Technical Communications – Page 14

December 4, 2013

Adobe Captivate 7.01: A True Star

by Kevin Siegel

Smart Shapes were introduced with Adobe Captivate 6. At that time, one of the most often-requested shapes that needed to be added was a Star shape.

When Adobe Captivate 7 was introduced, many developers were disappointed that there still wasn't a Star Smart Shape. Oh the heart-ache… oh the drama. Well, you'll be happy to learn that the drama and the heart-ache are over… and you didn't have to wait for Captivate 8.

Adobe recently released a service patch for Captivate 7 (to 7.01). Last week I wrote about the enhanced lock feature found in the patch. This week, let's explore the Star Smart Shape.

To add a Star, choose Insert > Standard Objects > Smart Shape. The Smart Shapes window will open and you'll find the Star grouped with the Basic shapes (shown in the image below).

Once you've drawn the Star, you can use the Properties panel to change the look of the Star, just like any other slide object. In particular, you'll find a Spikes area on the Fill & Stroke group (shown in the image below) allowing you to change the number of points contained within the Star.

And as with all Smart Shapes, always look for the yellow box (shown at the top of the Star in the image below). Dragging the yellow box further modifies the look and feel of the shape.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how the new Star Smart Shape works in Adobe Captivate 7.01, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

November 26, 2013

Adobe Captivate 7.01: Twice the Locking Power

by Kevin Siegel

Adobe recently announced a patch for Adobe Captivate 7. The patch offers support for the new Macintosh and Windows operating systems and fixes several bugs. As patches go, bug fixes and expanded support for operating systems is typical fare. However, if you've spent the few minutes that it takes to install the free upgrade, you might have missed some enhancements that are a pleasant surprise (and above and beyond what one might expect to find in a simple patch).

For instance, the ability to lock slide objects has been around for years. All you needed to do was select a slide object and, on the Timeline, click the white dot in the lock column. In the image below, I've added a Text Caption to a slide. The white dot indicates that the object is not locked. I can drag the unlocked object around the slide, resize it, and use any of the groups on the Properties panel.

Adobe Captivate: Object Lock Tool

Prior to the patch for Captivate 7, clicking the white dot simply locked the object and the white dot changed into a lock icon (shown in the image below). While locked, you couldn't move or resize the object nor change any of the object's Properties without first unlocking the object.

Adobe Captivate: Object locked

After installing the Captivate 7.01 patch, there are now two lock modes: fully locked and semi-locked. After an initial click on the white dot, the lock icon is noticeably different from what was seen in older versions of Captivate. In the image below, notice that instead of the standard lock icon that was shown in the image above, the lock icon now includes arrows.

Adobe Captivate: Object semi locked.

The arrows not only appear on the lock icon on the Timeline; the locked object on the slide also displays the semi-locked icon (shown below).

When an object is semi-locked, you cannot change its size or slide position. However, you can make other changes to the object. For instance, in the image below, notice that while the Transform group options aren't available, the options in the General group (Caption and Callout) are both available. In addition to the General group, all of the remaining groups remain available with a semi-locked object.

Adobe Captivate: Properties panel showing semi-locked options.

If you'd like to fully lock an object (just like in the old days), it's a simple matter of clicking the white dot on the Timeline a second time (the first click semi-locks the object; a second click fully locks the object).

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how the new lock feature works in Adobe Captivate 7.01, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

November 24, 2013

Technical Communications: Writer Challenges in Agile and Traditional Development Teams, Part II

by Alyssa Fox

Last week I introduced you to agile, an increasingly popular development method primarily used by software companies. This week I'm going to cover how agile helps you get more thorough and timely reviews of your documentation from the team.

Getting Helpful Documentation Reviews

Whether you are in a traditional or agile development environment, getting valuable, informative edits on documentation you send out for review can be like pulling teeth. Some reviewers give the documentation a cursory glance and declare it "okay" with no helpful comments. Others fail to follow the steps as listed in the documentation when testing procedures and have no way to ensure the writer captured everything accurately.

When the Information Development team in my organization used the waterfall process, we used a review cycle that included three drafts of each book: a first draft, an approval draft, and a quality edit draft. The first draft and quality edit draft were internal to our Information Development (ID) department. All of these drafts happened toward the end of a software release cycle and were not reviewed by anyone outside the ID team until the project was feature complete and all features were documented in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, the time when we sent out our approval draft for review by other functional areas often coincided with their busiest times of the release cycle–testing the product and fixing bugs. Because of this poor timing for the documentation review, we often got only superficial edits, or no comments at all, which didn't help us improve the documentation quality.

In agile development, we now write documentation for a feature in the sprint (time-limited development cycle) in which it is developed and tested. For additional information about agile concepts, see Fiona Hanington's article, Can I Be an Agile Technical Communicator When My Team Is Not?.

