find this panel or that. In almost every instance it turns out they either closed the panel by mistake, or moved it to a second display and forgot.

You can easily reset a Workspace (Window > Workspace > Reset) and get every panel back to its default location. However, many developers (even some with plenty of experience using the tool), don't know about resetting a Captivate workspace.

When Adobe released Adobe Captivate 8, the interface was totally overhauled–and simplified. To prevent new users from getting overwhelmed by Captivate's many toolbars and panels, toolbars have been consolidated and most of the panels are closed by default. To keep the interface from getting cluttered, it's now impossible to undock the panels. And, for the ultimate in interface simplification, you can no longer create a custom workspace.

The simpler interface is great for new users. But what about veteran developers who are upgrading from a legacy version of Captivate? As a long-time Captivate developer, I'll admit that I had a hard time navigating the new workspace. And I was upset with Adobe for taking away my ability to create a custom workspace. I understand that a simpler workspace is easier for new users… but I want complex. Give me back my workspaces!

If you're like me and you're missing the ability to customize your workspace, you'll be happy to learn that the option is still available… you'll just have to activate it.

In the image below, you can see Captivate's Workspace menu. There's really only one menu item: Reset 'Classic.' If you choose the Reset 'Classic' menu item, the Timeline and the Properties panel will hide (which is the default).

Adobe Captivate 8: Workspace menu before custom workspaces is enabled.

If you'd like to create your own workspace, open Captivate's Preferences dialog box (Windows users, choose Edit > Preferences; Mac users, choose Adobe Captivate > Preferences.) Select Enable custom workspaces/panel undocking.

Adobe Captivate 8: Enable custom workspaces.

Restart Captivate and you'll find that you can now undock Captivate's panels and move them around your display (just like legacy versions of the program). And if you choose the Window > Workspace menu item, you'll see that you also have the ability to create a New Workspace.

Adobe Captivate 8: Workspace menu after custom workspaces is enabled.

If you tire of your custom workspace you can, at any time, return to Captivate's 'Classic' workspace (which will always be available in the Workspace menu).

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

July 11, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Removing Popups from Video Demos

by Kevin Siegel

I'm continuing to enjoy developing eLearning using the new Adobe Captivate 8. And the more I use this updated version, the more I find subtle improvements and new features. Take video demos for instance. I use the video demo recording mode frequently (it's the mode I use for the videos I upload to YouTube).

While recording a recent video, I noticed a new tab on the Video Effects Inspector: Popup.

It just so happened that I had recorded a video and had inadvertently captured a yellow tooltip (shown in the image below). I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to test the Cleanup button on the Popup tab.

On the Timeline, I positioned the playhead at the part of the video where the popup first appeared.

On the Video Effects Inspector, I selected the Popup tab
and clicked the Cleanup button.

On the slide, I drew a rectangle around the popup.

Note: When you try this at home, don't worry if your rectangle doesn't completely cover the popup. If your rectangle is too large or small at first, you can resize it using the resizing handles at any time. You can also drag the rectangle via its borders to move it to a different location on the video.

Once I drew the popup area on the video, a Popup object was added to the Timeline. I stretched the right edge of the Popup object to the amount of time I wanted it to remain onscreen on the slide; then I clicked the word Cleanup on the video.

And just like that, the area within the popup rectangle I drew was removed from the video.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

July 2, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Record Simulations Using Smart Shapes Instead of Text Captions

by Kevin Siegel

Text Captions have been available in Adobe Captivate since before Captivate was Captivate (think RoboDemo). While there's nothing terribly wrong with Text Captions, you're a bit limited when it comes to editing the way they look.

Take the Text Caption shown below for example. The arrow in the upper left of the caption is known as a callout.

You can control a few attributes of the callout (you can use the Properties Inspector to select from a list of pre-determined positions and you can elect not to show the callout). But if you want to fully adjust the callout (perhaps move it a bit to the left or right, or make the callout a bit longer), you're out of luck.

Many Captivate developers, tired of the limitations of standard Text Captions, have forsaken Text Captions altogether for Smart Shapes. In the image below, I'm using a Rectangle Smart Shape. The shape looks much like a Standard Text Caption. I can control its appearance via Object Styles. However, check out how I am able to drag the shape's callout by dragging the yellow square. You can't do that with a Text Caption.

Adobe Captivate: The callout in a Smart Shape can easily be adjusted.

Because Text Captions are really bitmap images, I'm not able to fully control how the captions look unless I edit the bitmaps using an image editing program. With Smart Shapes, you can control just about every aspect of the way the shape looks by combining options found on the Properties Inspector with Object Styles.

