The Logical Blog

May 14, 2013

Adobe Captivate & RoboHelp: Incorporate eLearning within a Help System

by Kevin Siegel

Like many of today's technical communicators, I wear many hats and use multiple tools to communicate with my learners. For instance, I use Adobe Captivate to create most of my eLearning content, and Adobe RoboHelp to create my Help Systems.

It wasn't all that long ago that eLearning content and Help Systems served different roles and different audiences. There was rarely talk of combining the two technologies. These days, more and more technical communicators are being tasked with creating effective Help Systems for an audience that is more distracted and stressed out than ever before. It's a daunting task, but one that is made easier if you follow a few best practices.

If you have created an eLearning lesson using eLearning tools such as Adobe Captivate, TechSmith's Camtasia Studio or Articulate's Storyline, you can insert the multimedia directly into RoboHelp Help Topics. When the topic is displayed in a web browser, mobile device (iPad, iPhone, etc) or HTML Help, the lesson will play (and remain interactive).

The Perfect Help Topic

When creating help content (Help Topics), I suggest that the topic contain just enough information to make it easy for a learner to quickly find the information they are looking for. Specifically, today's perfect Help Topic will:

Contain no more than one or two paragraphs to explain the most important concepts of a feature.
Contain an image or eLearning simulation/demonstration to support the text.
Treat users as learners… not users. (As far as I'm concerned, a Help System is really just an opportunity for the author to teach something.)

eLearning Best Practices

The perfect playtime for a typical eLearning lesson is 5 minutes (give or take a few minutes). However, if the lesson is expected to be included within a RoboHelp topic, the person who will view the lesson is looking for specific information, not necessarily a complete lesson. I'd encourage you to keep eLearning within a Help Topic much shorter than standard eLearning lessons; 30-90 seconds is the perfect amount of time to get a quick point across.

When creating content within Adobe Captivate, avoid using Captivate features that are not supported by mobile devices (such as Flash animations or rollovers). Prior to publishing a lesson, choose Project > HTML5 Tracker to open the HTML5 Tracker (shown below). If the HTML5 Tracker displays any Unsupported objects, consider visiting the affected slides and removing those objects.

Adobe Captivate: HTML5 Tracker

Choose Project > Skin Editor and edit the lesson's playbar so that it doesn't contain features that might cause problems within a Help Topic. For instance, in the image below, I've specifically deselected the Close option (lower left). I've found that if I embed a Captivate demo within a topic, the Close button on the Playbar doesn't work and will simply lead to learner confusion.

Adobe Captivate: Playbar Options

When publishing, take the learner's device into consideration. If the learner is going to use a standard Windows PC or Macintosh computer, SWF output is fine. However, if your learner is going to be using an Apple mobile device such as an iPad or iPhone, you'll need to select HTML5 from the Output Format Options area. You'll end up publishing two distinct output formats, but both can be imported into RoboHelp (at the same time).

Adobe Captivate: Publish as SWF and HTML5.

eLearning Integration within RoboHelp

Once you've published the Captivate lesson, getting it into a RoboHelp topic is simple. Open or create a topic and choose Import > Adobe Captivate Demo. From within the Adobe Captivate Demo dialog box, use the Browse button to the right of Multimedia Name and open the SWF; use the Browse button to the right of HTML5 Output and open the HTML5 start page.

Adobe RoboHelp: Importing Both SWF and HTML5.

When you generate WebHelp or HTML Help, RoboHelp will automatically use the SWF within the generated Help System. If you generate Multiscreen HTML5, RoboHelp will automatically use the HTML5 output for all of the screen layouts (although you can edit the Properties of the Desktop layout and force it to use the SWF output instead).

Note: If you'd like to see the process of embedding interactive eLearning within a Help System, check out my video demonstration on our YouTube channel.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate. And if you're looking to learn Adobe RoboHelp, we offer a two-day introduction to RoboHelp class.

