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Adobe Captivate Exchange

If you haven’t visited the Adobe Captivate Exchange lately, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of the new additions:

• Restart Captivate from Last Viewed Slide
  Prompt a user to start from the last viewed slide of a published Captivate file.
• Grouped Buttons
  Sick and tired of the way Captivate presents your button choices? Wish it could be different? Wish no more.
• Faster & Slower Buttons for Captivate
  Enable users to control speed of presentation.
• Speed Control Widget for Captivate
  This little flash widget allows the user to change speed of the Captivate presentation.

Click here to visit the Captivate Exchange.

by Quinn McDonald

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Rene Descartes walks into a bar.

The bartender recognizes him and says, "So, Rene, do you want a martini?"

"I think not," Descartes replies.

POOF! He disappears.

(Clarification needed?)

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The web is a funny place. For the last month the most popular website on WordPress has been I Can Has Cheezburger, a site to which people submit pictures of their pets, complete with funny captions. The captions are written in pet language. Yes, I said pet language. LOLCat, to be precise.

What amazes me is not that the site exists, or that thousands of people caption and send in pictures of their pets, which, according to the site’s rules, become the property of the site’s owners who can do anything they want with it (including advertising their site or making money without royalties to the owner.)

Nope, what amazes me is that the rules for the pet language, which are spelled out on the site–written in LOLCat–are being followed by everyone who submits a picture. I am amazed. I haven’t seen so much strict rule following since I arrived at the airport in what was then East Berlin.

The same people who won’t move out of their lane when a blaring fire engine is behind them, know "kitteh" in the subjunctive.  My clients don’t want to follow simple grammar rules, all the while telling me they can’t learn them now.

Yet all these people on a funny picture website know the ins and outs of Caturday and the walrus’s bukkit. Cheezburger has ’em lined up speaking fluent ‘lolcat’ fluently. Amazing. Must be an immersion language.

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

What’s the difference between a Captivate simulation and demonstration? Typically speaking, a simulation is interactive; a demonstration isn’t. Between the two, I urge you to create simulations because simulations will encourage users to actively participate in your lessons. (Unless budget is not a concern, in which case by all means create both a simulation and demonstration for each and every lesson.)

While markedly different, simulations and demonstrations can both include Question Slides that can validate your lessons. But should you include the Question Slides in your project, or should you keep the Question Slides separate? Personally, I tend to keep the Questions Slides in a separate project and make the quiz available via a link on my LMS. Because you will have to worry about the Reporting options of the non-quiz slides, keeping the projects segregated is the cleanest/easiest way to go.

If you do decide to include Question Slides in a simulation, be warned–you could be throwing off your scoring results unless you take the appropriate evasive action. How so? I’ve had several customer’s who have included interactive slides (slides with Buttons, Click Boxes and/or Text Entry Boxes) and sprinkled Question Slides throughout the project. Upon playback, the scoring was off (the user failed even if they answered the questions correctly) or the Question Slide numbers were off (the first Question Slide would say it was number 2 of 5 when it was the first Question Slide).

When you add Question Slides in the middle of interactive slides, Captivate treats everything like a quiz, even though the interactive slides may not be an actual part of the quiz. What’s a developer to do? Well, as they say, "If you can’t beat them…" At IconLogic, if we include a quiz in a lesson, we treat the Interactive objects as part of the quiz without having the interactive elements actually count as points in the quiz.

Controlling How Objects Report Scores

1. Open an interactive slide and double-click the interactive object
2. Select the Reporting tab
3. Select Include in Quiz
4. Select Report Answers
5. Change the Points to 0
6. Select Add to total
   
   
7. Click OK

One important step to remember here:

1. Choose Quiz > Quiz Preferences
2. On the Settings category, ensure Allow backward movement and Allow user to review quiz are both selected in the Settings area (this will allow users to go back to the interactive slides–without this setting enabled, users would be able to click the Button or Click Box, to move to the next slide, but would not be able to go back and take the lesson again)

   

3. Click OK

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Got a Captivate production problem that’s making you pull your hair out? Email your problem and let others learn solutions from your experience.

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Want to learn more about Captivate? Click here.

Question: Captivate to AVI?