On more mature products, we no longer send out the entire book as a first draft for ID review. Each time a feature is documented, that documentation must be reviewed by the ID lead/manager and by QE for technical accuracy before the team can close the user story. This idea is similar to a daily in filmmaking–use it to do a quick gut check to see if everything looks okay or if something needs to be redone. We still send out approval drafts for some projects; but for most reviewers, at that point it is simply a director's cut or a chance for them to see the book in its entirety.

Next time, we'll wrap up with how agile helps spread writers' workloads throughout the release cycle.

Note: This article was originally published earlier this year on the TechWhirl website.

November 20, 2013

Writing & Grammar: “There is” Versus “There are” and “A Number Of”

by Jennie Ruby

Starting your sentence with one of these "false subjects" may not always be the best choice (as I discussed last time in my article Talk About People), but when you do start a sentence with the word there, you'll want to use correct verb agreement.

Consider this sentence I found on the Internet (yes, identity masked to protect the innocent):

While there is a large number of Content Management Systems (CMS) to choose from, few CMS platforms are more popular and more widely used than [system A and system B].

To fix the grammar of this sentence, we'll have to use two different concepts. The first is how to identify the true subject for which the false subject is a stand-in. The second is deciding whether to use a plural or singular verb with the expression a number of.

When you start a sentence with there, the true subject will be after the verb, like this:

There is one cat under the couch.

The true subject is one cat. If we removed the word there, we would use one cat as the subject of the sentence:

One cat is under the couch.

Compare that sentence with this one:

There are two cats under the couch.

Here are some more examples:

There are four good reasons to use System A.

There is only one way to delete the system file.

Now let's add a more complicated true subject:

There is none of this confusion when you start by learning the basics.

There are plenty of reasons for using system B, also.

Finally, let's look at the phrase a number of. The Gregg Reference Manual, an excellent grammar reference book, tells us that the phrase a number of is plural. In contrast, the number of is singular.

So in our original sentence from the Internet, the true subject,a large number of Content Management Systems is plural. The corrected sentence would read:

While there are a large number of Content Management Systems (CMS) to choose from, few CMS platforms are more popular and more widely used than [system A and system B].

I'll save a discussion of not defining an acronym in the plural for another day.

Challenge

Choose the correct verb agreement in these sentences starting with there.

There is/are two dialog boxes and three messages yet to get through.
There is/are some plants on the balcony that need to be brought in before the frost.
There has to be/have to be compelling reasons for omitting the planning stage.
There has been/have been such a ruckus about the new upgrade schedule that some developers have turned elsewhere.
There was/were a number of professional trainers involved in the program's development.

Feel free to send your post your answers below as comments.

November 19, 2013

Adobe RoboHelp: Using Images in Variables

by Willam Van Weelden

Variable sets, which I've written about previously, allow you to define groups of definitions for a variable which allows you to easily support differently branded products from a single RoboHelp project. This week I want to show you another cool variables feature: images.

You can easily reuse images in multiple RoboHelp topics. Since the images that appear in the topics are linked externally to the original image, when you edit the original image, all of the RoboHelp topics are updated automatically. One drawback to this global update is that it only works if you use the same image in all of the generated layouts.

You can make your life even easier by adding images to variables. Take a logo for example. Many customers require that their software is personalized. For example, the application must use the client's brand colors and logo. By adding a logo to a variable and using variable sets, you can easily change the branding used in your Help content.

Add an Image to a Variable

Open the User Defined Variables pod. (View > Pods > User Defined Variables).
Select a variable (in the image below, I've selected a variable that I created called Logo).
Choose Insert > Image.
Select an image and then click OK.

The image is added to the variable. At this point, you can use the variable within any topic, just like a typical variable.

Adobe RoboHelp: Image added to a variable

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

November 17, 2013

Technical Communications: Writer Challenges in Agile and Traditional Development Teams

by Alyssa Fox

Technical communicators have historically faced several challenges when working on development teams. From not receiving the information needed to do their jobs, to ensuring their work estimates are included in the overall team's estimates, to showing their value to stakeholders, writers on project teams can feel like they are facing an uphill battle to create good documentation. A number of factors can influence how these challenges manifest during product development, including organizational culture and various business needs, and the agile development approach can help.

Agile is an increasingly popular development method primarily used by software companies. Its iterative nature and focus on the self-directed team support writers in recognizing and learning to rise to the challenges common to most development teams.

This three-part series discusses those challenges, and shows why agile can be the better approach for technical communicators.

Being an Equal Part of the Team

Most technical writers with more than a few years' experience under their belts can empathize with the struggle to be included as an equal member of the project team. The business case for this model is simple and common sense: Being treated as a vital part of the team leads to increased communication with other team members, inclusion in essential meetings, and improved product knowledge-all of which contribute to better, more effective documentation and user support.