May 10, 2013

Writing & Grammar: Stylistic Conventions

by Jennie Ruby

Many words in the computer training industry have different stylistic conventions depending on your office preference or on the style guide you use. In this challenge, indicate your preferred treatment of these terms (you can post your answers as comments below):

email/e-mail

e-learning/e-Learning/E-Learning/ eLearning

m-learning/mLearning

website/Web site

Web page/web page

computer-based training/eLearning/asynchronous training using technology

the internet/the Internet (actually, most of the industry does capitalize that one)

HTML/html

Answers to Last Week's Mouse Move Challenge

Answers this week are brought to you by Tara Aukerman. Additional responses after the slash marks are provided by Clay Walnum and Ann Whitfield. Jane Edwards also adds this mouse move, which you can use for putting a folder or file name into editing mode: Southern double-click: Click once, pause, then slowly click again.

Press and release the left mouse button
— Click
Press and release the right mouse button
— Right-click
Roll the wheel on top of the mouse
— Scroll (up/down – never just "scroll to")/Use the mouse wheel
Quickly press and release the mouse button twice
— Double-click
Quickly press and release the mouse button three times
— Triple-click (but since this is uncommon, a parenthetical note like: "Click three times quickly")
Hold the mouse button down and move it from one point to another
— Click and drag (or just drag)
Put the mouse pointer over an item but do not click
— Roll over (for non-computer-saavy folks) or Hover (for computer saavy folks)/Rest the mouse pointer
Drag the mouse across text so that the text background changes color and you can then format or delete that text
— Select (because often users will double-click to highlight a word or triple-click to highlight a sentence) or Highlight
Use the highlighter tool to color the background of text
— Select the text and click
Hold down the shift button and click the left mouse button
–Press and hold the SHIFT key and click on XYZ (not a common problem for our audience so we've learned that anything else isn't specific enough)./SHIFT-click

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Looking for help with your writing technique? Jennie teaches two writing classes: Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Effective Scripts.

Already a writing wiz? Join Jennie to learn how to create effective quizzes and surveys.

May 9, 2013

Adobe RoboHelp: Supporting Android Phones

by Willam Van Weelden

RoboHelp 10 allows you to support a wide range of devices. RoboHelp detects a user's device and automatically presents the content in the optimal format for that specific device. While this is a great new RoboHelp feature, sometimes things can go wrong.

For example, last week a client reported that his RoboHelp content was displaying correctly across all devices except his Samsung Galaxy SIII. Instead of using the Android layout as instructed, the device consistently used the Desktop layout.

The phone's default display resolution is very high. It is so high, in fact, RoboHelp failed to recognize the device as a phone. The solution to this problem is simple: increase the maximum screen resolution via the Android_Phone Screen Profile. Here's how:

With a RoboHelp project open, go to the Project Set-up pod (View > Pods).
Open Screen Profiles.
Double-click Android_Phone to open its Screen Profile.
Set the Maximum width to 1000 pixels.
Set the Maximum height to 1280 pixels.
Click the Save button and then close the dialog box.
Save the project and then Generate the Multiscreen HTML5 layout.
The next time the layout is accessed by an Android phone, it will use the correct layout.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once each month.

May 8, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Hide Main Master Slide Objects

by Kevin Siegel

Last week I wrote about Captivate's Main Master Slide and Content Master Slides. I demonstrated how adding an object to a Main Master Slide instantly adds that object to all of the Content Master Slides and the Filmstrip slides. I went on to say that once you added an object to a Main Master Slide, you were stuck with that object on all other slides… and short of deleting the object from the Main Master Slide, there was nothing you could do about it.

Of course, my "all or nothing" comment prompted several emails from "Skills & Drills" readers that took me to task. Many of you pointed out, quite correctly, that it is actually very simple to remove an remove Main Master Slide object from Content Master Slides.

Nope… you are all wrong and it's not possible!

