The Logical Blog by IconLogic

Writing & Grammar: Where Does the Apostrophe Go?

by Jennie Ruby 

Perhaps you have seen a grocery store sign saying "Orange's." Or maybe you have chortled over some poor soul who spelled "mens' room" with the apostrophe on the wrong side, because men is plural, right? Let's see how many of us can put the apostrophes to rights. (You can post your answers as comments below.)

1. The black and tan puppy ran right into the childrens' room.
2. All three puppie's noses were white from the milk in the cereal bowl.
3. The kid's faces brightened as soon as they saw the puppies.
4. The cat guarded the kitten's from the rambunctious dogs.
5. The biggest dogs paw's were up on the table.
6. The children pulled the puppies and the momma dogs ears.
7. There was little doubt about the puppies affection.

Here are the answers for the challenge on punctuation with the word however. They are brought to you by Rita Martino. Special thanks to Michelle Duran for drawing my attention to the fact that meltwater should be all one word, rather than two separate words--even though Microsoft Word is red-underlining it right now. Webster's says it is one word, and that is good enough for me.

1. The tiny bird explored every crevice of the log; however, it did not seem to find any food.
2. Snow covered the ground within the woods; the road, however, was clear.
3. Beside the road, pools of meltwater had formed; however, the road was completely dry.
4. The bird flew down from a branch to forage in the clear space beside the road; the passing traffic, however,frightened it back.
5. The bird returned to the roadside, however, hoping to find a seed.
6. What it found when it returned, however, was something unexpected.
7. The roadside was sprinkled with breadcrumbs, and however you look at it, that bird's luck had finally turned.

Other winners are Kolja Fuchs, David Zimmerle, Karyn Highet, Anne Goldenberger, Chris Zimmel, Jiang Ping Fan, Ginny Supranowitz, and Sonia Verma.

The example where many lost out was number 7: the clause "however you look at it" is not parenthetical, and therefore should not be surrounded on both sides by commas. Instead, it is introductory to the second sentence. So no comma before however.

Localization: Training & Development in Costa Rica

by Jen Weaver  

Take a few minutes over this morning's café con leche to learn about the beautiful country of Costa Rica. Let's explore some common cultural facts about Costa Ricans and their expectations when it comes to training and development.

Pop Quiz (no Googling the answer):

1. True or False? Costa Rica means "Rich Coast."
2. True or False? Costa Rica is the wealthiest country in Central America.

Quick Tips for Training & Development in Costa Rica¹:

• Costa Ricans often refer to themselves as Ticos, a name based on their tendency to add tico to the end of words to imply fondness.
• English is commonly spoken in business settings, but translating materials into Spanish is still the preference. Spanish is the official language, but a small percentage of people also speak Caribbean Creole English and a handful of local dialects.
• As is common in many Latin American cultures, Costa Ricans interpret facts through feelings and may use their faith (86% are Catholic) as the foundation of truth.
• More than citizens of many other countries, Costa Ricans believe in the value and equality of all people and emphasize the dignity of work independent of social class.
• Many Costa Ricans exhibit a strong sense of group responsibility and favoritism toward family and close relationships.
• Sociologists describe Costa Ricans as being high in uncertainty avoidance. They rely on strict rules to limit risk and avoid change and conflict when possible. To keep from losing face, Ticos may provide indirect answers rather than offer a less-than-preferable response.
• Decisions are made by group consensus, so be sure to allow additional time for these discussions and deliberations.
• Timelines and deadlines are seen as suggestions rather than hard dates, causing late payments to be a common occurrence. Be tolerant of and anticipate delays.

Pop Quiz Answers:

1. True.
2. False. Panama is the wealthiest nation in Central America.

References:

¹Morrison, Terri, & Conaway, Wayne A. (2006). Kiss, bow, or shake hands (2nd ed.). Avon: Adams Media.

***

Developing international training and development materials? Contact Jen at Carmazzi Global Solutions.

Social Media: Reinforce Your Brand

by Matt Sullivan  

How do you determine if someone is a consumer of social media? Would you know a social media consumer if you saw one? Guess what? Well... if you're reading this, you are a consumer of social media. How do you find like-minded consumers and convert them to customers? Social platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook let you move content toward those who need it.  So if you have a message, how can you make social media work for you?