While there is much to love about Smart Shapes, a perceived downside to Smart Shapes is that you can't use them to automatically get captions when recording a Software Simulation. You'll be happy to learn that you can, in fact, use Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions during the recording process.

Display Captivate's Preferences (Windows users, choose Edit > Preferences; Mac users, choose Adobe Captivate > Preferences). Choose a recording mode and, from the Captions area, select Use Smart Shapes instead of Captions.

Adobe Captivate: Use Smart Shapes instead of Captions.

At that point, you'll be able to select the Smart Shape Type you'd like to use during the recording process.

Click the OK button to close the Preferences dialog box and you're done. The next time you record a Software Simulation, the project will automatically contain Smart Shapes instead of Text Captions.

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe Captivate? Check out our live, online, instructor-led Captivate classes.

June 24, 2014

Adobe FrameMaker: On-Demand QR Codes

by Kevin Siegel

Unless you've been deliberately avoiding them, it's a good bet you've come across images similar to the one below.

QR Code leading to the IconLogic website.

The image is known as a QR code. As you can see, QR codes are images that are made up of black and white squares. They are typically used for storing URLs or other information and can be scanned by QR Readers. In fact, if you have a smart phone, it may already have a QR Scanner. If so, scan the image above with the QR Reader and you'll be taken to the IconLogic website.

There's plenty of software you can find on the Internet that will allow you to create your own QR codes (some are free; some will cost you a few bucks). However, if you own Adobe FrameMaker 12, you have that ability to create QR Codes right now.

Open or create a FrameMaker document and click where you want the QR code.
Choose Special > Generate QR Code to open the QR Code Builder.
In the File Name field, give the QR code a name (it will be saved as a PNG image) and specify a storage location.
From the Type drop-down menu, select the type of QR Code you'd like to create (you can select from SMS, URL, Phone, Email, and Text).
In the image below, I selected URL from the Type drop-down menu and then typed the IconLogic website URL.
The final step is to set the size of the URL from the Size drop-down menu. (You can select a size from the Image Dimensions drop-down menu or type your own value into the Image Dimensions field.)
Click the Insert button to insert the QR Code into the FrameMaker document.

And that's that. If you only wanted to use the QR Code in your FrameMaker document, you're done. However, if you want to use the QR Code in a different program, or include it in a newsletter like I did above, you'll find the QR Code image file in the folder you specified when you named the image (see step 3 above).

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Looking for instructor-led training on Adobe FrameMaker? Check out our live, online, instructor-led FrameMaker classes.

June 19, 2014

Microsoft PowerPoint: Measurement Unit Conversion in a Flash

by AJ Walther

Here's a quick tip you may not already know that could save you some serious time with unit conversion. By default, PowerPoint measures in inches. But, if you're using PowerPoint as a design tool you might wish to work in pixels or centimeters. It isn't rocket science to Google your way to proper unit conversion, but there's an easier and faster way right there in PowerPoint.

For example, let's resize a shape using pixel dimensions. We want our final shape size to be 600 pixels high and 800 pixels wide.

In PowerPoint, insert a rectangle (Insert > Illustrations > Shapes > Rectangle).
Right-click the rectangle and choose Size and Position. (The Format Shape dialog box will open with the Size category selected. Notice the Height and Width fields are pre-populated with the current size of the shape inches.)
Ensure Lock aspect ratio is deselected.
Highlight the measurement in the Height field and type 600px followed by the [tab] key. (The Height will automatically be converted to 6.25 inches.)
Highlight the measurement in Width field and type 800px followed by the [tab] key. (The Width will automatically be converted to 8.33 inches.)

The same method can be used for centimeters. In the Height and Width fields, type your desired size followed by cm and press the [tab] key. Presto! Automatic conversion to inches!

June 18, 2014

Adobe Captivate 8: More is More

by Kevin Siegel

Last week I told you about the great enhancements you'll see in Adobe Captivate 8 when it comes to image buttons. This week, I'm going to show you a few more improvements that I think you'll love.

Sample Projects/Tutorials

The first thing you'll see when you start Captivate is the Welcome screen. From this position, you can create a new project, record a software simulation/demonstration, or access recent projects. But take a look in the upper right of the Welcome screen and you'll see an awesome addition: Sample Projects/Tutorials (shown below, it's located in the upper right of the Welcome screen).

Granted, the icon to access the projects and tutorials is easy to miss; but once clicked, a dialog box opens and you'll have access to some really nice sample projects. The sample projects are shown first, followed by several tutorials.