Okay, okay… when it comes to using the Main Master Slide, Captivate isn't as draconian as I wrote. (Never say never, right?) In fact, electing to hide objects on the Main Master Slide is very easy. Using the Master Slides panel (Window > Master Slides), select a Content Master Slide and, on the Properties panel, General group, deselect Show Main Master Slide Objects.

Show/Hide Master Slide Objects

Any objects that you've added to the Main Master Slide will instantly be removed from the selected Content Master Slide.

But wait… what if you've merged an object into the background of the Main Master Slide? (You can right-click any object and choose Merge with the Background.) Once you merge an object, the object will instantly become part of the slide's background. In that case, there will not be an object on the Main Master Slide to hide. Wouldn't the Content Master and Filmstrip slides now have no choice but to fully obey the Main Master Slide? Actually, no. In the case of a merged background object, simply select a Content Master Slide and, once again on the Properties panel, General group, deselect Use Master Slide Background (shown in the image above). The merged background object will instantly be hidden from view.

Note: If you'd like to see the process of hiding master slide objects (and merging slide objects with the slide background), check out this video demonstration on our YouTube channel.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

May 5, 2013

Writing & Grammar: Name that Mouse Move!

by Jennie Ruby

In training documents, help menu text and documentation we often find ourselves trying to describe common computer user actions. However, some of the terminology has changed over time, as new software and hardware features have been developed. Our challenge this week is about describing mouse behaviors. In a later article, I will discuss mobile device behaviors. So here is your challenge. Be careful! Times have changed on some of these!

How do you describe these mouse actions?

Press and release the left mouse button
Press and release the right mouse button
Roll the wheel on top of the mouse
Quickly press and release the mouse button twice
Quickly press and release the mouse button three times
Hold the mouse button down and move it from one point to another
Put the mouse pointer over an item but do not click
Drag the mouse across text so that the text background changes color and you can then format or delete that text
Use the highlighter tool to color the background of text
Hold down the shift button and click the left mouse button

Please send your answers directly to me.

Results to Hierarchical List Format

We received many correctly categorized versions of this list, formatted at least 5 different ways. Here is one of my favorites, from Geri A. Moran, who must work with a lot of government regulations or proposals, because this numbering system is heavily redolent of legal document numbering. Perhaps it is the plan for a courtroom building's garden?

1. Shrubs

1.1. Azaleas

1.1.1. White azaleas

1.1.2. Pink azaleas

1.1.3. Red azaleas

1.2. Boxwoods

1.3. Hydrangeas

2. Flowers

2.1. Tulips

2.1.1. Double Early

2.1.2. Single Early

2.1.3. Single Late

2.1.4. Double Late

2.1.5. Darwin

2.1.6. Triumph

2.2. Roses

2.2.1. Tea

2.2.2. Floribunda

2.2.3. Climbing

2.2.4. Damask

Other favorites included this style, from Ann M. Whitfield, for its classic clarity:

I. Shrubs

A. Azaleas

1. White azaleas

2. Pink azaleas

3. Red azaleas

B. Boxwoods

C. Hydrangeas

An interesting version to me was one submitted by Matt Smith, which illustrates a business-style list. Many government agencies and print publishers have discontinued using the solo closing parentheses like this, for reasons unknown to me, but it still works and looks very clear:

1) Shrubs

a) Azaleas

i) White azaleas

ii) Pink azaleas

iii) Red azaleas

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Looking for help with your writing technique? Jennie teaches two writing classes: Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Effective Scripts.

Already a writing wiz? Join Jennie to learn how to create effective quizzes and surveys.

May 2, 2013

eLearning: Thousands and Thousands of Free Images

by AJ Walther

There is no limit to the number of images you can find on the Internet. There are severe limits, however, on the number of images that you can download and use in whatever capacity you see fit. But, good news: the pool of images that can be freely downloaded and used just became a bit less limited. The Los Angeles Community Museum of Art started an experiment two years ago in which they made 2,000 high resolution images of artwork that they deemed to be public works available for download without copyright restrictions. Since then, they have made ten times that many images available, offering 20,000 high resolution images. All they want to know is: "What are you going to do with them?"

