I Came, I Saw, I Learned...

Adobe Captivate 5/5.5: Setting a Default Object Style

by Kevin Siegel  

I enjoy creating eLearning lessons using Adobe Captivate. Nevertheless, it's work and I make every attempt to produce and publish my projects as quickly and efficiently as I can. In fact, I am always looking for ways to save steps, and I'm all about getting something done with fewer and fewer clicks.

With fewer clicks in mind, I'm going to show you a quick Captivate setting that could save you at least one click every time you insert an object onto a slide. (Just one click you say? Don't discount even minor savings. One click saved here, another there... and you're golfing!)

I'd like to insert a standard text caption onto a slide. The task is simple enough. Choose Insert > Standard Objects > Text Caption.

I'd also like to assign a specific Object Style to the new text caption. This process is also simple. Select the text caption and use the Style drop-down menu on the Propertiespanel.

As I said, the steps are simple, but allow me to simplify things even further... and save you a few clicks in the bargain.

Open the Object Style Manager via the Edit menu. From the center of the dialog box, select a style. Lastly, from the right of the dialog box select Set As Default. 

 

The next time you insert a text caption, the caption will already be using the style you set as default. Think of all of the clicks you'll save!

If you're not an Object Style Manager fan, I have another way of setting a default object style. Go ahead and insert the object as you normally would. Then, on the Propertiespanel, select a style from the Style drop-down menu. Lastly, select Set as the default style.  From that point forward, the selected style will automatically be applied to newly inserted objects. 

 

***

Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe Captivate 5/5.5: Troubleshooting Cranky Software

by Kevin Siegel  

By this point I've created hundreds upon hundreds of eLearning projects using Captivate. In all that time, Captivate has remained very stable for me (very few crashes and zero corrupt projects). Nevertheless, I've received some emails over the last few weeks from Captivate developers who were having issues with Captivate crashing, running slowly or otherwise behaving erratically. In the vast majority of the cases, the following resolved the issues.

Editing over a network drive: Captivate projects simply cannot be edited over a network drive. Backing up your projects to a network drive is a great idea. But if you open a project and then proceed to edit it over a network drive, the project will behave erratically, work slowly and, sooner or later, become corrupt. Take my advice (and the advice of any developer who has lost a project), stay clear of your network drive. If your project is currently on a network drive, first copy the project to your local drive and then edit it.

Run as administrator. If you are using Windows Vista or 7, and you are working locally but Captivate is still behaving badly, try running the software as an Administrator. You can Captivate as an Administrator by right-clicking the Captivate application icon and choosing Run as administrator.

Virus Scanners: Many virus scanners scan your hard drive 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The scanners are well-meaning but can rob your computer of performance and block all kinds of processes... even Captivate processes. I'd suggest stopping your virus scanner while you're working within Captivate. Instead, schedule the virus scan during hours when you aren't asking your computer to perform intense processes (like producing a Captivate project).

Clear Captivate's Preferences: If Captivate is performing strangely, you can delete the Preferences folder and see if that shakes things up. Close Captivate, find the Preferences folder on your computer (see below) and then restart Captivate. The Preferences folder will be recreated when Captivate starts. If you are nervous about deleting the Preferences folder, make a backup of the folder first and copy it to a trusted location. Then delete the original.

Note: The Preferences folder won't be actually be called "Preferences." Instead, it will have the same name as your version of Captivate. For instance, since I have both Captivate 5 and 5.5 on my computer, I have two Preferences folders, one called "Captivate 5," the other called "Captivate 5.5."

Here is where your Preferences folder can be found (it's a bit different dependent upon your operating system and version):

Windows 7: C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Local\Adobe\Adobe Captivate   

Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[user name]\Local Settings\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Captivate

Mac:  /Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Captivate 

See also: Captivate's Cache Feature 

***

Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe Captivate 5/5.5: Join Objects in a Snap

by Kevin Siegel  

If you've ever tried to draw a line between two objects (so you could join them to show a relationship between one object and the next), you'll appreciate Captivate's Snap to Object feature.

In the image below, I've drawn two simple shapes on a Captivate slide. Next, I'd like to draw a diagonal line between the two boxes. 

 

In the image below, I've drawn the line using Captivate's Line tool. However, I wasn't quite perfect when I released my mouse and the line ended up being a bit too long. Certainly it would be easy enough resize the line at this point, but I'd like to be a bit more efficient and end up with a perfect object-to-object line the first time. That's where the Snap to Object option will come into play.

 

Since the Snap to Object feature will only work on new objects as they are being drawn, not on objects that are already on the slide, the first thing I did was delete the original line. Then I chose View > Snap to Object.

