Introduction to Visual Properties Panel  

The Visual Properties panel allows you to customize the look and feel of the course at three different levels: slide level, block level, and component level. 

The slide-level, block-level, and component-level visual customization is discussed in detail along with examples in this article. 

Customize Slide-Level Visual Properties 

Add any slide to the project. Select the slide. The Visual Properties to the right of the screen allow you to customize the following elements: 

• Solid background: To change the slide background color, use the color picker tool and select the color of your choice.  

• You can select linear, radial, or image backgrounds from the solid background drop-down. 

• Linear background: Allows gradual change in shade in a straight line from the starting to the ending point. 
• Radial background: Allows gradual change in shade in a circular pattern from the starting to the ending point. 
• Image background: Allows incorporating an image as a background by selecting it from either the Asset panel or a location on your computer.  

• Border: Tick the checkbox to add a border to the slide. You can also customize the border’s style, color, and size.  

• Design Options: The Design Options let you customize slides to match your vision by editing the visual appearance and adjusting text and media blocks.

Note: Design Options at the slide level are available for predesigned slide layouts only. 

The custom slides built using text, widgets, and media blocks do not have the design options available. 

 Customize Block-Level Visual Properties 

A block comprises various components, such as text, media, interactive components, and widgets. For a block, you can change the following: 

• Alignment and spacing: Modify the width of the text or media blocks and include padding at the top and bottom of the content.  

• Content slider: The Content width slider and Horizontal padding are linked. Moving the slider from the left side changes the left padding value and moving the slider from the right changes the right padding value. The same change is replicated in the Content width slider when you change the left or right Horizontal padding values. 

• Autofit height: The Autofit height checkbox automatically adjusts the height of the content block for an optimal fit, making the Vertical padding option disappear from the properties panel. If there’s any extra space, padding will be added to the top and bottom accordingly. 

• Responsive behavior: The responsive behavior of the elements is achieved through a combination of pixel (px) units for top and bottom margins and percentage (%) units for left and right margins. This setup allows for an adjustable width while maintaining a fixed height, a common approach in responsive design. Additionally, utilizing percentages for the height can create a more proportional look, while pixels offer a more predictable appearance. A fluid height illusion is created by incorporating percentage padding and positioning elements, accordingly, typically aiming for a 16:9 ratio for optimal display. 

• Content spacing: The Content spacing option is available under Alignment and Spacing for widget blocks and decides how dense or sparse a spacing you want between the components of the widget block.                                                                                                                                                         Note: The Vertical padding option is not available for widget blocks. 

The following table shows various visual aspects of alignment and spacing with different settings for different components. 

Blocks	Alignment and Spacing in Visual Properties
Text
Media
Interactive Components	Input Field
Widgets	Flip Cards (Dense Spacing with a content spacing slider on the extreme left)
Widgets	Flip Cards (Sparse Spacing with a content spacing slider on the extreme right)

• Design Options: The Design Options feature in Adobe Captivate lets you customize the appearance of the block you select to match your vision. Whether resizing text and media blocks to optimize the screen fit or tweaking the appearance, style, layout, color, and shapes of objects, you have full control to achieve your desired look and feel. Simply choose your preferred design option from the panel and watch as the block layout and styling adapt accordingly.  

The following images show various visual aspects of the Design Options feature with different settings for different components. Kindly note that the following table shows the output of the Design Options marked in red in the image above. 

• Components: You can include various components like titles, captions, bodies of text, images, and more in different content blocks. 

• Card: The “Card” component can be fine-tuned visually by changing its background, border, padding, and shadows. 

• Appearance: Customize the appearance of your content block to your liking. You can change the background, add a border, or apply a shadow to enhance its visual appeal. 

Customize Component-Level Visual Properties 

• Appearance: The appearance of the blocks can be fine-tuned according to the options available for each category. 
• Text: Change the font of a text component, apply a preset, change its color, and many more.  

• Image: Apply the image filter and edit the image by adjusting the sliders for blur, brightness, and contrast. Replace the image from the Asset panel or on your computer. 

• Card: Adjust the padding, background, border, and drop shadow with the available options. 

• Widgets: The components of the widgets are a combination of text, images, and cards. Other components can be adjusted in their appearance by changing states, shape, text, and icons of the tabs, hotspots, carousel arrows, timeline nodes, etc. 

Adobe Captivate offers a comprehensive toolkit for instructional designers and course developers to craft visually stunning course designs through the manipulation of various visual properties. The level of customization the Visual Properties panel provides not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of the course but also plays a crucial role in engaging learners effectively.