To find the free images:

Head on over to the Collections website.
Type a keyword into the Search the Collection field and press [enter].
To the right of the search field, select Show only results with unrestricted images.

My search for cat turned up 105 unrestricted image results.

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Looking to improve the look of your PowerPoint presentations (and avoid the dreaded "death by PowerPoint" phenomena)? Check out AJ's Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations class this week. (It's not too late to register.)

April 30, 2013

Adobe Captivate: A Master Slide for All Occasions

by Kevin Siegel

Master Slides were first introduced in Adobe Captivate 5 and I've written a couple of articles about them including: Creating Master Slides, Placeholder Objects on Master Slides and how to Keep Master Slide Backgrounds at Bay.

Adobe Captivate 6 took the concept of Master Slides to a whole new level by creating two different types of slide master: a Main Master Slide and Content Master Slides.

In each project, there is always a single Main Master Slide and multiple Content Master Slides. During this article, I'll teach you the differences between Main and Content masters, and how best to utilize them.

In the image below, I've created a new project, applied the Blank theme (Themes > Apply a New Theme) and then inserted several blank slides (Insert > Blank Slide).

Adobe Captivate: Blank Project

Each new project includes a collection of Master Slides (even if you use the Blank theme). In the image below, the Main Master Slide is the larger slide at the left; the smaller slides are the Content Master Slides.

Adobe Captivate: Blank Project.

If you make a change to the Main Master Slide, the change will affect every slide in the project (Filmstrip, Content Master Slides… everything). Changing the Main Master Slide is like using a very broad brush. If there's something on the Main Master Slide that you don't want to use on the other slides, you're pretty much stuck.

For instance, I want every slide in my project to use the same background image. In the screen capture below, I've inserted the image on the Main Master Slide.

Adobe Captivate: Image added to Main Master Slide.

Having modified the Main Master Slide, every Content Master Slide and every slide on the Filmstrip now sports the same image. Since there are Content Master Slides for regular Filmstrip slides and Question Slides, should I insert a quiz down the road, the question slides will automatically include my corporate branding. And that's awesome.

Now I wanted to add a copyright notice to some of the slides on the Filmstrip… to some Filmstrip slides, but not all. If I added the text to the Main Master Slide, the text would appear on every slide of the Filmstrip and every Content Master Slide. Since that wasn't my intent, I created a new Content Master Slide by right-clicking within the group of Content Masters and choosing Slides > Content Master Slide.

Adobe Captivate: Add a new Content Master Slide

I used the Properties panel to name my new Content Master Slide.

Adobe Captivate: Naming a Content Master Slide.

Next I inserted and positioned a text caption on the Content Master Slide.

Adobe Captivate: Copyright text positioned on a Content Master Slide.

The final step was to select the slide(s) on the Filmstrip that I wanted to follow the new Content Master and, on the Properties panel, select the Content Master Slide from the Master Slide drop-down menu.

Adobe Captivate: Apply a Content Master Slide to a Filmstrip slide(s).

The Filmstrip slide below is using two Master Slides: the graphic is coming from the Main Master Slide; the copyright notice is coming from the Copyright notice Content Master Slide.

Adobe Captivate: Filmstrip slide using both a Main Master Slide and Content Master Slide.

Note: If you'd like to see the process of working with both Main and Content Master slides, check out this video demonstration on our YouTube channel.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

April 28, 2013

Digital Publishing: Controlling Page Breaks in an ePub

by Robert Desprez

Help Authoring Tools such as Madcap Flare and Adobe RoboHelp will quickly create an ePub file that includes a title page, table of contents, and the content that you authored. However, you can control the format of an ePub after it has been created by the Help Authoring Tool by performing some simple edits within a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS).

In this article, I'll briefly explain how to unzip the ePub file and edit the CSS so that you gain more control over page breaks.

