The Logical Blog by IconLogic

ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2019: An Alternative to Rollover Captions and Rollover Images

I have always loved using rollover captions and rollover images in my Adobe Captivate projects. The problem is that while I love them, HTML5 does not. In the images below, you can see a rollover caption in action (in the first image, there's no rollover caption; in the second image the hidden caption, which is attached to the image, appears when the learner rolls their mouse over the image of the number 2).

While they offer an awesome level of interactivity to your eLearning, rollover captions and rollover images are not HTML5 compliant. (They will not work correctly on mobile devices.) Sadly, if you run the HTML5 tracker (Project > HTML5 Tracker), the rollover captions will be flagged as Unsupported.

The good news is that you can still use rollover captions in your projects... you just can't use rollover captions. I know, I know... it's confusing, right? You can get the same functionality of rollover captions by deploying shapes as buttons and then using Inbuilt States. (This sounds complicated but it's super easy.)   To begin, I inserted a shape onto the slide (I used a rectangle shape).

I set the properties of the shape (on the Properties inspector) to a Fill of 0% Opacity and 0 Stroke.

Then I positioned the now transparent shape over the image I wanted learners to roll over.

My goal is to use a state in place of a rollover caption. To use states effectively, I need the shape to be treated as an interactive object. That's easy enough to take care of via the Properties inspector > Use as Button.

I didn't want the button/shape to actually do anything except allow for the state to kick in so I set its Action to No Action.

And now... the State!   With the shape selected, I accessed State View.

I selected RollOver, which is an Inbuilt State (meaning it's a State that exists in all projects by default).

I inserted a Text Caption onto the RollOver State and then exited State View.

The net result is the same as using a rollover caption: the caption appears only when learners roll over the transparent shape. However, when I open the HTML5 Tracker there are no longer errors about unsupported objects.

***   Looking for Captivate training? Check out our live, online (instructor-led) Adobe Captivate classes.

TECHSMITH CAMTASIA: From Mobile Device to Camtasia in a Snap!

I was recently tasked with creating some video demos of an app on my iPhone and using them in TechSmith Camtasia 2019. To make the process as seamless as possible, I visited the App Store while on my phone and downloaded TechSmith Capture. (The app is free.)   I started the Capture app and recorded several videos simply by tapping TechSmith Capture on the initial screen.

When I was ready to transfer the videos to Camtasia on my computer, I started Camtasia and chose File > Connect Mobile Device. There are four simple steps in the Connect Mobile Device dialog box. I had already completed step 1 when I downloaded Capture and then used the tool to record a video on my phone.   Step 2, as shown below, required both my computer and my iPhone to be on the same wireless network.

Back on my iPhone, I opened one of the videos using Capture and, from the bottom left of the app, tapped Share.

From the Export to area, I tapped Camtasia.

I pointed my iPhone's camera at the barcode in the Connect Mobile Device screen on my computer and a few seconds later, like magic, the video imported to my computer, into Camtasia, and into the Media Bin. From there, it was a simple matter to add the media to the Timeline, edit, and share.

I had similar good luck exporting regular-old videos and pictures from my roll from Capture (both videos recorded using Capture and other videos that I imported into Capture) to TechSmith SnagIt and TechSmith Relay.   Kudos to TechSmith for making this a truly simple and seamless process!

***   Looking for Camtasia training, consulting, mentoring, or development? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. We've got an awesome collection of live, online classes and we offer private, one-on-one online mentoring. You can learn more about our Camtasia classes on the IconLogic website.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: New Trigger Workflow

If you want to make something happen in Articulate Storyline, Triggers are everything. They're so important to your success in Storyline that we cover them beginning in the opening minutes of our Storyline Beginner class and continue to teach them through the end of the Storyline Advanced class.   A recent Storyline 360 update from Articulate has taken what was already a pretty nice trigger workflow and made it even better. In this article we'll take a quick look at the new workflow. (If you'd like to explore the new workflow, download the latest build.) You can check your version of Storyline via Help > About Storyline. The new trigger workflow can be found in build 3.33.20625.0 or later.

The new trigger workflow will be on by default. However, you can elect to stick with the old, Classic workflow if you prefer. To switch between the new and Classic workflows, choose File > Storyline Options.

Select the Features category and then select Use the new, faster trigger workflow. (You will need to restart Storyline to switch between modes.)

