The Logical Blog by IconLogic

Adobe RoboHelp: List Images

by Willam van Weelden  

 

When you create a list, there are several list styles you can use in RoboHelp: bullets, squares, lowercase alphabet, and numbers. But RoboHelp brings one more great feature: you can use images instead of bullets.

Create a List Style with Custom Images

1. On the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box.
2. Right-click List and choose New.
3. Enter a name for the list style and press [enter].
4. Click the Create a bulleted list button.
5. Select the list images option.
   
6. Click the browse button to open the Image dialog box.
   
7. Select the image you want to use as a bullet and click OK.
8. Then click the OK button to save your changes.

Apply an Image List Style

1. Open or create a topic, and then create a regular bulleted list.
2. Select the list.
3. Right-click and choose Bullets and Numbering.
4. Go to the Custom tab and select your list style in the left section.
   
5. Click the OK button to apply your list.

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

eLearning: More Reflection

by Kevin Siegel   

Last week I wrote about how you can use Reflector to create software simulations and demonstrations from your mobile device.

I received emails from several people who, having read the article, downloaded Reflector and attempted to create a simulation using Adobe Captivate or Articulate Storyline. While most folks were successful in reflecting the mobile device onto the computer, several people reported that none of the actions they took on the mobile device were captured by the eLearning tool. 

As I mentioned in last week's article, the reflection of the mobile device you see on the computer is passive; you cannot control the reflection with the computer. Instead, you can simply see what's happening on the mobile device through your computer.

During the simulation recording process, if you're creating a software simulation, programs like Captivate and Storyline only capture the screen if you click your mouse (or manually create a screen capture by pressing the appropriate keyboard shortcut). Since you're not clicking anything on your computer (remember, the computer is simply showing you a reflection of the mobile device), neither Captivate nor Storyline will capture anything.Unless...

On your computer, start the recording process using Captivate or Storyline. Just prior to performing an action on your mobile device, click the reflection on your computer to create a screen capture. Next, on the mobile device, perform the action. Back on the computer, click the reflection again to create a second screen shot that shows the result of whatever it is you did on the mobile device. Continue this process over and over until you have completed all of the processes you wish to simulate on the mobile device.

If clicking over and over again to create a simulation sounds too difficult, all three of the top eLearning development tools (Camtasia Studio, Captivate, and Storyline) excel at creating videos. If you create a video of the reflected mobile device, everything you do on the mobile device is captured because the video isn't creating individual screen shots, it's capturing everything you do without discrimination. 

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If you'd like to learn more about eLearning, come hang out in my next eLearning basics mini course. And if you'd like to learn more Captivate, Presenter, or Storyline, we've got a great collection of live, online classes for you.

Adobe RoboHelp: Multilevel List Sub-Numbering

by Willam Van Weelden  

A few weeks ago I showed you how you can use multilevel lists to easily create complex lists with multiple levels. But multilevel lists are far more powerful than I could show you in a single article. This week, I'm going to expand on the multi-level list theme by teaching you how to add sub-numbers to lists: 

Sub-numbering is important for many procedures and legal documents. You simply can't have sub numbering in RoboHelp without multilevel lists, unless you want to manually type in all sub-numbers. But with multilevel lists, you control this behavior right from the style sheet!

To add sub-numbering to a Multilevel List, first Create a multilevel list. Then, on the Project Manager pod, double-click your style sheet to open the Styles dialog box. 

In the Styles dialog box, select your multilevel list. From the Apply Formatting To drop-down menu, choose a level that will use the sub-numbers.

 

Click in the Edit Style field and, from the Insert Level drop-down menu, choose 1.

 

Click OK to close the Styles dialog and save your changes.

And that's it. From this point forward, any of your multilevel lists can include sub-numbering (as shown in the image below):

 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

Fundamentals of Designing and Developing Cost-Effective eLearning

When: September 22-25
Where: McCormick Place, Chicago (Part of the Online Learning Conference Certification program)

There are multiple tools available that will let you create compelling eLearning content including Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, TechSmith Camtasia Studio, and Adobe Presenter. But which tool is the best, most affordable option for your needs?