Regardless of the type of development environment you are in, to be an equal player, the onus is on you. Take the initiative: speak up in meetings, request invitations to those meetings, and offer feedback. In other words, get involved in all aspects of the product development. This level of involvement tunes you into the project from the beginning, with obvious benefits: knowing the requirements, design, and thought process behind the design of the software. Ask lots of questions–lots and lots of questions–but make them count. If you hear something in a design meeting that doesn't make sense to you, or you think there's a better approach, say so. Don't be intimidated by the fact that you're not a developer–chances are the product manager and the marketing team know less about code than you do.

Remember, it's the technical communicator's job to look at the product from the user perspective. If you find a user interface is difficult or confusing, so will users. You have an obligation to provide that feedback to the developer who's coding it.

To be an equal partner on the engineering team, you must own the work with the same level of commitment as developers, analysts, or testers. Claim ownership of the technical accuracy of the documentation you write. Don't write just what the developers tell you to write or assume something works a certain way. Work with the builds, ask questions, and gain your own understanding of how the product works. That means speaking up to get access and then maintaining whatever virtual machines or environments you need so you can quickly and easily access the product. If you demonstrate a solid understanding of the product, the team trusts you more when you point out a technical or usability problem and make a suggestion for change.

Agile development focuses heavily on communication. The feature requirements, use cases, and test plans of a waterfall environment translate to user stories, acceptance criteria, and acceptance tests in an agile world. An agile process uses significantly less project documentation, with the idea that the communication going on among the team members is enhanced through several different types of meetings. While the number of meetings might seem overwhelming at first, it quickly becomes apparent how crucial they are for open discussion about the user stories and planning items the team is working on. Become more visible by participating in these meetings and you'll gain both the trust of your team members and more product knowledge. That product knowledge directly feeds in to you producing higher-quality content that provides information that users really want.

Next time, we'll discuss how agile helps you get more thorough and timely reviews of your documentation from the team.

Note: This article was originally published earlier this year on the TechWhirl site.

November 13, 2013

Localization: Training & Development in Belgium

by Jen Weaver

Did you know that Belgium is the European country with the most complex language legislation? But what does complex language legislation mean, and how does it impact training and development?

Belgium is comprised of four linguistic regions but only has three national languages (the Brussels-Capital region is bilingual). Legislation exists to protect individuals in the linguistic minority in each region–laws that may mandate the translation of your training materials, handbooks, and eLearning lessons.

Test your Knowledge of Belgian Culture:

True or False? While English is the language of choice for politicians, it's not one of Belgium's official languages.
Belgium is a:

Democratic Union
Republic
Kingdom

True or False? Given the diversity of the Belgian population, very little ethnic bias is evident in their culture.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Belgium¹:

When seeking to do business in Europe, Belgium is a frequent test market as they provide an accurate representation of the age, income, and education of the average European Union Member. They also represent a smaller audience to test receptivity to your product and message.
Most Belgians are Roman Catholic. Religious ideals and absolutes play into everyday decision making.
Belgians are highly risk-adverse. Some attribute this to German invasions in the country's history. This lends to rigidity, a high value of structure and stability, and an emphasis on mutual trust. Keep this in mind when crafting your training materials and build rapport early on through consistency and a clearly communicated plan.
Month-long vacations are common and may interrupt ongoing training classes or meetings.
Use high-end graphics in your handbooks and presentations as Belgians appreciate visual examples.
As there are three distinct linguistic groups in Belgium, be mindful of your audience and their unique customs. If you're unsure of what language is best to use, speak English and never discuss a preference towards French, German, or Dutch in particular. Language plays a large role in establishing relationships, so take care to determine if you can meet the linguistic needs of the entire population.
There are several American gestures or postures that hold different meanings in Belgium:
- Standing with your hands in your pockets is offensive.
- The okay sign means zero.
- Pointing with your index finger is rude so be sure to gesture with your full hand.

Knowledge Answers from Above:

True. Belgium's official languages are French, Dutch, and German and the prevailing language will differ per region. While English is widely used, it is not one of the official languages.
Belgium is a Kingdom, a constitutional monarchy where the King is Chief of State.
False. Class distinctions are prevalent and many individuals still hold ethnic bias.

References:

¹Morrison, Terri, and Wayne A. Conaway, Kiss, Bow, Or Shake Hands, 2nd ed. (Avon: Adams Media, 2006).

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Developing training & development materials for in-country use? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

November 12, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Copying Library Assets from One Library to Another

by Kevin Siegel

I was recently working on a new Captivate project and needed to grab several assets that had been used in an older project. Some of the assets were audio files; others were images. I could have inserted each of the assets into the new project manually (I knew where the original assets were located on my server). I could have also opened the project containing the assets and copied/pasted assets from one project to another. While both of these techniques are fine, I found it easier and faster to utilize the Libraries of both projects. Simply put, I copied the assets I needed from the original project's library into my new project's Library. Here's how:

With the new project open, display the Library (Window menu). Then click the Open Library tool (located near the top of the Library).