Create a Social Media Indentity

The first step in a social media plan is to establish a presence for you and your brand. Determine the location of your customers and meet them there. Create a profile that is obvious and consistent with your marketing goals. Make your username an obvious extension of your brand. 

I've created a social media branding class that provides an opportunity for you to explore options for a social media identity. As an example, my online identity is mattrsullivan. Go ahead and search online to see who Google says I am. The results are a collection of content and social interactions that I've developed, all tethered to the mattrsullivan social media ID. During my class we use online tools to explore the available options for you and your brand, and show you how to save time by automating the creation of those profiles across relevant networks.

Create Content

Here is where originality counts. During the recent WritersUA conference in Palm Springs, I had to create a PowerPoint presentation for each of my three sessions. Since I'd already put in the work, I recorded a quick overview of the conference, complete with:

• an intro video
• lower-third titles (like on a newscast)
• background
• logo branding
• cuts between:
  • the slides
  • my video
  • an overlay of video and slides

Though it sounds tough, I already had everything but the five minutes of video and 30 seconds of intro on my machine. In about 30 minutes, I'd produced my introduction video (in MP4 format).

Reuse Content

Once I'd posted the video to my YouTube channel, it took me mere moments to create a WordPress post, which contained a few paragraphs of text and the video. I also placed my slides on Slideshare, along with the video. Of course, the missing piece here was broadcasting the content beyond people who are currently subscribed to my YouTube, WordPress, and Slideshare accounts. For further social media outreach, I used twitter to broadcast to #writersua attendees and #techcomm watchers. I also posted regular updates to my LinkedIn account, relevant LinkedIn groups, and FaceBook.

Re-purpose Efficiently 

Be efficient when repeating your message across your social media accounts. There are a number of social media aggregators available (I use HootSuite). During the WritersUA conference mentioned earlier, I used HootSuite to schedule twitter and other messages to occur in the hours leading up to my presentation. I also scheduled teasers from my presentation that were automatically made public at the same time that I was giving my presentation. (This little trick made me look like some sort of magician to those people who were attending my session live.)

What Did You Have For Lunch?

Unless your lunch was truly epic, you should assume that people who consume your social media offerings for business really don't care about your dining habits. Above all else, you need to produce content that's interesting and relevant to your readers. Every situation is different, so carefully consider the appropriate mix of personal and professional content to keep your audience engaged.

***

If you'd like to learn what it takes to make social media work for you, consider attending my social media branding class. By the end of the day, you'll understand what it takes to:

• create an effective social media ID
• identify and reuse content
• cross-promote content across networks
• use an aggregator to increase effectiveness of incoming and outgoing content

I hope to see you in class!

Adobe eLearning Community Formed Supporting Maryland, DC, and Virginia

IconLogic's Kevin Siegel has been named the manager of Adobe's new eLearning Community supporting eLearning developers living in or around DC, Virginia, and Maryland.

Kevin and the IconLogic team will be hosting regular meetings featuring tips and tricks on creating effective eLearning using such tools as Adobe Captivate and Adobe Presenter.

Join the group on LinkedIn to keep up to date on meetings and share your experiences with other developers.

More information.

Adobe Captivate: No More Empty TEBs

by Lori Smith

During my beginner Adobe Captivate class, I am often asked if it's possible to ensure that learners do not leave a Text Entry Box (TEB) blank. When working with a TEB, you can set specific correct values using the Validate Entry option in the General group on the properties panel.

  

But what if you want to ensure that learners put something in the box, not a specific value? While there is no setting in Captivate to ensure that a TEB isn't left blank, using a little variable and some advanced action magic can make it happen. 

Create User Variables

1. Choose Project > Variables and create a new variable. Do not fill in the default value. (I named my variable empty.
   
   
   
   Note: This would be a great variable to put in all your templates!
   
   
2. Create another variable to store the TEB data. (I named mine UserData.)
   
   
   
   
3. Attach the UserData variable to the TEB (using the General group on the TEB's Properties panel).
   
   
   
   
4. Create a Text Caption on your slide that tells the user they need to fill in the data. Name the caption error and deselect the Visible in output option.
   
   

Create a Conditional Advanced Action

This advanced action will compare the UserData to the empty variable. If the UserData is empty, show the error message and jump back to the beginning of the slide to allow for another try. If the UserData is not empty, Go to Next Slide.