A Few Basics

An ePub document is a zip file with the .epub extension. ePub files can be read using e-reader software on myriad devices including the iPad, iPhone, PCs, and smartphones running on Android.

For technical writers, I believe ePub files are one of the technologies to watch. The iBooks bookstore sells its ebooks in an ePub file format. With tablets and smartphones forecast to outsell PCs in the near future, users will increasingly be reading content–including technical communications–on these devices.

One of the key advantages of an ePub file is its ability to reflow on different devices. The following image shows how an ePub file appears on an iPad:

The next screen shot shows how the same file appears on an iPhone:

In contrast, a PDF file may look beautiful on your 24-inch monitor at home but is difficult to read on your smartphone. It does not resize-making it difficult and tedious to read on a small screen.

Controlling Page Breaks Inside Adobe RoboHelp

If you work as a technical communicator, you probably use a Help Authoring Tool, such as RoboHelp or Madcap Flare. These tools provide a lot of the "heavy lifting" for you: they create the title page, a table of contents, and the topics themselves. You can also use them to control some basic page breaks.

The following image shows how RoboHelp 10 allows you to set page breaks for certain heading levels. In this case, I've specified that every time I use Heading 2 ("h2" in the left list), RoboHelp creates a new page break or topic.

Help Authoring Tools, in short, provide you with rudimentary control over page breaks. But if more control is needed, edit your CSS.

Unzipping an ePub

Locate your ePub file.
Change the .epub extension to .zip.

Unzip the contents of the folder.
Double-click the OEBPS folder ("OEBPS" stands for Open eBook Publication Structure).

Locate the default.css folder. This is your CSS folder.

Controlling Page Breaks

Inside the CSS file add the following code using a text editor:

h2 {

page-break-before: always;

}

In the CSS, it might appear like the following image:

This first entry adds a page break before every instance of a heading 2. This might be useful if you want to insert a page break before a chapter title.

Here are some other options to consider:

H3 {page-break-before: avoid;} This entry prevents an element (in this case, a heading3) from beginning on a new page, unless absolutely necessary. You might want to use this code to try and ensure that content is grouped together.
H3 {page-break-inside: avoid} This prevents an element such as a table or long list from being divided by a page-break. Keep in mind that if your table or list spans multiple pages, the e-reader needs to create a break somewhere.
H3 {page-break-after: avoid;} This entry discourages a page break after an item. For example, this could prevent the heading3 that appears at the bottom of the following left page.

Next Steps

After you make changes to the CSS, re-zip the ePub project, rename so it uses an .epub extension, and test it on all the different e-readers that your users may be using. I've installed Adobe Digital Editions on my computer and iBooks for the iPhone and iPad. Different e-readers may render your ePub file differently so testing is vital.

In future articles, I'll explain how to control text alignment, widows and orphans, and fonts.

Additional Resources

ePub Straight to the Point by Elizabeth Castro.

Castro's web site on formatting ePub files: http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com

April 24, 2013

Adobe Captivate: Save Your Skin

by Kevin Siegel

Skins that are added to an eLearning lesson serve a similar role to clothes. Depending on the clothes you wear, you can convey a certain impression about yourself. Bored with yourself? Perhaps a visit to your clothes closet will help change your attitude?

Captivate includes a Skin Editor–in essence, your project's closet. Using the Skin Editor, you can, among other things, control the look of a lesson's Playback Controls, add Borders and add a Table of Contents.

Many new Captivate developers have no problem finding the Skin Editor, where making changes to the way a skin looks is simple. However, once those changes are made, the original skin is modified. Should you select another skin down the road, the modifications are lost. Read on and learn how to keep those modifications permanently.

Change Skins

Choose Project > Skin Editor.
There are three buttons at the top left of the Skin Editor: Playback Control, Borders and Table of Contents.
Select a Skin from the Skin drop-down menu.