Using the Line tool, I drew a new line, starting at the first object and moving diagonally toward the upper left of the second object. This time, as I got close to the second object, a circle appeared over the corner of the second object. (This is a visual indicator telling me that Captivate was ready to snap to the second object.) 

 

All that I needed to do at this point was click my mouse and I had a perfect line between the two objects.

 

***

Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe Captivate: Apply Your Changes

by Kevin Siegel  

Over the past several months I've written myriad articles extolling the value of using styles on slide objects (including how to reset them, clone them and how to create styles on the fly).

Have you been a good developer? Are you using Object Styles? I'm going to give each and every one of you the benefit of the doubt... of course you are. But even if you are the most disciplined user of styles, there could be trouble ahead. Since several object properties are not contained within an Object Style, keeping things consistent can still prove challenging... even if you fully utilize styles. 

Let's take just one group on the Properties panel as an example. The Transform group (Captivate 5.5) or Position and Size group (Captivate 5) contains options that will not be found in the Object Style Manager when you create or edit a style.

What would happen if you manually used a non-style option on a selected slide object? Here's a scenario: let's say that you want to change the width of a single text caption. That's simple enough to accomplish via the Properties panel (using the Transform/Position and Size group). After changing the width of the caption, you then decide that you want all of the text captions in your project to use the new width. Since the width option isn't something that's part of an Object Style, you'll need to go from slide to slide and manually change the width of every caption. Not very efficient, eh?

Read on...

After manually changing the width of the text caption, ensure the caption is selected and then, go to the Properties panel and on the far right of the group, click the Apply to all button. 

You will see two choices in the drop-down menu: Apply to all items of this type and Apply to all items of same style. If you choose the former, all text captions in the project will get the new width. Nice! If you choose the latter, only the text captions using the same style as the selected text caption will update. This is a nice option if you only want to change the width of a specific group of captions. 

***

Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe Captivate: Custom Cursors Anyone?

by Kevin Siegel  

A student in a recent online Captivate class asked me if it was possible to create a custom mouse cursor for a Captivate eLearning lesson. Sadly, I had to tell the student that it wasn't possible. It's certainly simple enough to change the appearance of any selected mouse cursor (via the Properties panel), but Captivate is not an image-editing application so you cannot create custom cursor images (cur files).

While you cannot create cursor files (CUR's) within Captivate, you can easily create your own, and you can find a bunch of cursor images on the web. For instance, a quick Google Search took me to RealWord Graphics where I found a Gallery area containing an impressive array of free cursor images. The images can be downloaded and used within a Captivate project. If you aren't happy with the cursor images found in the RealWorld Gallery, they provide a Cursor Editor that allows you to quickly create your own cursor.

Download a Cursor Image From the RealWorld Gallery and Use It Within Captivate

Here's all you need to do if you want to download a CUR file from the RealWord Graphics site.

1. After accessing the RealWord Graphics site, click the Gallery tab.  
2. Click the cursor image group you'd like to download. (In the image below, I went with a collection of Aqua Green Cursors.)
   
    
3. Click the link below the image preview and save the file to your computer. (The Aqua Green Cursors group that I selected had several similar cursors. I went with Normal.cur.)
   
   

Note: Pay particular attention to where you saved the file. You'll be opening the location of the cur file next in Captivate.


4. From within Captivate, select a mouse pointer on any slide. 
5. On the Properties panel, click the Browse button and open the cur file that you downloaded earlier.
   
   
   
   In the image below, notice that the standard mouse pointer has been replaced with my downloaded custom cursor.
   
     

See Also: Change the Mouse Pointer Project-Wide.

***

Looking to learn Captivate quickly? We offer two live, online classes. Adobe Captivate Essentials and Adobe Captivate Beyond the Essentials (Advanced).

Adobe Captivate 5.5: Flash Player Version Aversion

by Kevin Siegel

One of the big decisions you will need to make during the Publish process (File > Publish) is which Flash Player to choose from the Flash Player Version drop-down menu.

Captivate 5.5 sports three versions of the Flash Player: 9, 10 and 10.2. While the Flash Player 10.3 was released back in May 2011, it is currently not available in the menu.

Which Flash Player should you choose? According to Adobe statistics, Flash Player version 10 and below is in use in 99.2% of the world's mature computer markets (mature markets include the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Japan, Australia and New Zealand). Flash Player version 10.3 is in use in 40.5% of those same markets.

