Captivate 1.0

Overview

The course is designed to take participants through the development process of building software demonstrations and interactive simulations. The course is task-based, with participants learning by recording and updating projects. Along with covering the key features of Captivate, the course focuses on best practices to record Captivate projects.

Audience

The audience for this course is beginning and intermediate Adobe Captivate users who want to create software demonstrations and interactive simulations. You should already be:

• Familiar with the Microsoft Windows operating system.
• Familiar with using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
• Familiar with basic computer terminology.

Skills Gained

On this course, the participants will learn the following:

• Create effective training by first understanding the workflow process and storyboarding.
• Record software demonstrations and simulations with on-screen action.
• Create engaging training by using multimedia.
• Set initial recording options and project preferences.
• Preview and save projects.
• Update content by editing captions.
• Insert slide elements such as text captions, images, objects, sound, and animated text.
• Use the Timeline feature to change caption and object timing.
• Edit projects by recording additional slides.
• Ensure narrative accuracy by spell checking your project.
• Create handouts for reviewers so they can understand the projects sequence and narrative.
• Publish your project to Word documents and SWF files.
• Add narration by recording or importing audio into projects.
• Increase user interactivity by inserting click boxes and highlight boxes, and text entry boxes.
• Add interest by inserting rollover captions and rollover images.
• Test e-learners by inserting question slides and scoring options.
• Create interest by branching to different slides and projects.
• Create a backup of a project.
• Resize a project.
• Leverage existing content by importing PowerPoint slides, importing printable documentation into a project.
• Increase usability of projects by creating hyperlinks to websites and to another project.
• Create a MenuBuilder project to tie all the projects together so viewers can easily access one project after another.

Course Outline

Day 1 - Course Outline Unit 1: Introducing Adobe Captivate

• Introductions
• About the Course
• Course Prerequisites
• Course Format

Skills Gained

• Course Outline - Day 1
• Course Outline - Day 2
• Captivate Key Features
• Defining the Difference Between Demonstrations and Simulations and Defining When to Use Which One
• Describing Your Captivate Projects

Unit 2: Recording A Software Demonstration

• Describing the Workflow Process
• Showing the Macromedia Captivate Workflow
• Recording Your Project
• Preparing to Record an Application
• Recording a New Movie
• Describing New Project Options
• Describing the Recording Window
• Describing Recording Options
• Selecting the Recording Mode
• Describing Full Motion Recording
• Describing the Change Recording Keys
• Describing the Preview Project Options
• Describing How to Save Your Project
• Exploring Captivate's Working Environment
• Introducing the Storyboard View
• Introducing the Edit View
• Introducing the Menu Bar, Toolbar, Timeline, and Filmstrip
• Describing Slides
• Working with Blank and Colored Slides
• Describing the Slide Properties Dialog Box
• Using the Color Dialog Box
• Labeling Slides
• Reordering Slides
• Using the Filmstrip

Unit 3: Working With Text Captions

• Describing Text Captions
• Describing the Auto-Generated Text Captions
• Editing Text Captions
• Inserting New Text Captions
• Resizing Text Captions
• Inserting and Stacking New Text Captions
• Changing Caption Properties
• Working with Pointer Paths

Unit 4: Working With The Timeline

• Describing the Timeline
• Describing Major Components of the Timeline
• Using the Playhead to Preview the Timeline
• Scrubbing the Timeline
• Changing the Order of Object Layers

Unit 5: Working With Images And Objects

• Inserting Images
• Describing the New Image Dialog Box
• Resizing Images
• Aligning Images
• Using Various Tools to Align Images
• Describing the New Image Dialog Box
• Stacking Images/Objects
• Sending Image to the Background
• Merging Images/Objects
• Describing the New Image Dialog Box - Audio Tab