(Note: To make this action generic so it will work with any slide, do not hard code the slide it needs to jump to. Instead, determine which slide you are on and jump to it as needed. You will do this using an additional user variable named thisSlide, and two system variables, cpInfoCurrentSlide and cpCmndGotoSlide.)

 

The last step is to assign the advanced action to Execute when the learner clicks the Submit button. You can do this via the Properties of the selected TEB (on the Action group).

And there you have it. No more tearing your hair out trying to force a learner to enter information into a TEB instead of just skipping over it.

Got other Captivate challenges? Send them to me and maybe you'll see your problem solved in a future article.

***

Looking for instructor-led training on the top eLearning tools? We offer live, online training on Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio.We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

PowerPoint: Create Tables with Rounded Edges, Method 2

by AJ Walther  

Last week I shared a method for creating a table with rounded corners in PowerPoint. While that method did have its benefits, it could be a bit time consuming and there was no easy way to uniformly adjust the slope of the curved edges. Here's an alternate method for creating tables with rounded corners using PowerPoint for Windows. It's a bit faster and allows for easy corner editing.

Insert the Table as an Image Fill

1. In PowerPoint, select a table (the thick gray table border should be visible).
     
2. Right-click the thick border of the table, choose Save as Picture, give the image a name, and save it to your computer.
     
3. On a new slide, from the ribbon, choose Insert > Illustrations > Shapes > Rounded Rectangle to insert a rounded rectangle shape that is roughly the same size as your original table.
     
4. Right-click the rounded rectangle and choose Format Shape.
5. From the Line Color category at the left, choose No Line.
     
6. From the Fill category at the left, choose Picture or texture fill.
7. From the Insert from area, click the File button.
     
8. Navigate to where you have saved your table image and Insert it. (Ensure Tile picture as texture is not selected.)

Your table is inserted and has easily adjustable rounded corners thanks to the yellow handle on the top left corner.

   

To make edits to the table, you'll need to return to the original table, make edits, and then re-save and re-insert as a shape image fill.

Do you prefer the Paste Special method or the Shape Image Fill method? Do you have another method you like to use? Feel free to post comments below.

***

Looking to improve the appearance of your PowerPoint presentations? Check out my Optimizing PowerPoint Design for eLearning & Presentations class.

"Adobe RoboHelp HTML 11: The Essentials" Workbook Now Available on the Kindle

I'm pleased to report that my newest book, "Adobe RoboHelp HTML 11: The Essentials" has gone to the printer. While the hard copy version of the book won't be available for a week or so, the Kindle version is available now from Amazon.com.

During the activities presented in this workbook, you will create RoboHelp projects from scratch and add such best-in-class features as TOCs, Indexes, Glossaries, images, links, DHTML effects, eLearning videos and much more. You'll also learn how to use the hot new Responsive HTML5 output to create content for any device, anywhere.

More information.

eLearning: Playbar or No Playbar? Let the Debate Begin

by Kevin Siegel   

I was teaching Adobe Captivate recently when a student asked a few questions about the value of a playbar that fueled an interesting and heated, discussion (some folks love playbars, others hate them). Here are the questions that got the debate rolling:

• Is the playbar necessary? 
• If a playbar is included, how can you encourage learners to interact with screen objects instead of skipping them using the playbar navigation controls?
• Where is the best place to position the playbar (top, bottom, left, or right of the lesson)?

All of the top eLearning development tools (Articulate Storyline, Articulate Presenter, Adobe Captivate, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio) allow you to control the appearance of the playbar. In addition, each of the tools can accomplish the suggestions outlined below. In some instances, the option I discuss isn't easy to find in a particular tool. If you have trouble locating the playbar options, feel free to contact me.

Is the Playbar Necessary?

Should you include a playbar in your eLearning lessons? In my opinion, absolutely! If you've created a video like those commonly posted on YouTube or Lynda.com, there isn't any interactivity. The only way learners can navigate through a video is via the Play, Rewind, and Pause tools found on a typical playbar. While a video's playbar doesn't offer much in the way of learner engagement, at least it's something. In my experience, videos without playbars are ineffective. The lack of a playbar can be disconcerting if not flat-out annoying. 