In the image below you can see the classic Trigger Wizard. As I said at the start, I think the wizard was already pretty easy to use. If I had any complaints at all it was with the need to take a few extra clicks to create a Condition. (As you can see, there's a Show Conditions button which leads to a second screen where, after a few clicks, the Condition gets created.)

The new Trigger Wizard, shown below, streamlines/groups things quite nicely. Tops among my favorites is that Conditions have been moved up in the workflow (there's no longer a big button to click that leads to a different window).

When you select Actions (by clicking the link to the right of the word Actions), the options are grouped into appropriate categories, making specific actions easy to find.

The Triggers panel also received a facelift in the new build. Chief among the enhancements is the ability to Disable (you no longer need to delete and recreate individual triggers... with a quick click you can disable them) and Group (when triggers are grouped, you can make a single edit to change the event that triggers all the actions).

If you're still working with developers who are using Storyline 3, there's no worries about the new workflow causing trigger issues. According to Articulate, "The new trigger workflow is fully compatible with the classic workflow in all builds of Storyline 360 and Storyline 3, so you can share a project file with other authors no matter which version of Storyline they’re using. When you disable a trigger in the new workflow, that trigger is present but hidden in the classic workflow in Storyline 360 and Storyline 3."   You can learn more about the new trigger workflow on the Articulate website.

***   Looking for Storyline training, consulting, mentoring, or development? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. We've got an awesome collection of live, online classes. You can learn more here.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: Slides Numbers and Percentage Completion Rates

We do a ton of eLearning development in Storyline. A recent client asked if there was an easy way to add a percentage complete area on each slide so the learner quickly knew how much content remained to be viewed. Thanks to a fairly recent addition to Storyline 360, adding such a feature to a project is simple (it's also easy to add slide numbers).   If you'd like to follow along with me, create a new Storyline 360 project and insert 10 slides from the Content Library. (I went with the Affinity template but you can use any of the templates.)  Each of the slides in my sample project are represented in the menu shown in the image below (at the left).

To add the slide numbers and percentage completion, I went to the parent master slide (View > Slide Master), inserted a text box and typed the phrase: of . | You’ve completed of the lesson.

Still working on the slide master, and with my insertion point to the left of the word "of," I went to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, Text Group, and clicked the drop-down menu next to the Slide Number icon.

I selected More options and the dialog box shown below opened. From the Insert drop-down menu, I selected Slide number in menu.

I repeated this process two more times. On the second pass, I added Total slides in menu to the left of the period. On the third pass, I added Progress through menu (%) after the word "completed.".   The text box on my master slide looked like the image below.

When I previewed the scene, this was the result.

Because I added the text box to the parent master slide, the text appeared on every slide in the project. Alternatively, the number can be added to a text box on a layer (and use triggers to make the layer appear or disappear based on what the learner does throughout the lesson).

***   Looking for Storyline training, consulting, mentoring, or development? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. We've got an awesome collection of live, online classes. You can learn more here.

ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2019: Copy/Paste Appearance

I've long trumpeted the benefits of using Object Styles in Adobe Captivate. However, there may be times when you don't want to work with styles but still want to quickly apply an object's formatting to other objects. In that case, you'll love Captivate's copy and paste appearance feature.   Before I show you how to use the copy/paste appearance feature, let me review Object Styles (using styles is truly the most efficient way to work in Captivate). If you'd like to follow along with the steps below, create a blank project in Captivate 2019 (update 11.5) and draw a few shapes similar to the image below.

On the Properties Inspector, notice that the shapes are all using the Default Smart Shape Style.

Using the Properties Inspector, change the appearance of one of your shapes (for instance, change the fill color).

On the Properties Inspector, notice the plus sign to the left of the style name. The plus sign indicates a formatting override. The change you made to the object is not part of the object style and the formatting was not applied to any other objects using the same style.   To update the style, go to the menu across from Style Name on the inspector and choose Save changes to Existing style.

Every object on every slide using the style gets updated instantly. That's cool stuff. However, if you want to format multiple objects and you don't want to use Object Styles, this next technique is for you.   Select and format a shape (use the Properties inspector to change the fill, color, stroke, etc).

Select the shape you just formatted and choose Edit > Copy Appearance (or right-click and choose Copy Appearance).

Select another shape and choose Edit > Paste Appearance (or right-click and choose Paste Appearance).   The selected shape is instantly formatted to match the previous object. You can use this technique to format multiple slide objects, even across project slides. If you'd like to see a video demo of this process, you'll find it on my YouTube channel.

***   Looking for Captivate training? Check out these live, instructor-led classes.

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

TRAINING TIPS: Don't Write Trick Quiz Questions!