Once you select your eLearning tool, what's next? How do you get started creating your first eLearning content? Once you start, how long is it going to take you to finish? What's the real cost for your effort? Are there hidden costs? How will you be able to measure the effectiveness of your eLearning?

Join IconLogic's Kevin Siegel for an intense, tool-agnostic, hands-on workshop where you'll get a jump start on  building your first eLearning course.

Among other things, you'll learn:

• Strategies for building effective eLearning
• The eLearning development process
• How to create an eLearning script and/or storyboard
• How to get started on creating eLearning content using Captivate, Storyline, Camtasia or Presenter

More information.

Adobe RoboHelp: Get the New Responsive Layout

by Willam Van Weelden  

 

One of the hottest new features introduced in Adobe RoboHelp 11 is Responsive HTML5 layouts. The Responsive HTML5 output dynamically changes the way the content is presented based on the device the reader is using. For example, while a reader on a desktop might see a traditional table of contents on the right side of the page, someone using a smart phone will see a table of contents that is optimized for touch: 

 

  

 

Responsive HTML5 output uses Screen Layouts, the skins for HTML5 output. With these skins you can control how your output will look for your users.

 

If you have used Responsive HTML5 before, you may have seen the following layout in the gallery:

 

  

 

The image above shows the Responsive Layout as it was delivered when RoboHelp 11 was released. You'll be happy to know that Adobe released an update of this layout with the RoboHelp 11.0.1 patch.However, even if you have installed the patch you may still be using the old layout.

 

While Adobe provided instructions on how to manually install the new Responsive HTML5 layout, they are hidden away in the release notes and you likely missed them. If so, here they are:

1. Close RoboHelp.
2. Using Windows Explorer, search for%appdata%\Adobe\RoboHTML. 
   (The RoboHTML folder hidden within your AppData folder opens.)
   
3. Rename the folder 11.00 to 11.00_old.
   (A new 11.00 folder will be created when you restart RoboHelp.)
4. Start RoboHelp.

You can now use the improved Responsive Layout for your output:

  

 

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Looking to learn RoboHelp? We offer a live, two-day online RoboHelp class once a month. Feel free to contact us to learn other ways to meet your RoboHelp training requirements.

 

Camtasia Studio vs Adobe Presenter: Working with PowerPoint Presentations

by Kevin Siegel   

 If you have already created a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint, it's very easy to re-purpose the presentation as eLearning content using either TechSmith Camtasia Studio or Adobe Presenter. Here is how the workflow compares in both tools.

TechSmith Camtasia Studio 8 and PowerPoint

 

To migrate PowerPoint presentations to Camtasia Studio projects, and then eLearning, you'll need to first install Camtasia Studio and, when prompted, install the Camtasia recording features for PowerPoint. Once installed, the Camtasia recording features are added to PowerPoint's Ribbon (on the Add-Ins tab).

 

 

To migrate a PowerPoint presentation into a new Camtasia Studio project, click the Record button (shown above). The PowerPoint presentation opens as a slide show and you click through and narrate the presentation just like you would for a live audience.

 

When you're finished working through the presentation, press the [escape] key on your keyboard. The recording process stops and a video of the entire presentation is created.

 

The video automatically opens in Camtasia Studio and is inserted on the Timeline. All you have to do at this point is use the excellent tools found in the Studio to enhance the video as you see fit. (Using Camtasia, you can add callouts, images, audio, Flash hotspots, animations, and even a quiz.)

 

Once you've finished enhancing the video in Camtasia, you need only choose Produce and Share so your eLearning lesson can be consumed by your learners. During the Produce and Share process, you can output SWFs, MP4 videos, and HTML5-compliant output (allowing the content to be usable on mobile devices such as the Apple iPad).

 

TechSmith also provides a nifty, free publishing portal known as Screencast.com. You can post your Camtasia output to Screencast.com for easy learner access. 