How Can You Encourage Interaction With Screen Objects?

If your eLearning lesson is interactive (perhaps it's a software simulation with a quiz, or a soft skills lesson with buttons for navigation), the learner who navigates via the playbar instead of the interactive slide objects can derail the lesson. For example, you've created a button on a slide that, when clicked, reports a score to your Learning Management System (LMS). If the learner clicks the forward button on the playbar, not the interactive button on the slide, no score is reported to the LMS. As far as the LMS is concerned, the learner skipped the slide.

How can you encourage the learner to interact with the slide objects and not simply race through the lesson by clicking the forward button on the playbar? 

• Add an animation in combination with an interactive slide object.

In one of my projects, I inserted an arrow animation that pointed to the buttons on the first several slides (not all of them, since I was worried about the animation being a distraction). While short and sweet, the animation was enough of a visual cue that very few people missed the opportunity to click the buttons.

• Hide the playbar for the entire lesson by default, but have it automatically appear when the learner mouses over the screen.
• Hide the playbar on any slides where clicking an interactive object is critical.

Playbars and Quizzes...

If you've included a quiz in your lesson, most of the eLearning development tools require the learner to answer the question and submit before it is recorded and graded. If the learner answers a question correctly but clicks the forward button on the playbar instead of a Submit button on the slide, the LMS will likely treat the question as unanswered. In this instance, the learner will not get credit, even though the question was answered correctly. 

In this scenario, you can set up your lesson so that the playbar will disappear when the learner is taking the quiz but reappear on non-quiz slides. Most eLearning development tools offer a "hide playbar during the quiz" feature. (For example, in Adobe Captivate, it's a simple check box found on the Quiz Preferences dialog box.)

What Is The Best Screen Position for the Playbar?

If you elect to include the playbar, where is the best place to position it? The most common location for the playbar is below the video or simulation. In my experience, this position works the best since the majority of your learners are conditioned to look there first. The biggest problem with the bottom-position occurs when the video is very tall. In this case, many of your learners won't know there's a playbar at all since they'd need to scroll down. In this scenario, positioning the playbar at the top of the lesson would be ideal.

I'd love to hear if you think playbars belong in eLearning or not. I'd also like to know where you place them and how you encourage users to avoid the playbar when screen interactivity is critical. Please post your comments below.

***

Looking for instructor-led training on the top eLearning tools? We offer live, online training on Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio. We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

Writing & Grammar: Punctuating Before However

by Jennie Ruby 

 

Since so many respondents aced the last challenge, I am upping the ante. This time, a transition word, however, will be inserted into each sentence. Your task? Determine whether you should have two commas around however, or whether you should have a semicolon before and a comma after the word however. Or not.

What's the difference? You put a semicolon before however if a complete sentence precedes it and follows it. You put just a comma before however if it is an interruption within one sentence. The same is true if it is interrupting a clause within a larger sentence.

Here are some examples:

The log was hollow and had no bark [complete sentence]; however, the wood was still quite hard [another complete sentence].

The log was hollow and had no bark. The wood [not a complete sentence], however, was still quite hard [again, not a complete sentence].

The log was hollow. The bark was still attached [complete sentence], however, covering most of its surface [not a complete sentence].

Don't forget that the word however also has a second meaning, in the sense of "no matter how," and when used in that meaning, it is not a transition word, and thus requires no punctuation.

Challenge: Semicolon or comma or nothing before however

Replace the X with a semicolon, with a comma, or with nothing.

1. The tiny bird explored every crevice of the logX however, it did not seem to find any food.
2. Snow covered the ground within the woods; the roadX however, was clear.
3. Beside the road, pools of melt water had formedX however, the road was completely dry.
4. The bird flew down from a branch to forage in the clear space beside the road; the passing trafficX however, frightened it back.
5. The bird returned to the roadsideX however, hoping to find a seed.
6. What it found when it returnedX however, was something unexpected.
7. The roadside was sprinkled with breadcrumbs, andX however you look at it, that bird's luck had finally turned.

You can post your answers as comments below. 

