The Logical Blog by IconLogic

Adobe Captivate 2019: New Text-to-Speech Voices

Last week I told you about an awesome (and free) update to Adobe Captivate 2019. In that post, I told you how Adobe removed most of the outdated (Flash) SWF features. But there's more to this update, and I'm loving it. Specifically, Adobe has enhanced the Text-to-Speech feature.

Choose Audio > Speech Management to open the Speech Management dialog box.

 

At the bottom of the dialog box, you'll see a note about ReadSpeaker. If you're a veteran Captivate developer, you'll notice that Captivate used to rely on NeoSpeech. ReadSpeaker voices replace NeoSpeech.

Click the Download new and enhanced voices link. (Note that the download is nearly 4 GB, so if your internet speed isn't fast, prepare for a long wait while the package downloads.)

Exit (quit) Captivate, extract the downloaded file, and run the installer. Once the voices are installed, restart Adobe Captivate.

Choose Window > Slide Notes, create a new note, and then write some text into the note area.

From the upper right of the Slide Note, click the uppermost check mark and then click the Text-to-Speech icon.

The Speech Management dialog box reopens.

From the left of the slide note, click the voices drop-down menu.

The original NeoSpeech voices are still available, such as Paul and Kate. However, you'll see plenty of new voices like Adam, Ashley, and Mark. 

Select the voice you'd like and click Generate Audio.

You can preview the audio by clicking the Play icon.

If you'd like to learn more about Captivate, check out these training opportunities. If you need development support or one-on-one mentoring, I'm an email away.

Adobe Captivate 2019: New Update Removes Flash Output

While the world awaits the all-new Captivate to be released (the new version, currently called Project Charm, is in beta), Adobe continues to support version 2019.

A new update, 11.8.1, was recently made available, and you'll find it via Help > Check for Updates. Once the update is installed, you can confirm you have the latest build by choosing Help > About Adobe Captivate.

Beyond some tweaks to the overall look and feel of the interface, this update finally removes references to SWF output in the Publish dialog box (File > Publish).

Also, the Preview options no longer include SWF in Web Browser. While it's nice that Adobe removed the SWF preview option, I'm not happy that both the Preview from and Preview Next 5 options were removed.

And there are some additional assets, too... but Adobe needs to up its game here and include more varied assets seen with competitors like Articulate and TechSmith. I'd love to read your thoughts on that in the Comments area.

Also note that while many Flash options were removed from this build, you can still add non-HTML features such as Rollover Captions.

It's still a good idea to run the HTML5 Tracker and ensure you're not adding anything unsupported in the HTML5 output. (Project > HTML5 Tracker.)

Adobe RoboHelp 2022: Reusing Image Alt Text and Titles

When adding images to a RoboHelp project, it's a best practice to add Alternate Text and an Image title to every image.

Alternate Text serves two purposes. The alternate text appears in the published output if the image cannot be displayed to the user for any reason. For visually impaired users, assistive devices such as screen readers read the Alternate Text out loud, making alternate text critical if you're trying to meet or exceed Section 508 standards.

An Image title is a brief description of the image. This title appears when the user runs their mouse over the image.

If you plan to reuse an image in multiple project topics, I've created a short video demonstrating how to repurpose the image, the image title, and its alternate text all in one shot. (Spoiler alert: the copy and paste command is your best friend!)

Looking for RoboHelp training or support? We've got you covered with our classes and virtual mentoring.

TechSmith Camtasia: Timeline Zooming and Disabling Snapping

When I teach my TechSmith Camtasia vILT classes, we spend a lot of time working on the the Timeline. If you need to select a small amount of time between two media objects or position the playhead in a very specific area, things can get tedious because of Camtasia's snapping feature.

Here are two quick tips that will help with selecting tiny areas of the Timeline:

1. Zoom in.
   
   The closer you zoom in on the Timeline, the easier it will be to select tiny areas of video media.
   
   
   
   
2. Temporarily disable Timeline snapping.
   
   When trying to position the playhead, you'll notice that it snaps to areas along the Timeline. This snap behavior is great until it isn't. You can temporarily disable the snap feature by pressing [ctrl] on your keyboard as you drag the mouse. By disabling the snap feature, you will easily be able to position the playhead in a specific location along the Timeline.

Pressing the [ctrl] key to temporarily disable Timeline snapping works on the Canvas as well. If you resize a Canvas object, the resizing process snaps to a canvas grid. Press [ctrl] on your keyboard while resizing an object on the Canvas, and you'll bypass the canvas grid snapping.

I've created a quick demonstration of both zooming the Timeline and disabling the snap feature. Check out the video here.

Adobe RoboHelp 2022: Expanding Text

Given the speed of today's internet, modern users help fast when they need it. And gone are the days when help topics bloated with too much text are acceptable.

Instead, users expect easy-to-read topics that are short and to the point. If your RoboHelp topic is long and you are truly unable to cut content, expanding text might be a viable option. Using expanding text, the content remains but only appears "on-demand" should a user click a link.

1. To create expanding text, highlight the content you want to expand and cut it to the clipboard.
2. Select the text that you want to be clickable.
3. On the toolbar, click Create Expanding Text.
   
   
   
   
4. Paste the clipboard contents over the expanding text placeholder content and you're done!

To see expanding text in action, check out this video demonstration.

