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Acrobat 9: Keyboard Shortcuts Galore

by David R. Mankin, the Acrobat Czar

The Czar! While casually scanning the constant flow of Twitter topics this afternoon, something caught my eye–a quick promise of a free collection of Adobe CS4 keyboard shortcuts brought me to the Adobe Student Hub. It seems that Adobe is offering substantial discounts on their software to qualifying students — "Adobe Student Editions software is for use by higher education students only." Fair enough.

The site is annoyingly noisy (IMHO), and you can turn off the crazy electronic throbbing noise by clicking on the tiny speaker icon on the left (whew).

Front and center is the Adobe Shortcut App. You can try this handy device live on the sight, as the site's whole 3D interface is Flash. Adobe Shortcut App contains keyboard shortcuts for ALL CS4 Apps! This is beyond convenient, since we tend to specialize in a program or two, but sometimes need to work with one of the suite's other programs.

Adobe Shortcut App

Click the CS4's individual program's icon at the top of the Shortcut App, and you are presented with appropriate keyboard shortcuts! Here's the best part: this cool application can be downloaded as an Adobe Air application! For me, this one's a keeper. Poke around at the site's other features. There's a Job Feed App to help you find a job using Adobe's awesome tools too.

What's the catch? Well, the cool, free Adobe Shortcut App is a billboard which will always remind you of Adobe's terrific student pricing on the app–no big deal, considering how useful this free download can be!

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Looking for Acrobat training? We run an online Acrobat class once each month. Click here for more information and class dates.

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About the author: In addition to recently being named the nation's Acrobat Czar, David R. Mankin is a Certified Technical Trainer, desktop publisher, computer graphic artist, and Web page developer. And if that wasn't enough, of course David is an Adobe-certified expert in Adobe Acrobat.
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Question of the Week: Adobe RoboHelp Projects… How Big is Too Big?

Question:

My team and I are preparing to work on projects in RoboHelp 8 and are looking into how to best publish the files. We're very interested in FTPing because it would give us the flexibility to publish on our own without depending on IT for deploying the !SSL files to the intranet (I have used FTP before, and it worked very well). However, we will need to request some server space so we can FTP our projects to an IIS server, but we are not sure how much IIS space to request. So, my question is, in your experience, is there an "average" MB per published project? In my own experience, the average published project has about 300 files (around 3.5 MB), and doesn't contain many attachments or graphics.  I don't foresee our team having more than 10 RoboHelp projects to publish, and I think we would be safe in asking for 5 GB of space (10 at the most) for the published files.

Also, is there a recommended limit on the MB size for a RoboHelp project? At which size would they become "clunky," and what would the !SSL size be for a project that big??

Answer:

That's a tough question to answer emphatically. The output folder within your SSL will get bigger depending on two things: the number of topics and, more telling, the number of images, audio files and animations you add to those topics.

In any event, you can get an exact size of your output folder with a simple right-click on the folder within the SSL folder after you generate. When you Publish the folder to your server, the storage requirements will be the same as the size of the output folder. As for exact size requirements for the space on your server, a few gigabytes should suffice for now (unless your project contains thousand of topics). As for RoboHelp projects that are too big, I wouldn't worry about project size unless your project has more than two or three thousand topics.

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Writing & Grammar Workshop: Department of Redundancy Department

"Double your pleasure, double your fun" may be a good thing when it comes to chewing gum, but in writing it may be a distraction–or worse–an error. Expressions such as past history, future prospects, and serious crisis are redundant, but so popular that many readers won't notice them.

Redundancies such as a double negative (don't have no) or the reason why is because are noticeably wrong.

In business or technical writing, stay away from is is and does is, as in "What it is, is larceny." Instead, eliminate the introductory clause and go with "It is larceny." Instead of "What this does is it gives you another option for…" go with "This gives you another option for…."

When explaining reasons for something, go with "The reason is that…" or "You do this because…" to avoid incorrect redundancy.

Hidden redundancies occur with abbreviations: CRT tubes, LCD displays, and PIN number all have a repeated meaning: the T stands for tube, the D for display, and the N for number.

Eliminate redundancies from your writing for enhanced clarity and conciseness. And remember to watch out for redundancy when you are using your PIN number at the ATM machine and you reflect back on your past experience with new innovations.