Have you ever written a quiz only to have some of your students come back and say the quiz wasn’t fair? Or that Number 5 was a trick question?   Here is a quiz scene from the classic movie My Cousin Vinnie, which contains a classic “trick” question. The District Attorney is trying to prove that the witness, Mona Lisa Vito, is not a qualified expert on automobiles.    D.A. Jim Trotter: Now, uh, Ms. Vito, being an expert on general automotive knowledge, can you tell me... what would the correct ignition timing be on a 1955 Bel Air Chevrolet, with a 327 cubic-inch engine and a four-barrel carburetor?   Mona Lisa Vito: It's a bull**** question, it's impossible to answer.   D.A. Jim Trotter: Impossible because you don't know the answer!   Mona Lisa Vito: No, it is a trick question!   Judge Chamberlain Haller: Why is it a trick question?   Vinny Gambini: [to Bill] Watch this.   Mona Lisa Vito: 'Cause Chevy didn't make a 327 in '55, the 327 didn't come out till '62. And it wasn't offered in the Bel Air with a four-barrel carb till '64. However, in 1964, the correct ignition timing would be four degrees before top-dead-center.   D.A. Jim Trotter: Well... um... she's acceptable, Your Honor.   Here’s some advice on how you can avoid writing any bull****, oops, I mean “trick” questions.   Realistic   Make sure the question is realistic—that it is something that would actually come up or happen in the workplace. Don’t fall into the mistake Trotter made: asking about something where there is no such thing. That may sound obvious, but it is worth having a colleague look over your questions to make sure.   Meaningful   If you write up your quiz at the end of a course development project when you are tired and in a hurry, you are at risk for cherry-picking trivial facts that are easy to write questions about. For example,  How many commands are on the Themes menu in Captivate? The right answer to that is, “Who cares?” Knowing how many items are on a software menu is meaningless with regard to whether you can use the software successfully. Your learners know it’s meaningless. So steer away from trivia, and ask relevant, meaningful questions.   Fair   Another kind of question that gets student hackles up is an unfair question. What makes a question unfair? First and foremost: it was not actually covered in the class. Sure, it may be some kind of common knowledge that does relate to the class, but if it was not actually, explicitly covered, steer clear.   No Double-Talk   Don’t use double-negatives in your quiz questions. Here’s an example of a double-negative: Which of these file formats is not unacceptable when importing images? Your learners will certainly not fail to feel like you are just messing with them, to see if you can trick them into not necessarily failing to read it incorrectly. See what I mean?   Take care in writing your quiz, and you can avoid any accusation that your quiz was unrealistic, meaningless, trivial, unfair, or unclear. And that’s a good thing!

***

Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, certified master trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: The Awesomeness of the Media Library

Have you ever had this happen to you? You insert an image into your Storyline project and then sometime later you decide to use the image on another slide. However, your project is large (multiple scenes and slides) and you're having a hard time finding that pesky image. How about this one? You're making your project accessible for learners with disabilities. You're pretty sure you added alternative text to a specific image but now you're doubting yourself. Is there a quick way to check? Or perhaps you've used an image in a project and someone on the team wants to use it too. Is there a quick way to share the image?   If you add images, characters, audio, or video to your projects (I think that covers all eLearning developers, everywhere), you'll love Articulate Storyline 360's Media Library (View tab > Views group).     The Media Library displays a list of all of the project's assets grouped on tabs for Images, Characters, Audio, and Video.     I love the ability to select an image and, from the right of the Media Library, add Alt text (for accessibility) and notes. You can also see where the image has been used throughout the project and add the same accessibility text to all instances of the image.     You can also import assets directly into the Media Library and export any asset (so it can be shared with team members).     ***   Looking for Storyline training? Check out these live, instructor-led classes. *** Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

TEACHING TIPS: Writing Meaningful Quiz Questions

One guideline that textbooks tell us about quiz writing is that the questions have to be seen as meaningful to your learners. Each question should be about something important... something that the employee actually does need to know, or be able to do. The questions should be about something that everyone would agree matters in the workplace... at least for the intended audience of the training.

 

Let’s take an example. I was teaching a class for an organization, and one of the learning objectives was: The employee must know all five of our board members.

 

One of the questions on the quiz was this: What is Board Member Jane Jones’s middle initial?

 

Imagine what your students would say if you wrote a question about such a minor point of trivia like this! I can just hear the grumblings:

• That’s not fair! 
• Why does it matter?
• I can name all five board members. I forget one middle initial and I get dinged on my quiz score?