If you need training on Adobe RoboHelp, check out our vILT options.: https://www.iconlogic.com/instructor-led-training/software-title/robohelp.html. Prefer a RoboHelp mentor or help with development, we've got you covered there, too: https://www.iconlogic.com/consulting-development-design/consulting-mentoring-services/consulting-and-mentoring-all.html,

TechSmith Camtasia: Device Frames = Awesomeness

Using TechSmith Camtasia, you can easily add or record software demonstrations, add them to the Timeline, and export as a video or interactive eLearning. You learn to do this in the early stages of my Camtasia virtual classes.

To add even more context to your software demonstrations, you can quickly and easily apply an awesome Visual Effect--Device Frames.

In the image below, I've imported a video demonstration to my Media Bin and added it to the Camtasia Timeline.

With the media on the Timeline selected, select Visual Effects, right-click Device Frame, and choose Add to Selected Media.

In the image below, notice that my video media is automatically overlayed on the default Device Frame.

Even cooler? You can quickly change the type of Device Frame via the Properties panel... and even download additional frames.



Want to see Device Frames in action? Check out this quick video.

Adobe FrameMaker: Symbols, Superscripts, and Character Formats

I recently mentored someone on Adobe FrameMaker. As a follow-up, I received the following request for help regarding working with symbols and baseline shifts.

I hope this email finds you well. I’m still improving upon my FrameMaker skills, thanks to you! I’ve been searching for a way to change the baseline of a character. In the legal copyright and trademark statement, I want a symbol such as a copyright but have it large enough for the general public to read. I can set my character designer at a larger font; however, it is too high. Does Framemaker have the ability to change the baseline of a character?

Here is one quick solution:

Choose Format > Character > Designer and set the window to As-Is. (The As-Is option will let you select which specific attributes get included with the new style.)

From the lower left of the dialog box, select Superscript.

Create a new style called something like Copyright symbol.

Type some text in the FrameMaker document and then go to the Insert menu and choose Symbols > Copyright.

For the moment, the symbol is aligned with the text. But not for long.

Choose Format > Character > Catalog.

Select the symbol and then, from the Character Catalog, click your new Copyright symbol character style.

The selected symbol is now raised above the baseline.

Articulate Storyline 360: Indexing Scenes

When I teach my vILT Articulate Storyline 360 classes, we tackle scene creation right away. As the project grows and more scenes are added, students quickly realize that the scene numbers can get out of numeric order. For instance, scene 6 might end up becoming the starting scene and be listed first in Story View, scene 4 might be the next scene, followed by scenes 3, 5, 1, and 2.

In the example below, notice that the third scene is numbered 2, and the second scene is numbered 3.

I've never been bothered by scenes that are out of numeric order. However, I know that this bothers other Storyline developers. The Index tool allows you to quickly renumber your scenes.

Here's how it works. I've selected the last scene in the image below, titled Second Scene.

I want the selected scene to be treated as the second scene by Storyline and assigned the number 2.

On the Home tab of the Ribbon, Scenes group, I clicked the Index tool drop-down menu and selected 2. Remember, just previous to this, I selected the third scene. By choosing the number 2 from the Index menu, I'm telling Storyline to change scene number 3 to scene number 2.

And here's the re-indexed scenes. Note that non of the slide-to-slide jumps have been negatively affected by reindexing vs. cutting and pasting scenes.

Check out this short video to see the Index feature in action.

TechSmith Camtasia 2022: The Freeze Region Effect

During a recent TechSmith Camtasia vILT class, a student asked if it was possible to remove alert messages that always seemed to appear when she was recording her screen. She felt that the pop-ups were, at best, distracting for her learners or, worse, ruined her screen recordings.

I've found the Freeze Region Effect in Camtasia 2022 to be one of the best Camtasia features... ever... period!

1. On the Timeline, position the playhead just before the distraction you'd like to cover.
2. Select the media.
3. From the Visual Effects area, right-click the Freeze Region Effect and choose Add to selected media.
   
   
   
   
4. On the Canvas, resize and reposition the Freeze Region so that it covers the distraction.
5. On the Timeline, change the starting and ending point of the Freeze Region.
   
   

You're done! Sounds too simple, right? Check out this video and see for yourself how easy to use the Freeze Region effect!

Adobe RoboHelp: Searching Made Even Better

When I teach RoboHelp, I tell my students and the three main areas users will rely on to get help in a help system are the table of contents (TOC), Index, and Search. Of the three, Search wins the award for being the most used feature.

One thing to avoid in a TOC is bloat--a TOC that has so much content that it's difficult, if not impossible, to find anything quickly. Because users will first rely on Search, keeping the content on the TOC streamlined is a great idea. However, if a topic is not on the TOC or referenced by a link or cross reference by something on the TOC, the topic won't be searchable. This presents a conundrum. If you want to keep your TOC streamlined, but the TOC is tied to Search, what's a RoboHelp developer to do?

The solution is to create an extra section on the TOC. Put anything you want to be searchable in that section. (You can add all of your topics if you'd like.)

On the Content Properties panel, select Hide in output.

Generate the output. The "hidden" TOC content will not appear on the TOC, but will be searchable.

Check out this video demonstration of the process.