Adobe Captivate: Sample projects and tutorials

If you have already opened or created a project, you will find a Sample Projects/Tutorials icon via the top of the Captivate window (to the right of the Help menu).

However, clicking the icon from here is different than clicking it on the Welcome screen. If you click the icon while in a project, you'll be taken online to Adobe KnowHow, where you'll find some free and pay-for-access training videos.

Characters and Agents

I love the Characters feature added to Captivate a few years ago, which allows you to insert images/guides within a project. And I was delighted to see that not only did Adobe keep Characters in Captivate 8, they've added quite a few. To add a Character, choose Media > Characters. Select a Category, select a character, and then double-click a pose to insert the character onto a slide.

Lastly, check out the Speech Agents (via Audio > Speech Management). Previous versions of Captivate included five Text to Speech Agents. You'll be happy to see that Captivate 8 bumps that number up to seven. New to the team are James and Yumi. I was particularly impressed with how good James sounded… a nice upgrade from Paul (sorry Paul). And Yumi covers you if you need audio for Korean eLearners.

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Looking for instructor-led training on the top eLearning tools? We offer live, online training on Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio. We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

June 6, 2014

Adobe RoboHelp: Show Variables in Topics

by Willam Van Weelden

In previous articles you've learned about RoboHelp's User Defined Variables (how to create them, group them, and use them in topic titles).

As a brief review, variables can contain information that occurs frequently in your project, such as a product name, company name, or copyright notice. After creating the variable, you can insert it into any RoboHelp topic or onto a template by simply dragging and dropping. Now here's the cool part. Assume your company name now appears throughout your project and now you want to change it. Without the variable, you would have to search your entire project and update the company name. Thanks to variables, all you will need to do is update the definition of the CompanyName variable, and you will change the displayed company name project-wide in just a few seconds.

One issue you'll come across when inserting variables within a topic is that, by default, the variable text looks like regular topic text. In the picture below, I challenge you to locate the variable.

Adobe RoboHelp: Find the variable text

Did you find the variable text? I'm betting that the answer is no. So what's the big deal? This can be particularly frustrating if you need to replace regular text with a variable. For example, you can highlight regular text in a topic and convert it to a variable by dragging the variable on top of the text. That's an awesome feature. Before I begin however, I need to be able to tell, at a glance, if the text I'm looking to replace is already a variable. As it stands, I have no idea since I cannot tell the difference between a variable and regular text.

Luckily, RoboHelp has a handy feature that allows you to distinguish between variables and regular text in topics. To enable this feature, simply choose View > Show > Fields.

Adobe RoboHelp: Color coding for Variable Text.

Voila. All variables in topics are now shown as green text. Best of all, variables only show up green in your project… when you generate a layout, the green color will not be visible to your users.

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Looking for instructor-led training on RoboHelp? We offer live, online training once each month. We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

June 5, 2014

Adobe Captivate 8: Responsive Projects for mLearning

by Kevin Siegel

Creating eLearning for mobile devices was high on the wish list a few years ago when Adobe asked users for the top features they'd like to see added to Adobe Captivate. It wasn't long before Adobe responded by adding HTML5 as a publishing option. HTML5 allowed developers to create interactive content that can be used by mobile learners who have a device that does not support Flash.

Publishing HTML5 solved the issue of creating interactive eLearning on the iPad. But there remained another problem. The size of the screen that learners use can vary widely. Your eLearning lesson might look perfect on a desktop system but might be too small when viewed on a small device (such as a smart phone). To accommodate the many screen sizes, your only recourse was to develop several Captivate projects, sized specifically to work on each screen size. Of course that also meant that you'd have to edit and update several projects. No thanks!

Adobe Captivate 8 now allows you to create responsive projects. During the development process, you can basically create and work on multiple screen sizes (called break points) in one project. When you publish the responsive project, the learner will automatically be served the break point appropriate for the device they're using. This one Captivate 8 feature is the main, compelling reason that upgrading to Captivate 8 isn't just something to consider… it's mandatory if your mission is to create eLearning for desktop and mobile users.

To create a responsive project, double-click Responsive Project on the Welcome screen or choose File > New > Responsive Project.

Developing a responsive project is pretty much the same as developing a standard project, but there's one notable difference–breakpoints. By default, new projects contain three breakpoints for the most common screen sizes (for desktop users, tablet users, and smart phone users). You can click each of the breakpoints to see how the layout changes dependent upon the size of the canvas.

