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I know it’s long overdue, but I recently posted some challenge labs to the site. The labs support my "Essentials of Macromedia Captivate" book.
If you’d like to try the challenge labs, go to iconlogic.com, click the Learning Center link, then the Captivate and RoboDemo link. Once there, click the projects link. This will take you directly to my Learning Management System (LMS). You can also go directly to the LMS by clicking here. There is no charge to access the Lab movies.
I recently received this email about RoboHelp’s not-so-helpful help system:
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"Does Macromedia purposely disable the Help menu in RoboHelp? I’ve clicked on "Contents and Index" and the varied context sensitive items in the "Help" menu. I tried pushing F1… zilch. With both methods I see the hour-glass icon quickly flicker a couple times and then nothing happens.
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Here’s how to resolve this problem:
To fix the problem in RoboHelp, choose Tools > Options. On the General tab, select Use Offline Help (insert a Check Mark). Then click OK.
By default, RoboHelp’s Help system is hooked to the Web. When you use the Help menu to request Help, RoboHelp goes online and looks for http://help.robohelp.com for the help system. Since a Web connection is needed, it could take a long time for the Help system to appear, depending on your connection speed. If there’s any trouble with the connection, the Help system will not appear at all.
I was asked how to control the "hints" or "tool tips" that appear on some Captivate and RoboDemo playback controls.
Assuming you have Captivate installed on your computer, go to the following folder:
C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Captivate\Gallery\PlaybackControls
You’ll notice that some toolbar images have the names like Captivate-exitbuttonup.bmp. For those toolbar buttons that sport "Tool Tips" or "Hints" there is a companion image such as Captivate-exitbuttonhint.bmp.
If you want to get rid of the "hint," rename the "hint" image (such as the Captivate-exitbuttonhint.bmp image mentioned above).
If you want to create your own "Hint" for any of the existing Playback Control sets, create an image for those buttons that don’t have hint images and name them using the names of the button you are giving the hint for (a button called KevinOver.bmp should get a "hint" image called KevinOverhint.bmp.)
I was recently asked to recommend some helpful Web sites for Captivate and RoboDemo developers. Here’s a short list:
Help Community: http://www.helpcommunity.ehelp.com/
Free Sounds: http://www.grsites.com/sounds/
RoboDemo Tips & Tricks: http://www.pcabcs.com/robo/tips/start.htm
More RoboDemo & Captivate Tips & Tricks: http://www.raisingaimee.co.uk/
Background images: http://www.backgroundcity.com/
Since PowerPoint slides can be imported into Captivate and the slides used as a Captivate backgrounds, check out these free PowerPoint template sites:
http://www.soniacoleman.com/templates.htm
http://www.websiteestates.com/education/templatesindex.html
Customized Playback Controls and Captions: http://www.pcabcs.com/robo/tips/start.htm
As with all free things on the Web, caveat emptor, or buyer beware…
This question comes from Bil. Alvernaz:
"Is there any way to get rid of or replace the "Powered by RoboHelp" (i.e., what you click in the upper right hand corner of the screen to get contact information)."
Yes Bil. The Powered By logo image is named wht_logo1.gif in your top level WebHelp folder, If you know what you are doing, you could modify this graphic to be anything you want, such as your companies logo. Maybe even a 1 pixel by 1 pixel transparent gif that would not be seen.
The HTML file that is displayed when the Powered By logo is clicked is called whskin_banner.htm and is located in top level WebHelp folder. You could also modify this file to have your companies logo and text. Again this is a hack of the WebHelp source files and this must be done at your own risk.
To customize the logo:
On the Toolbar tab, under Main, double-click Logo
The Logo dialog opens
In Image, type a file name or click to browse for an image file .GIF or .JPG)
When you’ve located the image, click Open. The image is copied to your skins folder
In Author, enter the name of the company or author
Click OK to return to the Skin Editor
Removing the Powered by RoboHelp logo
Users click a logo (either your own or RoboHelp’s default) in the upper-right side of the toolbar to display an "About" box describing the project’s author or company, the version of RoboHelp, and the output format version.
The file that controls the popup that appears when the logo is clicked is called whskin_banner.htm.
You can find this file in your WebHelp folder and can open and edit the content in notepad.
Look for this text as follows:
<td valign="top">
<p>Author: eHelp Corporation</p>
<p>Powered by: WebHelp 5.00
<br>Generated by: RoboHelp 2002</p>
<p><a class="tail" href="http://www.ehelp.com/webhelp1" target="_blank">www.ehelp.com</a></p>
You can get rid of the button entirely in the following manner.
