Category: Uncategorized

I'd like to re-read some articles you've included in your "skills and drills" newsletter. Do you keep a newsletter archive?

I'm using Adobe RoboHelp 7. Every time I try to publish I get an error message saying that the process was canceled because a file is in use by another process. I'm stuck… can you help?

I have a question about the RoboHelp spellchecker. On my computer, when the spellchecker finds a questionable word, it highlights the word in aqua and the text becomes light gray. I can barely read this, and I have good eyes. Is there any way to change this? I haven't found anything in the RoboHelp help files that addresses this issue.

The highlight color you're describing isn't controlled by RoboHelp. My feeling is that it's a Windows thing. You might want to check your PCs color settings:

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You've run into a problem with the email results–the student can prevent the attachment from being sent to you; worse if they know what they're doing, students can change the answers by opening and editing the ATT attachment via any text editor.

 

One way to stop this kind of thing from happening would be to create a JavaScript that changes the name of the file (perhaps makes it invisible too). You could also create an application that locks down the ATT file. Programming is not my area of expertise, but I know it can be done. Of course, for the money you might spend perfecting a series of JavaScripts or creating a custom application, you could have purchased a Learning Management System (which locks down the student's answers).

 

I'm currently building Captivate projects by importing background templates from Photoshop, then adding text, images and controls within Captivate.

I've found that it's relatively easy to assign a background to a new slide, but I'm looking for a quick way to change the backgrounds on multiple slides.  For instance, if 20 slides share a common background, is there a way to use the image library to change the background for all 20 slides?

I've tried to use the Apply Changes feature within the slide properties, but it doesn't seem to work reliably, especially if I only want to apply the change to some slides but not all slides..

Insert the background image onto a slide. Right-click the image and choose Merge Into Background. Copy the slide background (right-click and choose Copy Background). Finally, select the slides you'd like to change and choose Paste as Background.

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No, you can't do it with Captivate. However, if you are trying to demonstrate something flying across the screen, you can press [print] [screen] a bunch of times while recording. Then, in production, speed up the timing for those slides to a tenth of a second. Of course, if you have an actual animation recorded using some other tool, you can import an AVI, SWF or FLV into Captivate via Insert > Animation or Insert > Flash Video.

 

My company asked me to develop an interactive training module. There are 10 components each with 3 or 4 slides and a 10 question quiz which will be reported to LMS software.  I have created a menu page that lets learners "jump to" the slides to review the sections they wish, any number of times they wish. At the end of each section is a 0-point quiz question with infinite attempts. On the menu there is also a button that jumps you to the scored quiz. Here's the problem: When they view any section, the questions work fine. However, in any of the following sections,  the questions display a message that says "You did not complete this question completely" and greys out the responses. I cannot figure why it is doing this or how to get it to stop.

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More likely than not the issue is due to an upgrade to the new Flash Player 10. Now that I've upgraded to version 10 of the player, my FLVs do not preview (but publish fine). The only fix to date that I know of is to roll back to your previous version of the Flash Player. For more information about the problem, read this post.

 

I was given 2 DVDs with video of a seminar.  The file extensions on the DVDs are BUP, VOB, and IFO. The DVDs look like they were professionally made.  They have closed captioning and have the PowerPoint slides inserted.  My boss wants me to put them in Captivate so I can put them on our intranet. Can they be imported into Captivate?

 

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Thanks to your book on Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3 which I purchased, and your weekly Skills and Drills, I am getting productive and creative with my Captivate training demos. Here is one problem that I just ran into that I cannot figure how to fix.

 

I am updating a WBT in which I have several slides with a tool bar that changed. Rather than record those slides again, I did this:

The slides/frames looked perfect, even when I view at 300% There are no lines or anything to indicate this is a separate entity . However, when I preview them, I see the portion that I pasted shift causing a jerky type of movement. What could be causing this? How can I prevent it so it appears smooth?

Any help and insight would be much appreciated.

 

 

The likely problem is being caused by the capture settings used in Captivate versus those used in SnagIt. Instead of using SnagIt, I would recommend you record the entire screen manually using Captivate (simply press [Print Screen] while recording) and then use Paint to grab the area that changed and paste it onto the slide that needs updating (then merge into Background). You can find information on editing your Captivate backgrounds here:  

 

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I do appreciate the information I get from your weekly Skills and Drills and the other support you provide.

 

I need to develop a course to instruct employees on the different invoices that a customer might encounter, and different payment options, essentially soft skills. There is not an application interface with this information. The employees will need to be conversant with the information meeting the customers. I understand that Captivate can be used for teaching soft skills. Can you direct me to any examples or best practices that might be helpful?

 

 

The process of creating soft skills in Captivate is the same, development-wise, as any Captivate project. The main difference is that you wouldn't be using Captivate to record screen captures. Instead, you would create a new project using Captivate's Scenario Simulation option or import a PowerPoint presentation (or a combination of the two). After creating/importing, you would load the project up with click boxes, text entry boxes, buttons, animation and audio as appropriate.

 

A good example of soft skills can be found in your Captivate application folder on your computer, typically at C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Captivate 3\Samples\Soft Skills Sample.cp

Adobe Captivate Question: Why Aren't All SWFs Embedded?

 

When we insert small animations into our Captivate 3 project, such as the Animated Red Circle.SWF file from the Captivate 3 Gallery, and then publish the project as a SWF, Flash 8, the published folder sometimes includes Animated Red Circle.SWF file as well as the project SWF file. We don't want multiple SWF files. We want the Animated Red Circle.SWF and other animations to be imbedded in the project SWF file. How can we accomplish this?

 

For example, in one project, the media area of the library shows 4 SWF files, type: Animation. The sizes vary: 2, 5, 19, 1 kb.  When we publish, a SWF file is generated for the animation that is 2 kb. The other animated SWFs are embedded into the published SWF.  This doesn't make sense to me.  Why does it embed some and not others?

 

Note: We don't use Full Motion Recording, skins, or borders.

 

It looks like a problem with Captivate 3 and Flash Player version 7 and above (it may be Adobe's attempt to lower the size of published SWFs). There is no setting that you're missing within Captivate that will control this. This article may shed some light on the issue.

 

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I am aware that I can Password Protect my project and burn/distribute the finished project on to a CD-ROM. What I don't know is how to prevent my customers simply "Dragging" the SWF file from the CD to their Hard Drive, or other device where they can copy it and give it to other people with the password?

 

Looking forward to your reply – thanks for taking the time.

 

 

There is no way in Captivate to prevent someone from copying published files and sharing passwords. Instead, you'll need to set up digital rights management for those files you don't want shared. Adobe does offer software that supports digital rights. Fair warning… digital rights management can get expensive!