Essentials of Adobe Captivate 2

Learn by doing via this step-by-step workbook

If you are an instructional designer or technical writer, you have no doubt spent years attempting to perfect the art of teaching programs using fewer and fewer words. If you are in the business of educating, you know how difficult this job can be.

These days, interactive lessons that can be viewed over the Internet or from a CD are all the rage.

There are many programs that can be used to capture a computer's screen, mouse action and audio. Unfortunately, the resulting movies can be huge--a five minute lesson could easily gobble up nearly 100mb of storage space on a hard drive. Downloading a file that large will take a lot of time, even if a user has a fast Internet connection. Large file sizes are just part of the problem. The movies may not be cross-platform (they may not work on both Macs and PCs). Interactivity is a feature most of the "mouse capture" applications do not support. And there are few of these programs that allow images to be imported.

In short, the technology for creating interactive lessons WAS bad. But not anymore. Using Captivate, you can capture screen shots on your computer and quickly turn them into lessons (movies). The movies you create can be interactive--you can add images, captions, rollovers, clickable areas, typing areas and sound effects.

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Note: To complete the lessons presented in this book, you will need the following software and hardware: Adobe Captivate 2, 600 MHz Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent, Windows 2000 or Windows XP, 128 MB of RAM, 100 MB available disk space. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, Flash Player 6 or later, Microphone to record audio, Speakers and a sound card

Captivate does not come with this book. The software can be purchased directly from Adobe or by clicking here.

This book includes the following lessons:

Captivate Basics

Record Slides Manually
Record in Demonstration Mode
Record a Project in Assessment Simulation Mode
Record a Project in Training Assessment Mode
Record a Hybrid Project

Text Captions and The Timeline

Insert a Text Caption
Change Text Caption Properties
Edit an Object’s Position and Size
Use the Timeline to Control Object Timing
Set Mouse Properties
Show an Object for the “Rest of Slide”
Duplicate a Slide
Hide and Delete Slide Objects
Check Spelling
Align Captions

Images

Insert and Delete Blank Slides
Insert an Image
Use the Library
Set Image Size and Position
Create a Watermark
Set Image Timing Options and Transition Effects
Work with Image Stacks
Add a Visual Mouse Click and Mouse Click Sound

Pointer Paths, Buttons and Highlight Boxes

Change the Pointer Path
Change the Pointer Type
Insert a Text Button
Insert an Image Button
Insert and Format a Highlight Box

“Let Me Try” Projects

Hide the Mouse
Insert a Click Box
Shrink an Object
Use the Timeline to Change Slide Timing
Change a Caption’s Transition Effect
Insert a Text Entry Box

Rollover Captions, Images and Zoom Areas

Insert a Rollover Caption
Set Rollover Area Properties
Insert a Rollover Image
Insert a Zoom Area

Slide Labels, Notes and Audio

Add a Slide Label
Add a Slide Note
Add a Sound Effect to an Object
Add Background Music to a Project
Calibrate a Microphone
Record a Slide Note
Edit an Audio File
Insert Silence

Animation and Flash Video

Change a Project’s Frame Rate
Add Animation to a Slide
Change an Animation’s Slide Position
Insert Text Animation
Add Flash Video

Question Slides

Insert a Question Slide
Add an Image to a Question Slide
Copy and Paste a Slide Background
Format the Question Title
Use the Slide Grid
Format the Question Answers
Set Question Slide Options
Edit the Submit Button Text

Importing, Resizing and Exporting

Import a PowerPoint Presentation
Resize a Project
Import Slides from an Existing Captivate Project
Create a Branch
Create Word Handouts
Export Captions
Import Captions

Skins, Templates, Linking and Publishing

Set Playback Controls
Add a Loading Screen
Create a Project Template
Use a Template
Edit a Template
Create and Edit a Skin
Set Up a Project to be 508 Compliant
Add Closed Captioning

Menu Builder

Publish Projects
Create a MenuBuilder Project
Format Styles
Edit Items
Export a MenuBuilder Project

Learning Management Systems

Publish a Flash Project
Create an LMS Account
Add an SCO to an LMS
Create an LMS Course
Create an LMS Curriculum
Test an e-Learning Course

See also:

Adobe Captivate 2: Script Writing and Production Guide

Essentials of Adobe Captivate 3

Online, interactive Captivate 2 lessons