In the images below, I've selected each of the default break points I was given in my new project (you can create as many break points as you need and edit existing break points at any time).

Adobe Captivate: Breakpoint for a desktop user.

Adobe Captivate: Breakpoint for a tablet user.

Adobe Captivate: Layout for a smart phone

In the images below, you can see a responsive project developed by Anita Horsley, and how she designed each canvas to work best with each of her break points. (As you review each image, pay particular attention to the position of the character as each break point is selected.)

Desktop user: 1024 pixels wide.

Tablet user: 768 pixels wide.

Mobile user: 360 pixels

Once you're done laying out each canvas, all you need to do is publish and post the lesson to a web server or LMS just like always. When the lesson is accessed by your learner, the lesson will automatically detect the learner's screen size and the correct canvas will be displayed. Awesome!

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Want to learn more about creating responsive projects? Join our3-hour mini course on creating Responsive Layouts with Adobe Captivate.

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May 21, 2014

Adobe Captivate: Kill the Click Sounds

by Kevin Siegel

I received an email from a new Captivate developer who was having a hate-hate relationship with the click sounds he was hearing in his Adobe Captivate demonstrations and simulations. He told me that in his demonstrations, the mouse was making an obnoxious click sound when a click occurred. In his simulations, the same click sound was heard every time the learner clicked a click box.

The developer was desperate to disable the mouse-click sounds in his projects but was unable to find the option in Captivate's Preferences. While looking in Captivate's Preferences seems like a logical place to look for the click sound option, it's not there. Nevertheless, the solution is very simple. Here's how you disable the click sounds for the mouse, click boxes, and buttons.

To disable the mouse click sound in a software demonstration, select the mouse pointer on any slide. On the Properties panel,Options group, deselect Mouse Click Sound.

Adobe Captivate: Turn Off Mouse Click Sound

To remove the click sound from every mouse pointer in the project, click the drop-down menu in the upper right of the Options group and choose Apply to all items of this type.

Adobe Captivate: Apply to all items of this type.

If you've created a software simulation with click boxes, you can easily get rid of the click sound for a single click box, or all of the click boxes in the project. First, select a click box on any slide. Then, on the Properties panel, Options group, select Disable click sound.

If you'd like this change to affect every click box in the project, click the drop-down menu in the upper right of the Options group and choose Apply to all items of this type.

Adobe Captivate: Apply to all items of this type.

If you'd like to see a demonstration showing how to remove the mouse click sound from interactive objects and the mouse, check out the video I created on IconLogic's YouTube channel.

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May 15, 2014

Localization: Training and Development in Ecuador

by Jen Weaver

¡Hola! Let's journey down to South America and explore some common cultural facts about Ecuadorians and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Test Your Knowledge of Ecuadorian Culture:

True or False. Ecuador is South America's second largest producer of oil.
What is the official language of Ecuador?
What currency is used in Ecuador?

Tips for Training & Development in Ecuador¹

Don't discuss other Spanish-speaking countries with Ecuadorians. Ecuador lost half its land to Peru in 1941 in an invasion supported by the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. Ecuador was previously conquered by Spain and has also faced many border disputes with Colombia. Similarly, be careful not to exhibit a sense of American superiority, as many Ecuadorians are sensitive to this attitude.
Ecuadorians tend to make decisions on a case-by-case basis rather than using universal laws or standards to guide behavior. Accordingly, an individual's faith or personal feelings may be viewed as "truth" independent of facts or data. Research alone will not gain buy-in from Ecuadorian learners; you must engage them on an ideological or emotional level.
Family gives Ecuadorians a sense of stability, but personal achievement and individual status are more important than the success of a group as a whole.
Despite government efforts to promote punctuality, most Ecuadorians view arriving 15 to 20 minutes late as still being on time. As a foreigner, you are expected to be prompt to all business meetings.
At the executive level, many business professionals arrive at the office after 9:00 a.m. Keep this in mind and avoid scheduling meetings or classes before 10:00 a.m., if possible.
Address Ecuadorian contacts by their professional title or formal name until invited to do otherwise.
Ecuadorian time is the same as Eastern Standard Time, so if you're traveling there from the United States, you may be tempted to schedule meetings the same day that you arrive. However, allow yourself at least a day to acclimate if training on location in Quito–not for the time difference but for the high altitude.

Trivia Answers:

True.
Spanish. English is commonly used in business settings, plus there are many indigenous languages still used by the Amerindian population. Be sure to clarify the language needs of your audience before finalizing training materials.
The United States Dollar.

References:

¹Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.

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Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.