On the face of it, this question does not meet the criterion of meaningfulness.

 

But what if I told you that the students in this case were the administrative assistants responsible for proofreading all of the Board’s correspondence? 

 

Now, it makes sense that they need to know the middle initial. They need to be able to recognize immediately if the initial is wrong. And they need to know a lot of other details that would also seem like trivia to another training audience. They need to spell the names right. They need to know how many tabs to indent the signature line. They need to know whether to capitalize the phrase Board Member.

 

Let’s see what happens if the audience is different. What if I told you that the students are the security guards at the front door of the building. The objective is the same: They must know all five board members. But now, what is it that they have to know?

 

This time, the middle initial probably is meaningless trivia. What the guard needs to know is how to recognize Ms. Jones on sight! My proofreaders may know Ms. Jones’s middle initial, but they could walk right by her in the hallway and never realize it. But the guard needs to know immediately to allow Ms. Jones into the building. 

 

In sum, your quiz questions have to be meaningful, specifically to the audience of the training. It is all too easy to write questions about trivia. Think about your training audience to keep your questions meaningful.

 

***

Jennie Ruby, CTT, COTP, is a veteran eLearning developer, certified master trainer, and author. Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer and Certified Online Training Professional. She teaches both classroom and online courses, and has authored courseware, published training books, and developed content for countless eLearning projects. She is also a publishing professional with more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, print publishing, and eLearning.

ADOBE ROBOHELP CLASSIC: Modifying the Indigo Layout Copyright Notice

Sometimes a feature that seems like it would be simple to find is buried deep with an application's interface and becomes a challenge to locate. Such was the case when it came to changing the copyright notice in a responsive output.   In the image below, you can see that the default copyright year is 2017.

I searched every area of the layout for an option that controlled the default copyright information but could not find it. The reason? The option is not part of the layout. Instead, it's a project setting. To change the copyright information, follow these steps:

Choose Project > Project Settings From the General tab, click the Advanced button Click the Labels tab Scroll down the long list to the Responsive Help section Locate Copyright= followed by the copyright info

Click on the copyright info and then click the Edit button Edit the text as necessary Dismiss the dialog boxes and re-generate

ADOBE CAPTIVATE 2019: Free Assets Make New Projects a Snap to Create

In a previous article, I showed you the hot new assets that are available in Adobe Captivate 2019 (update 11.5). This update, which is free to current Captivate 2019 users, really does fill a void found in older versions of the software: a lack of quality templates to use as the starting point for new projects.   In previous versions of Captivate, blank projects weren't the most attractive things to look at. Sure, there were (and are) themes that quickly allow you to change the look of a project in mere seconds. However, many people have complained that the default themes are hardly a visual party nor do the themes add new slides to your project with usable placeholder objects. If you are not a content person or a designer, you are pretty much on your own.   Adobe Captivate 11.5 offers several project assets that will help both the non-designer and non-content expert get off to an awesome start.   To begin, create a blank project. Locate the Assets icon in the upper right of the Captivate 11.5 window.

From the left side of the Assets dialog box, select Projects. There are two project options: Projects and Slides. Projects will create a complete project with wonderful placeholders. Slides will add slides to existing projects.

Select Slides and then select Intro.   Select Title 01 and then click the Insert (1) slide button.

A single slide is added to your blank project. You can now edit the placeholder content as appropriate. (I love that the slide already contains an interactive button and that is preset to go to the next slide when clicked.)

As cool as the slide assets are, and as nice as they look, things are about to get crazy. Go back and click Assets, and then select Projects (instead of Slides).   Select one of the project templates (I selected Rhapsody) and then click the Open as New Project button.

I ended up with a new, 44-slide project. (That's right... 44 ready-to-use content slides.) And the slides look awesome! Kudos to Adobe for doing these Assets right!

All that I needed to do was replace the placeholder text with my content, perhaps add a few slides here or there, and maybe swap out some of the images... and that was that. Spend some time with the Project and Slide assets. I'd love to hear your thoughts about them. Cool? Lame? What do you think?

***   Looking for Captivate training? Check out these live, instructor-led classes.

***

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, and TechSmith Camtasia. Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has three decades’ experience as a trainer, publisher, technical writer, and eLearning developer. Kevin is a Certified Master Trainer (CMT), Certified Technical Trainer (CTT+), Certified Online Professional Trainer (COTP), and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.