When the Open dialog box appears, open the project that contains the Library you need. In the image below, I've positioned the two Libraries side-by-side. The Library at the left contains the assets I needed. The Library at the right is the empty Library in my new project.

Grabbing assets from one Library for use in another project at this point is as simple as selecting, dragging, and dropping. In the image below, I grabbed two files from the Audio folder of the original project and dragged them into the Library in my new project. And… done.

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how to copy assets from one project library into another, check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

November 6, 2013

Adobe FrameMaker: Nested Lists

by Barb Binder

A recent FrameMaker student contacted me with a numbering dilemma:

I am working with a two-level list. The first level uses numbers and the second list uses letters. The numbers start out correctly, as do the letters; but when I go back to numbers, things get wacky. What is going on? Here's what my list looks like:

The obvious problem is that the numbers are increasing incorrectly, but why? The numbered list is picking up from where the lettered list left off. The letter "e" is the fifth letter of the alphabet. When FrameMaker sees the <n+> in the next paragraph, it adds one to the counter value and displays a 6.

The trick is to look at the numbers as columns. I'll sketch them out on paper. This one is fairly straightforward and just needs two columns of building blocks along with the series label. Here's how numbering properties should look for each of these paragraph formats:

Adobe FrameMaker: Sketch out your lists.

Series Label. The series label tells FrameMaker that these two paragraph formats are part of the same numbering series. While I used S for a series of steps, any uppercase letter will work as a Series Label.

List 123. The <n+>. building block in the first column will add one to the current counter and display the result as a number followed by a period. The < =0> building block resets the second column counter back to 0 for each new sub-list, but the space says not to show the 0.

Adobe FrameMaker: List 123

List abc. The < > holds the counter value in the first column (it won't increment), but the space says not to display the value. The <a+>. in the second column adds one to the current counter value (which was reset to 0 in the previous paragraph) and displays the result as a letter.

Adobe FrameMaker: List ABC

The result?

Adobe FrameMaker: Nest list working correctly.

Note: Setting up just these two tags assumes you are using another paragraph to restart the numeric counter. For more information on restarting lists, see "Adobe FrameMaker: How to Restart a Numbered List."

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Looking to learn FrameMaker? We offer both beginner and advanced FrameMaker training.

November 5, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Master Slide Placeholder Objects

by Kevin Siegel

When you insert a Standard Object onto a master slide and then apply the master slide to a Filmstrip slide, the Standard Object on the master slide appears on the Filmstrip slide(s). You can see the Standard Object, but you can't select it or edit it. In my Captivate classes, I describe the relationship between objects placed on a master slide and a Filmstrip slide this way: it's as if a piece of plexiglass has been dropped on top of the Filmstrip slide that protects the master slide objects. You can click on the object on the Filmstrip slide, but you can't pass through the plexiglass and select the object.

If you want to move, delete, or otherwise edit an object that has been placed on a master slide, you have to edit the master slide. Once you have edited an object that is on a master slide, the change instantly affects every Filmstrip slide that is using the edited master slide.

The problem with adding objects to a master slide is that pesky plexiglass effect. What if you need to design a master slide for a fellow developer that includes a placeholder for an image? If developers use your master slide, they'll be able to see the placeholder, but they won't be able to select it and replace it with an actual image. Without the ability to select placeholder objects, there's really no value in the placeholder.

But wait… there is actually a placeholder feature in Captivate that you've likely missed. If you're working on a master slide and visit the Insert menu, you'll see a Placeholder Objects menu item. (Many folks miss the Placeholder Objects menu item because it is only visible when you're actively working on a master slide.)

Adobe Captivate: Adding Placeholder Objects

Insert a Placeholder Object on the master slide as you would any Standard Object. Then, on the Filmstrip, apply the master slide to the Filmstrip slide via the Master Slide drop-down menu on the Properties panel.

Adobe Captivate: Applying a Master Slide.

Once you have applied the master slide to the Filmstrip slide, you'll be able to select and edit the Placeholder Object directly on the Filmstrip slide. For instance, I inserted an Image Placeholder Object on my master slide. Then, from the Filmstrip slide, I was able to select the Image Placeholder Object, insert an image, move the object around my slide and re-size it.

Best of all, I was able to reset the slide. After inserting an image into the Placeholder Object, I accidentally re-sized and moved the object from its original master slide position. Instead of re-resizing and dragging the object back to its original position (or using the Undo command multiple times), I simply clicked the Reset Master Slide button (shown in the image above), and the object instantly returned to its master slide size and position–on its own. This is an awesome, often overlooked, feature!

If you'd like to see a demonstration of how to create and use a master slide (and how to use a Placeholder Object), check out this video on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.