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Join Jennie online where she'll be teaching Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
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Twitter Best Practices

RJ Jacquez, Senior Product Evangelist at Adobe, is quickly becoming one of the best known and prolific TechCom and eLearning Tweeters around. He's had so much success with Twitter, RJ has created a running list of Twitter Best Practices.

Says RJ, "This list has worked for me and I hope that it will work for you too. I will continue adding to this list, so please consider following me on Twitter @rjacquez for new updates to this list."

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Adobe Captivate 4: Shortcuts Anyone?

by Kevin Siegel

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked if there was a list of keyboard shortcuts available to make some of the cool things Captivate can do a little bit faster.

There is, and here it is…

File Menu
Open Ctrl + O
Close Ctrl + W
Save Ctrl + S
Import Audio To Slide F6
Preview Slide F3
Preview Project F4
Preview From This Slide F8
Preview Next 5 Slides F10
Preview In Web Browser F12
Publish Shift + F12
Print Ctrl + R
Edit Menu
Copy Slide Ctrl + C
Duplicate Slide Ctrl + D
Delete Slide Del
Copy Background Ctrl + Shift + Y
Select All Slides Ctrl + A
Find and Replace Ctrl + F
Find Background in Library Ctrl + Alt + F
Go To Slide Ctrl + Shift + G
Preferences Shift + F8
View Menu
Full Screen F11
Magnification 100% Ctrl + 1
Magnification 200% Ctrl + 2
Magnification 300% Ctrl + 3
Magnification 400% Ctrl + 4
Best Fit Ctrl + 0
Insert Menu
Blank Slide Ctrl + Shift + J
Question Slide Ctrl + Shift + Q
Random Question Slide Ctrl + Q
Image Slide Ctrl + Shift + S
PowerPoint Slide Ctrl + Shift + P
Animation Slide Ctrl + Shift + N
Text Caption Ctrl + Shift + C
Highlight Box Ctrl + Shift + L
Rollover Caption Ctrl + Shift + R
Rollover Image Ctrl + Shift + O
Rollover Slidelet Ctrl + Shift + Z
Zoom Area Ctrl + Shift + E
Text Entry Box Ctrl + Shift + T
Click Box Ctrl + Shift + K
Button Ctrl + Shift + B
Widget Ctrl + Shift + W
Text Animation Ctrl + Shift + X
Image Ctrl + Shift + M
Animation Ctrl + Shift + A
Flash Video Ctrl + Shift + F
Mouse Ctrl + Shift + U
Slide Menu
Hide Slide Ctrl + Shift + H
Lock Slide Ctrl + K
Slide Properties Ctrl + Shift + D
Audio Menu
Record F5
Import F6
Audio Management Alt + Shift + A
Speech Management Alt + Shift + S
Quiz Menu
Question Slide Ctrl + Shift + Q
Random Question Slide Ctrl + Q
Question Pools Manager Ctrl + Alt + Q
Project Menu
Actions Shift + F9
Check Spelling F7
TOC Shift + F10
Skin Editor Shift + F11
Advanced Interaction F9
Window Menu
Timeline Ctrl + Alt + T
Library Ctrl + Alt + L
Slide Notes Ctrl + Alt + N
Filmstrip Ctrl + Alt + B
Design Templates Ctrl + Alt + V
Comments Ctrl + Alt + X
Widget Ctrl + Alt + Z
Help Menu
Help F1
Recording 

Stop recording

 End

Pause or resume recording

 Pause
Capture a screenshot manually Print Screen
Start full motion recording F9
Stop full motion recording F10
Automatic panning F4
Manual panning F3
Stop panning F7
Snap the recording window to the mouse F11
Toggle mouse capture in full motion recording F12

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Adobe FrameMaker: Troubleshooting Unavailable Fonts

by Barbara Binder 

I never like opening up a FrameMaker document and getting the dreaded unavailable fonts dialog box:

The dreaded unavailable fonts dialog box

Sadly, with multiple authors who contribute documents to me from around the world, it's just a fact of life that I see the dialog box frequently. Each time that I do, my goal is to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

When a document has unavailable fonts, the missing fonts will be listed in the FrameMaker Console. Look at your taskbar to locate the Console and you can see the list of troublemakers:

FrameMaker Console

I typically begin by noting the unavailable fonts, and then search for them by choosing Edit > Find/Change. I then pick Character Format from the Find drop-down menu, and press [Shift] [F8] to set the window to As Is. I change the Family to the missing font, and repeat for the Change drop-down list, only I substitute the Family I'd like to use. With the Find and Change buttons, I remove all usages of unavailable fonts, repeating as necessary to address all fonts listed in the Console.