Observe the preview at the right of the Skin Editor window. Among other things, notice the buttons that appear on the player, color of the Playbar and the Playbar's position on the slide.

Adobe Captivate: Skin Preview

Ensure the Playback Control button is selected and observe the left side of Skin Editor. This is where you can select such options as hiding the Playbar in a Quiz, the Playbar's slide position and the buttons that will display on the Playbar (Closed Captioning, Mute, etc).

Adobe Captivate: Playbar buttons

Click the Position drop-down menu and notice that you can force the playbar to appear on the Top, Left, Bottom or Right of the slide. From the Layout drop-down menu, you can decide if you want the playbar to extend the width of the slide (Stretched) and to simply center horizontally.

Adobe Captivate: Position drop-down menu.

The Difference Between a Skin and the Playbar

Many new Captivate developers confuse a Skin and a Playbar, often treating them as one and the same. A Skin plays a larger role in your project than a Playbar. A Skin is the big picture–it controls which Playbar is used, where the Playbar appears on the slide, the Playbar's Layout (Stretched, Left, Right or Centered), the buttons that appear on the Playbar, the borders that appear on the slide, and many other options. Compared to the options available to a Skin, the Playbar is a bit player.

Edit and Save a Skin

Select a Playbar from the Playbar list.

You'll notice that the Skin you selected is now using the Playbar you selected. In addition, the Skin name now includes the word Modified.

From the list of playback buttons (lower left of the dialog box), remove the check mark from Mute and Closed Captioning.

Adobe Captivate: Mute and CC off.

Click the Save tool to the right of the Skin's name and give your new skin any name you like.

Adobe Captivate: Save as command.
Adobe Captivate: Naming a Skin

From this point forward, your new skin will be available in the Skin drop-down menu for use in any new or existing Captivate project.

Note: If you'd like to see the process of editing and then saving a Skin via the Skin Editor, check out this video demonstration on our YouTube channel.

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Looking to learn Captivate quickly? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate 6 classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

April 21, 2013

Writing & Grammar: What You Need to Know About Lists

by Jennie Ruby

Readers like lists, and as writers, we know that. But there are many ways to go wrong with lists. Here is a step-by-step approach to making sure your list is a help, not a hindrance, to your readers.

Decide whether the list should be bulleted, numbered, or lettered. If the order of the items does not matter, use bullets. If the order matters, use numbers. If you are going to need to refer back to items on the list by name, consider using letters. Then you can refer to item A, item B, and so on.

Decide whether to capitalize the first word of each item. This is an arbitrary decision. If you are using a specific style guide, consult it for this decision. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style indicates that in numbered lists, the first word after each number should be capitalized, unless the list is being written in sentence form rather than in vertical list form. Bulleted lists also have each entry capitalized, according to Chicago. But for lists of short items with no bullets or numbers, use lowercase.

Decide whether to use punctuation after each item in the list. You can omit all punctuation, or you can puctuate the list as one giant sentence. If you use the sentence method, you use a comma at the end of each item unless any of the items contain commas. If any item does contain one or more commas, you use a semicolon at the end of each item. Using and before the last item is optional.

Make sure the wording of the list items is parallel. If you have a list of adjectives, all of the items must be adjectives. You can have a list of nouns, a list of gerunds (-ing verbs), a list of infinitives (in the form to x, where x is a verb), or a list of predicates. You just cannot mix them.

Like this list itself, you can make a list of paragraphs. Here, each item has multiple sentences. That means each item has to be capitalized, and each item has to end with a period.

Challenge: Fix this list

To fix up the yard for spring, we need to do the following:

to get rid of dead stalks from last year's growth
Restack the stones for the edging
We also need to plant more grass seed.
tulips

Feel free to post your answers as comments below.

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Looking for help with your writing technique? Jennie teaches two writing classes: Writing Effective eLearning Voiceover Scripts and eLearning: Writing Effective Scripts.

Already a writing wiz? Join Jennie to learn how to create effective quizzes and surveys.