 

While the Camtasia to PowerPoint workflow is simple, there is one drawback. During the Camtasia Recording process, it's as if a video camera was pointed at your display. If your timing is off as you click through the presentation, you'll likely need to stop the recording process and start again.

 

Once the video is added to a Camtasia project, you can perform some simple edits to the video. For instance, you can split the video into multiple segments, and you can crop segments. However, if there's a major problem with the video (perhaps you forgot to click something during the recording process), you'll pretty much need to remove the existing video from the Camtasia Timeline and re-record.

 

Adobe Presenter 9 and PowerPoint

 

When working with Adobe Presenter and PowerPoint, there really isn't anything to migrate. After installing Presenter on your computer, the Adobe Presenter tools are integrated with the PowerPoint Ribbon (on the Adobe Presenter tab). Below are the individual tool groups you'll find on the Adobe Presenter tab.

 

 

 

  

 

As with Camtasia, you'll use the Presenter tools to add audio, images, videos, and a quiz. Once you're finished, you'll use the Presentation group on the Adobe Presenter group to Publish the Presentation as either a SWF or PDF. (While you can also publish SWFs using Camtasia, you cannot produce a PDF.)

 

While it might seem like there are more tools on the Adobe Presenter tab when compared with Camtasia Studio, keep in mind that Camtasia creates a recording of the PowerPoint presentation, and then you end up in a new Camtasia project. Once you're working in Camtasia Studio, there are far more tools and options than you'll find on the Adobe Presenter tab.

 

Summary

 

I love using both Camtasia Studio and Adobe Presenter. One could argue which of the two tools is better for creating eLearning. If you're starting an eLearning project from scratch (and not using PowerPoint), Camtasia, combined with its suite of tools, is likely going to be your tool of choice. (Although Presenter does come with a nifty standalone tool called Adobe Presenter Video Creator. The tool makes quick work out of recording screen actions similar to Camtasia's Recorder tool.)

 

If PowerPoint is your eLearning starting point, the advantage has to go to Adobe Presenter. Since the Presenter tools are simply an Add-In to PowerPoint's powerful presentation tools, assuming you know how to use PowerPoint, you only need to learn what the specific tools on the Adobe Presenter group do to create compelling, interactive eLearning. By contrast, once the PowerPoint video is taken into Camtasia, you'll need to be pretty comfortable with the Camtasia Studio interface to produce your video.

 

If you'd like to see a video comparing Adobe Presenter to Camtasia Studio, check out the video I created on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

 

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Looking for training on Adobe Presenter? Check our our live, online classes. Is TechSmith Camtasia Studio more your style? We've teamed up with ASTD and offer a live, full-day class on that program too. How about Adobe Captivate? We offer multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate. Need the training in-person? We can also bring the same great training onsite to your facility. Interested? Contact us for details.

Adobe Captivate: Text Entry Boxes Gain More Options

by Lori Smith

Text Entry Boxes are great. I find them particularly handy when creating an eLearning lesson and you need to simulate the process of typing text within a form field. Text Entry Boxes allow learners to type text just as they would in the actual software.

When setting up a Text Entry Box, you can set the Correct entries by selecting Validate User Input from the General group on the Properties panel and then specifying the terms in the Correct Entries dialog box.

Like I said at the outset, Text Entry Boxes (TEB) are great, but they're not new (they've been around since day 1). If you've used TEB's over the years, you know that they've changed very little even as Captivate has evolved and grown in both features and power.

If you're a long-time TEB fan like me, you'll be delighted to see that with Captivate 7, TEB's have finally been improved a bit. With a TEB selected on a slide, check out the More Options button in the General group of the Properties panel. The options that appear, thanks to this simple button, solve one of the issues that has frustrated me in the past. There is now a check box where you can specify some general restrictions on what a 'correct' entry may be.

For instance, if you choose Numbers, your learner will only be permitted to type numbers within the TEB. Select Lowercase and any characters typed will always appear in lowercase letters. Select Uppercase and any typed text will automatically be put into uppercase letters.

