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There’s a new line of certifications in town. Adobe has announced the new Adobe Certified Associate suite of exams that will help validate your ability to create, manage, integrate and communicate information using Adobe’s multimedia, video, graphic and Web software.

For more information, click here.

Adobe Captivate is arguably the nation’s top application for creating e-learning simulations.

Adobe RoboHelp is arguably the nation’s top Help authoring tool.

And John Daigle is one of the top RoboHelp and Captivate experts in the country.

If only you could put the three together… maybe you’d have something…

Actually, John has written five easy-to-read tutorials that will have you integrating your Captivate projects with your RoboHelp projects like a pro. Anyone who uses both RoboHelp and Captivate should check out John’s tutorials… it’ll be time well-spent.

Question:

How do I add a registered trademark inside a QuarkXPress layout using QuarkXPress for Windows?

Answer:

If you are using QuarkXPress version 6.5 or older, press ALT on your keyboard and then press 0174 on the calculator keypad on your keyboard. If you are using QuarkXPress 7 or newer, choose Windows > Glyphs. You’ll find every symbol you’ll ever need there.

Question:

Is there an easy way to add page numbering (such as Page x of y) to each Captivate slide?

Answer:

The ability to add a slide count is not native in Captivate. However, there is a wonderful Captivate hints and tips web site available where you can find "widgets" that extend Captivate’s functunality. I encourage everyone to check it out.

Got a Question? Email it to us. We’ll publish the answer here for all the world to see.

How do I add a registered trademark inside a QuarkXPress layout using QuarkXPress for Windows?

The Story Editor is the preferred place to be when you write and format your stories in Adobe InDesign. Among the Story Editor’s outstanding features are the abilities to search and replace text, and to check spelling. Because you won’t be able to see any graphics while in the Story Editor, the way the page looks will not be a distraction.

To access the Story Editor

1. Open an InDesign document that contains at least one story
2. Ensure that the Text tool is selected and click in the text
3. Choose Edit > Edit in Story Editor

   The Story Editor appears in a new window. Your layout will be behind the Story Editor window. Any applied styles are listed at the left of the window, paragraph by paragraph.

Use the Story Editor to Search and Replace

1. Choose Edit > Find/Change

   The Find/Change options appear.

2. Type a phrase you’re looking for into the Find what area
3. Ensure Story is selected in the Search area
4. Select Whole Word and Case Sensitive (as necessary)

   

5. Click Find Next

Change the Story Editor Appearance

If you are unhappy with the way the InDesign display looks, you can use the Story Editor Display preferences to change things. Keep in mind that changes you make to the Story Editor Display will not affect your layout.

1. PC users, choose Edit > Preferences > Story Editor Display; Mac users, choose InDesign > Preferences > Story Editor Display
2. Select any Font and Font Size you like
3. Select any Text Color and Background colors you like
4. Click OK

Want to learn more about Adobe InDesign? Click here.

Click here to sample some of our 100% interactive simulations.

Note: The following keyboard shortcut works on selected text in several programs including InDesign, QuarkXPress, MS Word, PowerPoint and even selected text in a Captivate Text Caption.

1. Select some text
2. On your keyboard, press CTRL + SHIFT + >

   As you press the keys, notice that your font size gets bigger and bigger and bigger

3. With the text still selected, press CTRL + SHIFT + <

   The selected text will get smaller and smaller.

How will you possibly remember that key combination? Maybe this will help: the > key means "greater than" or bigger; the < key means "less than," or smaller.

If you are using my Dreamweaver (older than Dreamweaver 8) and RoboHelp books, you have probably noticed the forms you learn to create during the book no longer post when you test them. Sadly, you receive the "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error, even if you typed everything perfectly.

The instructions in the book, while correct, link to a CGI script on our server. The script has worked for years, and still does. It sends the form results back to you in the form of an e-mail.

But for security reasons, many Internet hosts, including ours, now prohibit the use of CGI scripts for a page unless the page is on the same server as the script. Since the form you created is not posted on our server, and therefore could present a security risk, you will be unable to properly test the form.

The Workaround: Use the following link in the Action area of the Properties panel:

http://www.iconlogic.com/formtest.htm

While your form will not process any data, you will no longer receive the error message.

The design, creation and implementation of corporate training solutions, especially those that are highly reliant on technology, are very complex projects with many aspects to consider. The objective of this module is to provide guidance related to the planning of e-learning solutions as well as to present a survey of the many instructional and technological building blocks that should be considered as part of your solution. Skillfully blending these elements together will ultimately give you the most effective training and the best results.

Successful corporate training solutions can vary; however, they all have some common elements that make them successful. The most important components of success are:

• A sound plan with a well defined mission and objectives.
• Appropriate technological infrastructure and implementation strategy.
• Good course design that contains well-written and engaging content.
• A good plan is the starting point. Like any corporate initiative, the training program should have a stated mission and a set of business objectives that are well defined. The plan will also need to include a business analysis that identifies the costs and benefits of the training program. This will help bring the project into focus and provide solid grounding on which your many decisions will be based.
• Once the big picture is in focus, it is time to create the implementation strategy and plan. This will start with a thorough assessment of many aspects including such considerations as specific training needs, current and planned technology, corporate culture and trainee demographics. Your complete implementation plan will include a proposed curriculum and a description of training methods along with a delivery infrastructure.

Ultimately, a good plan and implementation strategy is meaningless if the courses and training content are not properly designed or are ineffective. A sound design process begins with a thorough analysis of the training needs and a determination of the learning objectives. The next step is to design the instruction necessary to accomplish the teaching objectives and create an assessment structure to assure that the objectives have been met.

It is also important to realize that despite a thorough analysis and well-formulated learning objectives, the quality of the instructional content is still critical. The instructional content must be relevant to the student and presented in a way that is engaging and memorable. The use of interactive multimedia, if well done, can make the instruction much more interesting and effective.

Learn more about eLearning and Macromedia Captivate in our "Essentials of Captivate" book. Visit IconLogic for more information.

Special thanks to E.G. Gipple at ICS Multimedia for his contributions to this article.