With the numbers above in mind, it make sense to select Flash Player 10 from the Flash Player Version drop-down menu. Right? Not so fast. In my experience, many companies and government agencies are still using Flash Player version 9 (with no plans to upgrade anytime soon).

Learners attempting to open a SWF published to a more recent version of the Player than what is installed on their computer will be unable to view the lesson. While some of those learners will be prompted to download the newer version, they may or may not be able to actually install the current Player (depending on their admin rights). In other cases, learners using an older version of the Player will simply see a blank, white page. Ouch!

During my Captivate classes, I encourage students to play it safe when it comes to the Flash Player Version and select one full version lower than what is offered. By selecting an older version of the Player, users who have the newer version of the Flash Player will still be able to consume your content, as well as those with the older version of the Player.

***

Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5 or 5.5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

Adobe Captivate 5 & 5.5: One Simple Click... All That Stands Between You and Your Speech Agent

by Kevin Siegel

The ability to convert text to speech using Captivate's built-in text to speech agents is awesome. All you need to do is select the slide note(s) you want to convert and then click the Text-to-Speech button.

Assuming you have installed NeoSpeech and Loquendo Voices (two programs that come with Captivate but need to be installed after Captivate has been installed), you will be able to choose from any one of five voices from the Speech Agent drop-down menu: Kate or Paul (which come from NeoSpeech); Juliette, Simon or Stefan (from Loquendo Voices).

In addition to the five voices you get with Captivate, any voices that have already been installed on your computer will also appear in the Speech Agent drop-down menu. In the image below, Microsoft Anna, which comes with Windows, is also listed among the Speech Agents. 



After selecting an agent, all you need to do is click the Generate Audio button to convert the selected text to an audio file. Simple! Of course, if you follow these simple steps, you won't get the agent you were hoping for in the generated audio.

In the image below, notice that I have selected Kate from the Speech Agent drop-down menu. However, Microsoft Anna is shown at the right of the dialog box. Most new Captivate developers (and even some vets) miss this little detail. If I were to click the Generate Audio button now, I'd end up with an audio file containing Microsoft Anna, not Kate.



There is one subtle thing you have to do before selecting an agent and then clicking the Generate Audio button: click just above the text you'd like to convert and ensure the space above the text turns gray (see the image below).



If you miss this one simple click, you won't be using the agent you want... instead, you'll be using the default agent (which, as shown earlier, would have been Anna for me).

***

Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5 or 5.5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

Adobe Captivate 5 & 5.5: Avoid the Heart Attack... Put It Back!

by Kevin Siegel

I was teaching a session on Adobe Captivate at a conference when I performed an action I have performed at least a thousand times... I opened the Advanced Interactions dialog box (via the Project menu).

While this was  a routine action, the result was anything but routine. The Advanced Interactions dialog box did not appear on my screen and Captivate appeared to crash. I could move my mouse around the screen, but if I tried to click anywhere, I heard an alert beep. Nothing was working in Captivate and I was stuck. This was perfect timing. There were only a few hundred people staring at me. And I'm pretty sure that more than a few attendees were enjoying the show as I squirmed and tried to troubleshoot the issue.

I noticed that if I pressed the [Escape] key on my keyboard, I could continue to work within Captivate, but trying to open that pesky Advanced Interactions dialog box caused my system to freeze each time.

The first thing I tried to do was reset Captivate's Classic workspace (Window > Workspace > Reset Classic). While that seemed like a reasonable course of action, it didn't resolve the issue.

And that's when it hit me. I use two huge monitors in my office (yes, I'm spoiled). When I was at the conference, I was plugged into the conference-supplied overhead--essentially a single huge monitor.

I remembered that when I was last in my office, I had opened the Advanced Interactions dialog box and dragged the dialog box from my main monitor to my second monitor. I had done what I needed to do in the Advanced Interactions dialog box and I had clicked OK.

I did not drag the dialog box back to my main monitor--and I had never needed to worry about doing so in the past. But for whatever reason, Captivate was acting as if I was still working with that second monitor, even though the monitor was not at the conference with me and wasn't listed in my system Display Preferences.

Thankfully there was a second monitor in the room, sitting just to my left on the table. I quickly plugged the second monitor into my laptop and BAM!... the Advanced Interactions dialog box showed up on the second monitor.

Given the fact that I've heard about this issue from several Captivate 5 developers, I would urge you to be diligent when working with dual monitors. If you move something to that second monitor, drag it back to the main monitor... especially if you are going on the road and you're not planning on taking the second (or third) monitor with you.