If you have specified either Lowercase or Uppercase and your learner tries to type in a number, the box will not accept it. If you specify a Maximum Length, when the learner tries to enter more than the specified number of characters, an error message appears. And even cooler? You can force the text to automatically be submitted after the specified number of characters by choosing Auto Submit (the learner won't need to press any additional keys on the keyboard or click a Submit button).

I encourage you to play around with the new TEB options. I'm sure you'll find the perfect settings that will allow you to simulate your computer software like never before.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

Adobe Captivate: Best Practices for Creating Compliant eLearning

by Kevin Siegel

A few years ago I was in Canada teaching Captivate for a large Toronto-based company. We were just getting ready to cover the accessible features found in Captivate when I was informed that I could skip the section because Canadians were not required to create accessible content.

Fast forward to a recent online Advanced Captivate class that included students from South America, Australia, and Canada.In speaking about accessibility with the class, it became apparent not only does the Canadian government now require compliant eLearning, but according to the Canadian students in class, the rules in Canada are often more stringent than those in the United States. I was also happy to learn that other counties, such as Australia, are also addressing accessibility when it comes to eLearning.

If compliant eLearning is a requirement for you, I would encourage you to review your local laws to familiarize yourself with as much information as possible. If you work in the United States, or create eLearning content for a U.S. company, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about Section 508 compliance online. If you are working with Canadian companies, you should familiarize yourself with the Canadian compliance laws. (Note: The Section 508 website may be down due to the U.S. Govt. shutdown. If so, you'll need to try accessing the site once the shutdown is over.)

What Does Captivate do to be Section 508 Compliant?

Selecting the Enable Accessibility option (Edit > Preferences > Publishing) makes certain elements in Adobe Captivate projects accessible or open to accessibility technology. For example, if you select the Enable Accessibility option and you have filled in the project name and project description text boxes in Project preferences, a screen reader will read the name and description when the Adobe Captivate SWF file is played.

The following Adobe Captivate elements are accessible when Enable Accessibility is selected:

• Project name (derived from Project Properties)
• Project description (derived from Project Properties)
• Slide accessibility text
• Slide label (derived from Slide Properties)
• Buttons
• Playback controls (The function of each button is read by screen readers)
• Password protection (If an Adobe Captivate SWF file is password protected, the prompt for a password is read by screen readers)
• Question slides (Title, question, answers, button text, and scoring report are read by screen readers)

Output generated with the Section 508 option is displayed by all supported browsers. However, your output may not be Section 508-compliant unless it is viewed with Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer is the only browser with support for MSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility).

Note: To access Flash files using a screen reader, users must have Flash Player 9 or later installed.

Tips for Creating 508-compliant Adobe Captivate SWF Files

While Adobe Captivate Section 508 output is compliant for navigation, make sure that other elements are also compliant in your project. Assistive software must be able to "read" elements on the screen to visually impaired users. Use these tips to design accessible projects.

• In the Project preferences, write a meaningful name and description for your Adobe Captivate projects.
• For users with hearing impairment, add text equivalents for audio elements. For example, when delivering narrative audio, it is important to provide captions at the same time. One option is to place a transparent caption in a fixed location on slides, then synchronize the text with the audio using the Timeline.
• If your project contains visual multimedia, provide information about the multimedia for users with visual impairment. If a name and description are given for visual elements, Adobe Captivate can send the information to the user through the screen reader. Make sure that audio in your Adobe Captivate projects does not prevent users from hearing the screen reader.
• Supply text for individual slides that screen readers can read.
• Ensure that color is not the only means of conveying information. For example, if you use blue to indicate active links, also use bold, italics, underlining, or some other visual clue. In addition, make sure that foreground and background contrast sufficiently to make text readable by people with low vision or color blindness.
• For users with either visual or mobility impairment, ensure that controls are device independent or accessible by keyboard.
• Users with cognitive impairments often respond best to uncluttered design that is easily navigable.
• If mouse movement is critical in your Adobe Captivate project, consider making the pointer twice its normal size for easier viewing.
• Document methods of accessibility for users.
• Avoid looping objects. When a screen reader encounters content meant for Flash Player, the screen reader notifies the user with audio, such as "Loading....load done." As content in a project changes, Flash Player sends an event to the screen reader notifying it of a change. In response, the screen reader returns to the top of the page and begins reading again. Therefore, a looping text animation on a slide, for example, can cause the screen reader to continually return to the top of the page.
• If you are creating click boxes, you can make them more accessible by adding sound. The sound can play when users tab to the click box or hover over it. To add this accessibility feature, attach a sound file to the hint caption. (If you do not want the hint caption to appear on the slide, you can make the caption transparent and add no text.)
• Accessibility in Adobe Captivate works better when all the slides have interactive content.