Unit 6: Finishing Touches and Publishing Your Project

• Inserting Text Animation
• Describing the New Text Animation Dialog Box
• Inserting Animation
• Describing the New Animation Dialog Box
• Changing Highlight Box Properties
• Describing the Highlight Box Dialog Box
• Checking the Spelling of Your Project
• Setting Project Preferences
• Describing Movie Preferences Dialog Box
• Publishing Projects
• Publishing Project as a Handout
• Publishing Project to a Flash (SWF) File
• Exporting From Captivate to Flash

Unit 7: Recording Software Demonstration With Audio

• Referring to Appendix A - Planning A Captivate Project
• Planning Your E-learning Projects
• Recording a Custom-sized Project
• Describing Audio Features
• Recording Audio While Creating a Project
• Scripting Your Project
• Recording Audio Tips
• Describing The Record Audio Dialog Box
• Importing Audio
• Importing Background Audio
• Previewing Audio
• Editing Audio Files
• Describing the Edit Audio Dialog Box
• Describing the Movie Preferences Dialog Box
• Describing the Advanced Audio Management Dialog Box
• Publishing Project To A Flash (SWF) File
• Day 1 Summary

Day 2 - Course Outline

Unit 8: Recording A Simulation With Interactivity

• Describing Your Software Simulation
• Recording Options Dialog Box
• Describing the Custom Recording Dialog Box
• Describing Click Boxes
• Using the Click Box Dialog Box
• Using Click Box - Options Dialog Box
• Using the Success Caption
• Importing PowerPoint Slides
• Describing the PowerPoint Slide Options Dialog Box
• Describing the Insert Slides Dialog Box
• Moving Slides on Filmstrip
• Inserting Buttons
• Describing the New Button Dialog Box
• Using the Button - Options Dialog Box
• Inserting Text Entry Boxes
• Describing New Text Entry Box Dialog Box
• Using Shortcut Key Dialog Box
• Using Text Entry Box - Options Dialog Box
• Moving and Resizing Text Entry Box

Unit 9: Inserting Rollover Captions And Images

• Explaining Differences Between Rollover Captions and Images
• Describing Rollover Captions
• Using New Rollover Caption Dialog Box
• Changing the Rollover Area and Rollover Caption
• Changing Rollover Area Properties
• Describing Rollover Images
• Using the New Rollover Image Dialog Box
• Using the Rollover Image Options Dialog Box

Unit 10: Inserting Question Slides

• Planning for Questions
• Describing the Question Types
• Using Interactive Elements
• Using the Question Types Dialog Box
• Using the True/False Question Slide
• Describing Branching
• Using Multiple Choice Question Slide
• Establishing Reporting Options With Other Interactions

Unit 11: Using E-learning Features

• Describing E-learning Benefits
• Describing Learning Objects
• Describing a Learning Management System
• Organizing Quizzes
• Using the Quiz Manager - Reporting Tab
• Using the Quiz Manager - Quiz Tab
• Describing the Manifest File
• Creating a PIF

Unit 12: Updating Your Projects

• Recording Additional Slides
• Importing Slides From One Project to Another
• Importing PowerPoint Slides
• Inserting Text Animation
• Describing the New Text Animation Dialog Box
• Checking the Spelling of Your Project
• Checking the Timing of Your Project
• Describing the Major Components of the Timeline

Unit 13: Resizing And Publishing Projects

• Planning to Publish Your Projects
• Resizing Your Project
• Analyzing Bandwidth
• Publishing Projects

Unit 14: Using MenuBuilder

• Introducing the MenuBuilder
• Using MenuBuilder
• Creating a MenuBuilder Project
• Using the MenuBuilder Dialog Box
• Selecting a Template
• Adding Text Items
• Linking to Macromedia SWF Files
• Using Advanced Settings Dialog Box
• Setting Project Options
• Previewing the MenuBuilder Project
• Exporting MenuBuilder Projects
• Class Summary

Reference Material

Appendix A: Planning a Captivate Project

• Planning Your Project
• Using the Systematic Approach
• Using Storyboards
• Developing a Style Guide
• Using a Project Template
• Developing Your Project
• Recording Tips
• Describing Full Motion Recording
• Describing the Change Recording Keys
• Publishing Your Project