***

Looking to learn Adobe Captivate 5 or 5.5? We offer Beginner and Advanced classes. Both Windows and Macintosh developers can attend these classes.

eLearning & mLearning: Stop Motion & Time-Lapse Inspiration

by AJ George

Trond Kristiansen's eLearning Devcon 2011 session, Using Photographic Techniques In eLearning, really got the rusty gears of creativity in my brain churning about how to incorporate some photographic techniques into eLearning.

I've previously covered how to easily manipulate stock images, but Trond's ideas were decidedly more high brow...and fun. It had never before occurred to me to incorporate time-lapse or stop motion techniques into eLearning. Now that it's been presented to me I am flooded with ideas where this could be really dynamic in learning modules.

In Garin Hess's eLearning Devcon 2011 session, Intro to mLearning, Garin mentioned that the healthcare market made up 17% of the total US market for mLearning, which is a 24% growth rate. I think the medical field in particular could benefit from time lapse and stop motion in eLearning. What about a 360 degree tour of campuses/facilities/offices? 360 degree shots around medical equipment? What if those 360 shots had the option to zoom in on specific parts? We can do this in online shopping carts, so why not in eLearning? Or how about a time lapse video showing the accumulation of germs on unwashed hands or equipment?

So, today, for your viewing pleasure... some inspiration:

This one appears to have been made for fun, but could probably be very useful as a portfolio or how-to situation in the beauty field.

http://vimeo.com/2470086

This one is rather long, but just watching a small snippet of it illustrates how you could use this technique to run through software processes or to show how much work goes in to a project.

http://vimeo.com/927062

This is a fun use of stop motion for educational purposes.

http://vimeo.com/22869880

Time-lapse of a stop motion! Totally meta. (And, in case you'd like to see the stop motion he's creating, you can watch it here).

http://vimeo.com/15669301

This is in another language, but is a good example of a 360 degree tour that allows for zooming in for a closer look.

http://vimeo.com/419831

And for some serious professional quality:

http://vimeo.com/16369165

***

About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Communicator and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."

 

mLearning: The Time is Now

by AJ George  

The push for mobile learning (mLearning) has been a surprisingly long one. Last year we talked about how mLearning wasn't quite ready, but we threw out some technical tips in case you were ready to dive in. Almost a year later we noted that the Horizon Report slated adoption of mLearning for one year or less. And now a recent T+D magazine features the article: "At Last: M-Learning Going Mainstream."

It looks like the future of mLearning is officially now.

From the T+D article:

"We were surprised at the slower pace of adoption," says Janet Clarey, senior analyst for Bersin & Associates. "However, after nearly 10 years of predicting that m-learning will go mainstream, we're finally seeing enough momentum now that it really is going mainstream, and it's driven by the consumer market."

The article says that a Pew Internet & American Life Project study from July 2010 found that 55% of US mobile web users go online daily, up from 24% the year before. There appears to be little evidence of adoption slowing down anytime soon, so it looks like if you've been itching to get started with mobile learning, the time is now. But be aware that mLearning, even if it is the right time, may not be right for everyone. Before jumping in, consider these points from Jason Bickle's eLearning Devcon 2011 session, Design Approaches for Adapting Content for mLearning.

Do you have...

• an eLearning strategy that includes other forms of content?
• an audience that needs mobile information?
• a standard delivery platform?
• the need to track interactions from mobile platforms?
• content suited for mobile delivery?
• a mobile content manager?
• a mobile web developer?

If you find yourself with a lot of no's, it may not matter if mLearning has officially come into its own... it still may not be quite right for you. mLearning is, after all, just a buzzword unless you have the proper context for it in your learning.

In what may be another boon for mLearning, last week Google released a beta tool called Swiffy, a free Flash to HTML5 converter. My first thought about Swiffy was that it would solve a LOT of the problems I hear with SWF content not playing on Apple devices like the iPad. I tried Swiffy on some of my Captivate-published SWFs and I'm sorry to report that none of them converted using the Swiffy beta. Until Swiffy will convert Captivate SWFs, it appears that Swiffy will have limited use. However, I do think Swiffy will evolve and it won't be long before more elaborate Flash content (such as SWFs created with Captivate) will be easily converted to HTML5. Fingers crossed!

(Note: You must use a WebKit browser like Chrome or Safari for Swiffy to work at all.)

We aren't the only ones buzzing about mLearning. Check out these other recent Coming of Age articles floating around the eLearning community:

• 10 Tips for Designing mLearning Content
• Five Ways to Get Started in Mobile Learning
• M-Learning 101: I'll Take My Rapid E-Learning to Go

 

More from ELDC 2011:

eLearning: Putting it Into Context

***

About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Communicator and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."