I am using Adobe Captivate to develop software demonstration video shorts and our Web developer is asking for AVI files rather than SWF.  To your knowledge, is it possible to generate AVI files in Captivate?  I have researched the Adobe Knowledge Base and have only found information on how to import AVI files to a project. Thanks for your help! 

Answer

You cannot publish AVIs with Captivate. However, there are aftermarket converters that may do the trick. I have an article on my BLOG that may help.

In addition, a quick Google search yielded several SWF to AVI converters you might want to investigate.

Question: Books for Captivate version 1?

I have recently attended a Captivate 3 course and used one of your books, "Essentials of Captivate 3 skills and drills learning." I found the book very helpful and easy to use however at my place of work we currently use Macromedia Captivate (Captivate version 1). Can you tell me where I can purchase a similar book, but for Captivate 1 please? 

Answer

You can still order that older book directly from IconLogic. Here’s a link. 

Question: Is there a Way to Reduce the Size of a Captivate Project?

Do you know what might cause a 6 min 41 sec Captivate file to bloat to over 200 MB? Is there something I can do to "de-bloat" it?

Answer

The culprit is likely unused assets in your project (such as backgrounds, animation or audio). Here’s a link to an article on my BLOG that will help you reduce the size of your project–often times significantly.

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Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.

Before You Install Adobe RoboHelp 7

Peter Grainge has written an article for RoboHelp users who are upgrading to Adobe RoboHelp 7 from an earlier version. (You will also find useful information if you are installing RoboHelp for the first time.)

Peter’s article explains:

• What you need to do before installing RoboHelp 7
• What to consider before installing RoboHelp 7
• Where to find out about changes in RoboHelp 7

Click here to read the article.

by Quinn McDonald

You are a contract writer. You freelance for a living. One of your clients asks you for help with a project, and you agree to a meeting. When you get to the meeting, your client tells you about the client–a company that needs some help organizing their website, creating a site that’s easier to navigate.

You ask a few questions, and the job seems like a good fit. The pay is in line with what you ask. You agree.

And then you find out your client’s client is a company whose goals you disagree with. Not just a little, but a lot. There’s a wide breach between your beliefs and the company’s. What do you do? Refuse to take on the job? Tell your original client that you disagree with the viewpoints and turn down the job? Take the job, send a big invoice, and run?

Here are a few things to think about while you are struggling with your authenticity and the money.

• If the client’s values are repugnant to you, if you find the company unethical or immoral, don’t take the job. No amount of money will make you feel right about it, and you can’t do a good job. While you are speaking with your client, ask who the organization is. If you recognize the name, you can turn it down right away. If your client can’t reveal the name of the organization, you might want to reserve the right to withdraw once you research them. Give a deadline-24 hours.
• If the client represents a different viewpoint from yours, even one you strongly disagree with, consider taking the job. Every writer should be exposed to views they don’t agree with. It’s good for you-it helps you question your assumptions, see facts from a different perspective, and open your mind.
• If you take the job, you are required to do your best work. Every web reader deserves to read clear, concise, well-written copy. Your calling as a writer is your priority. You deliver well-written, well-organized, logical and precise writing. This is what every organization should be required to put on the web.

There are more than 100 million websites in cyberspace. Many of them are badly reasoned, horribly written and cramped with confusing and irritating navigation. A few stand out as beacons of clarity. You can contribute to the small number of sites filled with intelligent writing and good explanations. You can help others understand what the client wants to say, what they stand for. Every company deserves to have their cause clearly spelled out to let the readers understand and choose.

It’s your choice to contribute or step away. Think before you do.

About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

by Quinn McDonald

While reading a business article, I ran across a wonderful quote. But when I read the author’s name, I was surprised–it was so unlikely. Then it occurred to me: we all make assumptions about who authors, speakers, role models are, all without really knowing them. We think we know them because of what we read about them, or because what they write. But we’re just guessing. Sometimes we create entire categories and conveniently slip our favorite authors into them. There’s a name for this–stereotyping. We take our perceptions and apply them in big, broad strokes.

Test your perceptions about these popular writers. Match the quotes (1-6) with the authors. Then check your answers. The prize? A clear look at your perceptions. Have fun!