 

***

Answers to the Last Grammar Challenge

Thanks to all our respondents. Almost all of you placed the semicolons and commas between sentences correctly. Here are the correct answers, presented by Chuck Jones:

1. The house had a huge master suite, but the back yard was paved with asphalt.
2. The kids loved their new, separate bedrooms; their parents loved the separate den.
3. The renters can store their skis in the outdoor locker; the owners can store their belongings in the padlocked walk-in closet.
4. The new house had a view of the ocean and a park, and the driveway had room for up to five vehicles. (there should be nothing after the word 'ocean')
   
   Alternative answer: "Honestly, I would not have used either here; instead, I would place a semi-colon after 'park' and omit the 'and' after it." (Michael Salgy and Lisa J. Stumpf)
   
   
5. A music room was the dream of the husband, but the wife really wanted a screened-in porch.

However, as some noticed, the X on number 4 was in the wrong place (thank you, Lisa J. Stumpf). It was not between two sentences. Placing a comma after ocean or not creates two different meanings. Without the comma, the house has a view of the ocean and a view of a park. With the comma, it means the house had a park and also had a view of the ocean. Personally, I think it would be rare for the house to have a park, but you might loosely say it has a park while meaning that it is near a public park. That's why I give slightly more credit to those who took out that X and did not put a comma after ocean.

Here are the winners, in random order: Lisa J Stumpf, Karla Marsh, Michael Salgy, Sonia Verma, Mindy Clark, Rita Martino, Katy Atkinson, Vera Sytch.

And here are those who had all the other punctuation correct and kept a comma after ocean, which is a possible answer to what ended up being a trick question because of the misplaced X: Jai Y. Shaw, Kolja Fuchs, Linda Wyche, Heather Morrow, Michelle Duran, Carla Craddock, David Simmerle, Jill McCauslin, Cathy Koloff, Sisa Stumpf, Carl Bechtold, Chris Zimmel, Sandra McGuire, Darius Zahedi, and Krista Allen.

PowerPoint: Create Tables with Rounded Edges

by AJ Walther  

You've created a PowerPoint slide with a table showing quarterly service subscriptions for your three regional divisions.

 

You feel good about it, but when you show the higher ups they say, "That's great pal, but we want to take the company look in a more rounded direction. Go ahead and round out those corners." You of course say "No problem!" but when you get back into PowerPoint you realize that there is no option to round out the corners of a table.

There may not be a direct way to insert a table with rounded edges, but there are two easy ways to get the job done. I'll cover one method this week and the second next week.

The first option is to edit the pieces of the table.

1. In PowerPoint, select your table so the thick gray table border is visible.
     
2. On your keyboard, press [ctrl] [x] to cut the table to the clipboard.
3. From the Ribbon, choose Home > Paste > Paste Special to open the Paste Special dialog box.
     
4. From the Paste As: area, select Picture (Windows Metafile) and click the OK button.
    
5. With the pasted table selected, press [ctrl] [shift] [g] on your keyboard twice to convert the picture to a drawing object and ungroup it.
    
6. Click outside of the table to de-select all of its pieces.
7. On your keyboard, hold down the [shift] key as you click the shapes making up each of the four corners of the table (and then release the [shift] key).
     
8. From the ribbon, choose Drawing Tools Format > Insert Shapes > Edit Shape > Change Shape and select the Round Single Corner Rectangle. (Hovering over each shape will reveal the tooltip with the shape's name.)
     

The top right cell is now nice and rounded, but the other three cells' shapes are facing the wrong direction. You'll fix that next.

  

1. Click the top left cell of your table and, from the ribbon, choose Home > Drawing > Arrange > Rotate > Flip Horizontal.
     
2. Click the bottom left cell of your table and, from the ribbon, choose Home > Drawing > Arrange > Rotate > Flip Vertical and then, with the same cell still selected, choose Home > Drawing > Arrange > Rotate > Flip Horizontal.
3. Click the bottom right cell of your table, and from the ribbon, choose Home > Drawing > Arrange > Rotate > Flip Vertical.
     
4. Drag over all of the table's pieces, and then, on your keyboard, press [ctrl] [g] to group the table back into one piece.

The benefit of going this route is that you can easily edit the text and colors on the table. The downsides are: 1) this method is a bit time consuming and 2) if you want those corners rounded more, it will take even more time to ensure that all of the corners are rounded the same. I'll cover a second method to get the job done next week, so check back then!

UPDATE: Click here for a second method for creating tables with rounded edges in PowerPoint.