Source: Adobe, Creating Accessible Projects

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

Adobe Captivate: Drag and Drop Interactions

by Kevin Siegel

If you have always wanted to add drag and drop interactions within a Captivate project, but felt the technique was beyond your ability, think again. Adobe Captivate 7 not only allows you to add this kind of behavior, it's remarkably fast and easy (no programming required... I promise).

In the image below, I've created a Captivate slide with four Smart Shapes. My goal is to allow learners to drag the similar shapes on top of one another. If they succeed, they'll "pass." If not, they'll get a failure message. The darker shapes on the slide will each be a source; the lighter shapes will be targets. If you'd like to follow along, go ahead and create a similar slide (it shouldn't take more than a minute or so).

To add the drag and drop interaction, choose Insert > Launch Drag and Drop Interaction Wizard.

Select each source object on the slide (one at a time) and click the plus sign to the right of the Add To Type drop-down menu. Give each source object a name and then click the OK button. When you are done naming the source objects, click the Next button to move to Step 2.

Step 2 of the wizard will require you to select and name the target objects. I created two targets (the lighter shapes shown in the first image above). After that, click the Next button to move to the last step.

The final step is to drag the source objects to the target objects (you can see me doing just that in the image below).

After clicking the Finish button, you're... well, finished. Preview the project and you'll be able to drag the source objects to the target objects. As I promised above, you didn't have to create a single line of code to get this to work... how cool is that?

If you would like to see a demonstration of Captivate's Drag and Drop feature, check out the video I posted to the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.

Adobe Captivate: A Great GIFT

by Kevin Siegel

When it comes to adding question slides to a Captivate project, you can always visit the Quiz menu and choose Question Slide. You'll be presented with the Insert Questions dialog box giving you access to several types of questions you can add including Multiple Choice, True/False and Matching. Once the questions have been added to your project, the next step is to edit the questions and answers.

If you need to add a large number of question slides to a project, creating the quiz is going to take a significant amount of time. There is a better way to go, especially if a Subject Matter Expert who does not own Adobe Captivate is going to create the quiz: GIFT files.

GIFT stands for General Import Format Technology. You can create a GIFT file in plain text using a simple word processor (like Notepad or TextEdit), and then import the file into Adobe Captivate.

In the image below, I've created a GIFT file in NotePad that will result in one multiple choice question.

The syntax is simple. The Question Title goes between the colons (::Multiple Choice::). Next comes the question itself. The answers are contained within the {}. The correct answer is preceded by an equal sign (=); the incorrect answers are preceded by a tilde (~).

Once the GIFT file has been created, importing it into Captivate is beyond simple. Choose Quiz > Import GIFT Format File and open the GIFT file. In the image below, you can see the imported Multiple Choice question based on the GIFT file above.

All that would be left to do would be to format the question as you would any slide or apply a Theme.

If you would like to see how the GIFT feature works, check out the video I created on the IconLogic YouTube channel.

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Looking for training on Adobe Captivate? IconLogic offers multiple live, online Adobe Captivate classes each month including Introduction to Adobe Captivate and Advanced Adobe Captivate.