To test the results, I save the file, close it, and then reopen it. Normally, I'm good to go. Sometimes, however, the document will still show unavailable fonts. I check the Console again, make a note of the names, and then try it again, because maybe I missed one or two on the first try. Or not.

What frustrates me is when a documents states it has unavailable fonts, but then comes up with the Not Found message when I search for them:

Not Found message

Now what? It's actually pretty simple. Just choose File > Save and save the file as a MIF document. Close the file, open the MIF, and then save it over the FM file. That will take care of unavailable fonts that are not actually in the document.

Why do we need that extra step? I don't know. I guess I'll head over to the Adobe Feature Request & Bug Form and remind Adobe that this needs fixing. If you see bugs or think of some great feature for FrameMaker 10, don't just think about it, please use this form to let Adobe know.

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Need some more help with FrameMaker? We've got an online Adobe FrameMaker 9 Introduction class coming up December 2-3, 2009. Sign up today. Looking for advanced FrameMaker training? Click here to our upcoming Adobe FrameMaker 9 Advanced dates. Looking for other online classes? Click here.

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About the author: Barbara Binder is the president and founder of Rocky Mountain Training. Barbara has been a trainer for nearly two decades and was recently recognized by Adobe as one of the top trainers world-wide for 2007.

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Adobe RoboHelp 8: Start Page, Project Title and Default Topic… Let’s Get Them Straight Once and For All!

by Kevin Siegel

As I've continued to teach my online RoboHelp class to students who attend from all over the world, one recurring issue has been confusion over the following three RoboHelp features: the start page, the project title and the default topic. The three files/names are totally different, having nothing to do with each other, but are commonly confused.

By the time you are finished reading this text, I'm hoping that the confusion is a thing of the past.

The Project Title: The Project Title is determined when you create the project (you type the name into the "Enter the title of this project" field).

Project Title created

You won't come into contact with the Project Title again until you Generate the project. At that point, the Project Title appears in the browser's title bar (and the tab title if the browser supports tabbed browsing).

Project Title via a Web browser

You can change the Project Title via the General tab on the Project Settings dialog box (Edit > Project Settings). A Project Title can, and should, contain spaces.

Edit the project title

The Start Page: The Start Page is a file that is created automatically by RoboHelp when you generate the project. The start page is the frameset that displays the toolbars at the top of the help screen, the navigation panel at the left and the default topic at the right. The Start Page is, in no way, the Default Topic (which is discussed next). Instead, the Start Page is simply the page that gets your whole system to display once it has been called by an application.

The name of the Start Page is typically the same as your project name (which you determine when you first create the project). However, once the project has been created, you can easily change the name of the Start page via the Properties of your layout (on the Single Source Layouts pod) by typing a new name in the Select Output Folder and Start Page field (name.htm). The name of the Start Page can never contain spaces.

Setting the name of the start page

The Default Topic: Once the Start Page has done its job and the Help System opens, the Default Topic open and appears at the right side of the Help System. By default, the Default Topic will always be the first topic you created when you first created the project. However, you can easily change the Default topic via the Properties of your layout (on the Single Source Layouts pod).

Default Topic

And there you have it… the Project Title, Start Page and the Default Topic all work together in a generated project. While the Default Topic and Start Page can be changed in the same basic place (the Properties of a layout), I am hoping that any confusion is now a thing of the past.

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Looking for Adobe RoboHelp training? Need it fast? IconLogic has a live, two-day online RoboHelp 8 class coming up November 19-20, 2009.

Worried about your class canceling? You'll be happy to hear that we never, ever cancel our classes (even if there's just one student registered). Click here to learn more about our other online classes.