Quotes

1. "I learned from my father the value of hard work and ambition, and maybe a little something about telling a story."
2. "I love sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake, you know?"
3. "I loved fairy tales when I was a kid. Grimm. The grimmer the better. I loved gruesome gothic tales and, in that respect, I liked Bible stories, because to me they were very gothic."
4. "Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man’s desire to understand.
5. "Life is like a movie–since there aren’t any commercial breaks, you have to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of it."
6. "Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work."

Authors

• Amy Tan (Author, The Kitchen God’s Wife)
• Ronald Reagan (40th President of the United States.)
• Neil Armstrong (Astronaut)
• Ernest Hemingway (Author, For Whom the Bell Tolls)
• Stephen King (Author, The Stand)
• Garry Trudeau (Cartoonist, Doonesbury)

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About the Author: Quinn McDonald is a writer and nationally-known speaker who has achieved the "Professional" designation from the National Speakers Association. Contact Quinn through her website, QuinnCreative.com.

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Answers: Ronald Regan-1; Ernest Hemingway-2; Amy Tan-3; Neil Armstrong-4; Garry Trudeau-5; Stephen King-6.

Publishing Adobe Captivate files on YouTube

Silke Fleischer, senior product marketing manager for Adobe Captivate, has written an article that explains how to post your Captivate projects to YouTube.

According to Fleischer, "YouTube is the number one video sharing site and a great place to post educational videos and how-to tutorials. The only problem is that YouTube doesn’t support the SWF file format, which is currently the only format Adobe Captivate generates."

Click here to read the article and learn Silke’s workaround.

Question: How Do You Force a Captivate Slide to Stick While Adding a URL Link?

One of my Captivate slides contains a button pointing to a website URL. After clicking the button and returning to the lesson, the lesson is no longer on the slide with the button. How do I stop this behavior from happening?

Answer

When setting the URL for the button, deselect "Continue playing project" from the drop-down menu at the right of the URL field.

Question: Where Can I Create Menus For My Captivate Lessons

I’m having a disagreement with one of my colleagues. He says that you can only use Dreamweaver to create menus for my Captivate published lessons. Is that so? 

Answer

Absolutely not. You can use just about any Web authoring tool to create eLearning menus. In fact, Captivate comes with an application called MenuBuilder. While not overly powerful, MenuBuilder allows you to quickly make a functional menu using many of the same features and tools found in Captivate. To start MenuBuilder, start Captivate and choose File > Record/Create > MenuBuilder project. 

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Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.

Question: Can I Keep the Tab Key From the Browser During a Captivate Simulation?

In Captivate, when I insert a Text Entry Box in a simulation with an Enter or Tab shortcut key enabled, the published movie jumps back to the beginning if a user presses the Tab and Enter keys sequentially in that order. The reverse order does not cause this bizarre behavior. The problem surfaces with and without the video controls displayed. However, I do notice when the Tab and Enter keys are pressed sequentially with the video controls displayed, they are highlighted individually in a sequential progression with each successive key press. What goes? Is there a way to prevent this unwanted behavior?

Answer

If your user is already focused on the slide, pressing TAB will move within the slide, not around the browser window. If, however, the focus is not within the slide, there is no way to prevent a TAB key press from being grabbed by the Web browser since the TAB key is used by the browser to allow navigation around the browser window.

There are some tricks you can use to help focus the text entry box on the slide so the browser doesn’t immediately grab the focus. Review this article from the Adobe forums.

Question: Why Can’t I Generate a PDF with RoboHelp 7?

I am having a problem with RoboHelp and don’t have a great internal resource to help resolve issues and was hoping you might be able to answer a question for me.

I am trying to generate an existing WebHelp project as a PDF file. When I try to generate as a PDF, the option is grayed out and not selectable. Do you know of any issues that would cause this? Any insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated. 

Answer

The most likely culprit is that Adobe Acrobat Elements wasn’t installed when the RoboHelp software was installed on your computer. Without Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Elements (Elements comes free with Adobe RoboHelp 7), you won’t be able to generate a PDF when single sourcing to a Printed Document.

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Got a question you’d like answered? Email me.