Captivate Training: 101 Part 1

Captivate Training 101 Part 1

Open Captivate – Welcome Page

Getting Started Tutorials - on the right
Create Project
Create Template
Others
Open Recent (just like MS Word and other applications)
Menu Bar – upper left

Setting Preferences for your project: Edit-Preferences. Or, SHIFT + F8.

General Settings’ under ‘Global’.

Spelling Preferences

Confirmation messages

Global Defaults

Open & Explore an Existing Project - Navigate an Existing Project

Storyboard View:

Edit View
Edit View with Filmstrip

To open the Filmstrip, Window – Filmstrip.

Branching View

Branching shows a visual look at links.

Help menu – can get to Getting Started Tutorials
Window menu and panels: Many of these panels can be found on the Window menu. You need to be in the Edit view to see them on the Window’s menu.

Timeline -Use slide 2

Preview

Library

Slidenotes

Toolbars - Windows

Demonstrations v Custom (hybrids)

Type / Recording Automatically by default / Advantages
Demonstration / Mouse movements, highlight box where the user should click, and captions / Much quicker to make
Custom (hybrids) / Many possible options to make your CBT quicker and as much as possible for you. / Interaction with the Users

Demonstration Selections:

The bottom 2 selections are grayed out. Click Boxes & Text Entry Boxes.

Custom Possibility Selections:

When you film a CBT, you want the Captivate software to do as much as the work as possible for you.

Record a Custom Project

These are 2 critical factors to consider before you create your project: how sharp and how large your Captivate Screen captures will be.

Steps for changing/viewing your display resolution.I’m using IE 6.0 and Windows XP Professional.

  • Do this before you record.

Your steps may be different than the ones presented below.

  1. ClickStart – Control Panel
  2. Double-click Display
  3. Click the Settings tab
  4. Set to 1024 x 768
  1. Click OK.

Recording Area

You do this inside Captivate. Recommended: 800 x 600 or less.

END key/stop recording

Rehearsals

Always practice your script as many times as it takes to be proficient.

Script for Demo(I have Windows XP Professional)

  1. From your Personal Page, click the View button to the right of My Announcements
  2. Click the announcement titled CPR Review
  3. Read the announcement and then click the Acknowledge button.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click the Return to Announcements List button in the upper right.
  6. You are returned to the Announcements page. The announcement CPR Review now displays a green checkmark because the announcement was acknowledged.

Record a Demonstration

Recording Area in Red

Click the button that looks like a camera to change settings.

You want panning set to NO Panning, and audio to No Narration, and the mode set to Demonstrationwhen you are filming a demonstration.

Settings Button

Add an Image

File Formats / Description / Advantages / Disadvantages
BMP / Windows Bitmap / Readily available / File size often large and they do not resize well.
GIF / Graphic Interchange Format / Good for Black & White.
See PNG’s they have more color. / Lower on color.
ICO / Icons / Use for icons.
JPEG/JPG / Joint Photographic Expert Group / Great for color photos. / Do not resize as well as a WFM (see below)
POT / PowerPoint Templates / You can add a PowerPoint template as an image into a slide.
PNG / Portable Network Graphics / Support more colors than GIFs. At some point in time may replace GIFs.
WMF / Windows Metafile / Excellent for Resizing because they are *“Vector”

* Vector graphics are excellent for resizing because they are made up of geometric shapes.

PowerPoint Presentation & Captivate

Now with Versions 4 and 5 of Captivate, you can also link between PowerPoint and Captivate.(& PowerPoint 2003 & 2007)

Reading the dialog box

& we receive a warning about our selected size.

Preview

To close a project, File – Close or keyboard CTRL + W

Import a PowerPoint presentation into an existing Captivate project

Close the Project only, not Captivate.

Library

If the Library is not open, you can open from the Window menu. You have to be in the Edit view for it to show.

Cick the Select Unused Items icon on the Library’s menu bar.

Tips for Captivate:

Plan, Develop, Film and Deliver

Write the Script

Just like in Hollywood if you have a bad script, you’ll have a bad movie.

Rehearse it

Reset It

Record it

Clean it up and pretty it up

Publish and Test it / Add fixes, Retest)

Link to LMS

Test again from LMS

Visually:

  • Keep it simple
  • Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should

Image sites:

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June 21, 2010