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Follow Kevin on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iconlogic.

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Adobe Captivate 4: Gotta Scroll?

by Kevin Siegel

When the time comes to record an eLearning video using Adobe Captivate that requires scrolling, there are two basic techniques you can use: automatic and manual. What are the two techniques and which one is best? Great question… read on…

If you enable Full Motion Recording (via Edit > Preferences), Captivate will automatically capture your scrolls and drags (i.e.., using the scroll bar to scroll up or down) by simply dragging your mouse. Your saved Captivate video will contain a Full Motion Recording (FMR) for each drag and your published video will demonstrate the scroll.

There are a few problems you should be aware of should you go the FMR route. First, your published video will include the FMRs and will likely result in a much larger SWF (larger than SWFs that don't contain FMRs).

The resulting FMR will likely contain poor quality video (depending on the level of the video settings you specified before you recorded the video).

The FMR you recorded cannot easily be edited (beyond some simple tweaks).

Lastly, your LMS just might reject the FMR video. (I've received more than one disturbing email from Captivate developers who have told me the FMRs play everywhere, except from within their LMS.)

Given the troubles that FMRs can cause, I would urge you to go the manual route.

During the recording process, press [print screen] on your keyboard just prior to scrolling to manually capture the screen. Next, position your pointer on the scroll bar and press [print screen] again. Click once to scroll up or down. Press [print screen]. Repeat the process as necessary to complete the scroll. Do not drag your mouse… instead, point and press [print screen], click and press [print screen].

Once you've pulled the screen captures and saved the video, you have two choices when it come to producing the slides that show the scroll. First, on the slide just before the scroll, add a text caption that says something like "Watch as we scroll for you." Next, speed up those slides that actually show the scroll so that they stick around for only a half second or so. During playback, customers will see the message "Watch as we scroll for you" and the scroll will occur. Cool!

Alternatively, you could make the scrolling interactive by typing "Click the scroll bar to scroll" on the slide just before the scroll. Then, hide the mouse and add click boxes on those slides that show the scrolling. Cooler!

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Looking to create killer eLearning lessons with Adobe Captivate? Join one of IconLogic's classes, or contact usfor customer group or onsite training. Click here for more information about our 2-day Captivate Essentials class. Looking for more Advanced Captivate 4 training? We have you covered. Click herefor more information.

Worried about your class canceling? You'll be happy to hear that we never, ever cancel our classes (even if there's just one student registered).

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Follow Kevin on Twitter: http://twitter.com/iconlogic.

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Writing & Grammar Workshop: Can I start a sentence with “hopefully?”

Can you start a sentence with the word "hopefully?" Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Some people used to say you could not, but grammar books now say you can. The controversy used to be about whether hopefully is an "independent comment" like finally, actually, regrettably, fortunately, and many other words. These words act as asides to the reader to indicate the writer's opinion or attitude about the entire sentence. If you need a more technical term, they are "sentential modifiers," adverbs that modify the entire sentence.

If you are curious about some of the players in the controversy, they are The Careful Writer by Theodore Bernstein, The Chicago Manual of Style, and The Gregg Reference Manual. My opinion, stated above, agrees solidly with The Gregg Reference Manual. Chicago says that the usage I cite above is "here to stay," but snips, "But many careful writers deplore the new meaning" [emphasis added–could this be a nod to readers of Bernstein?] Bernstein has not been updated, fyi, since 1965.

Yet another voice in the squabble is The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, by Bryan Garner. The advice here? All the controversy has ruined this word. Never use it at all, because no matter what you do, someone will think it is wrong.

Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster.com utterly dismisses Bernstein and all critics and solidly supports the use of hopefully as an independent comment.

So there you have it. My vote is to use it until people get over its history. After all, most people have long forgotten the "impact" wars of the late 1980s. But on the other hand, I recently encountered "impact is a noun only" still alive and well in the style guide of a large organization. Ultimately, I guess, each writer must make up their* own mind.
 
*Watch for a future article on the use of their.

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Join Jennie online where she'll be teaching Writing Training Documents and eLearning Scripts.

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About the Author: Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author with titles such as "Editing with Word 2003 and Acrobat 7" and "Editing with MS Word 2007" to her credit. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.