Open up your WebHelp folder and look for the file whskin_tbar.htm
Open the file in notepad
Remove this line of text:
addButton("banner",BTN_IMG,"eHelp Corporation","","","","",0,0,"","","","","","");
Warning: If you edit these files, you will need to store them outside of the WebHelp folder or they will be overwritten the next time you generate WebHelp.
The following question comes from E. Proeva:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I have RoboHelp Office which includes RoboHelp for Word X4 and RoboHelp HTML X3. I already have your Essentials for RoboHelp HTML X3, but I need a manual for RoboHelp for Word X4. Could you please tell me which book of your Essentials series would cover the RoboHelp for Word X4 version best.
Thanks
E. Proeva
It was my intention to update my RoboHelp Classic 9 book to RoboHelp for Word X3, X4 and then X5. However, based on diminished support and sales of RoboHelp for Word (based on information from Macromedia), we focused our resources instead on RoboHelp HTML. We have books for every version of RoboHelp HTML including X5, which is the most recent version available from Macromedia
RoboHelp for Word did not change much until release X5 so you could certainly have used my Classic 9 book on version 2002, X3 and possibly X4. And if memory serves, X3 and X4 didn’t have many changes over 2002. I have had a few customers purchase the Classic 9 book and use it as a starting-point to learning the newer versions of the software. Please keep in mind that if you choose that path, tools, commands and screen shots shown in my book may not match the software. In that case, you’d be on your own to learn what’s changed. Everybody learns differently, but I’ve heard that most people are able to push forward in spite of the differences between what’s shown in the book and what is seen on the screen.
The following question comes from Spencer Seale, a former RoboHelp student of mine:
"We have a help file that we only distribute to our clients twice a year when we ‘upgrade.’ I want to include some demos in the help file. We have the demos up on our company website. I think it makes more sense just to provide links to the web page, so if the demo needs to be changed, I can change it on the website and don’t have to worry about the demos in the help file being wrong.
"ALL of our users have existing internet connections, it is a requirement, they all have IE 6 and Flash player."
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The question is: which is better, RoboHelp projects that contain external or internal links to movies?
Spencer’s technique is great. Since his "start page" and the movies will be external to the project, he won’t have to re-generate the project every time he adds or updates a movie. Bravo!
One major drawback to linking anything to an external Web files or movies: If user’s are without Web access, they won’t be able to get to your “start” page for your movies, or the movies themselves.
Just remember, when you Export/Publish RoboDemo and Captivate movies, you’ll actually end up with two files: an HTML file and .SWF file. You should always link to the .HTML file to avoid possible distorted .SWF playback.
Note: You can learn more about RoboDemo and Captivate in my step-by-step training manuals.
The debate over the use of active or passive voice (the relationship of the subject to the action of the verb) has been raging for years. While there is room for both active and passive voice in today’s writing, I recommend using active voice in technical writing.
If you’ve never had to worry about active and passive voice, think of it this way: if you write a sentence and the verb is in the active voice, then your subject acts; if the sentence is written in the passive voice, your subject is acted upon.
Consider these two sentences:
Trevor bought the soda. (active)
The soda was bought by Trevor. (passive)
In the first sentence, the reader quickly learns that Trevor (the subject) bought a soda (the object). In the second sentence, the first thing you learn is that there is a soda. What about it? Nothing special, except someone bought it. And oh yeah, it was Trevor. As far as I’m concerned, passive writing takes too many words to get to the point. Remember that your goal as a technical writer is to get to the point quickly and efficiently.
Here’s another example:
Tim killed the story. (active)
The story was killed by Tim. (passive)
In the first sentence the subject, Tom, is emphasized. In the second sentence the focus is on the object, the story. The active sentence is far more powerful.
If you write using the passive voice, your sentences can become difficult to understand. Here’s an example:
The DUPLICATE command should be selected. (passive)
Select the DUPLICATE command. (active)
In the first example, learners may get confused. Should the DUPLICATE command already be selected, or are they supposed to select it. In the second example, there is no confusion. You want them to select the DUPLICATE command. Period.
Learn more about Technical Writing, Instructional Design and Grammar in my "Essentials of Techncial Writing" and "Abrams’ Guide To Grammar" books. Visit IconLogic for more information.
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:
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.