Thank you both for posting such detail
Hi Lieve,
Hoping your weekend was great!
We are finally back to the keyboard after our getaway for a few days rest.
Jumping back in and reading your last response I am deducing that the non-responsive project format that we chose innocently may not be such a bad thing if it is producing static images for all slides and all of the left side text on the results page? It seems that a simple solution or improvement might be to create a results page layout that would accommodate some slight shifting of the scores/numbers at runtime so they are not so noticeable in their misalignment? We could probably accomplish this to look reasonably good by finding a best match font that is either a “websafe” or “Adobe” font? Does that simplified but direct approach make sense as a simple test to try? Also, why is an “Adobe” font an option? Is it about compatibility with Captivate?
Sorry for all the questions. Best way to learn though…
Thanks again for your help.
Super appreciated!
Denis
For Adobe fonts you have to specify the ‘domain’ for which you want to use the fonts. The number of domains depend on your plan for the fonts. When using only CP, you can only define one domain, if you also have a CC license you can specify more. For that domain the Adobe font is treated as a websafe font. The in-depth explanation may be more complicated but that is the way I see it happening.
Indeed with trial and error you can fix the alignment, but don’t forget the dynamic text needs to be Websafe or Adobe font.
No problem with questions at all. My approach in the past for learning Captivate was to read forum questions and try to figure out how to solve the problems. And I got addicted to solving problems, hence my starting a blog which apparently I didn’t yet mention (hopeless for marketing, resulting in lack of jobs of course). Here is a link to a blog about fonts:
Every project IS based on a Theme, and its importance is greatly underestimated which leads often to issues. I don’t understand why a training is not starting by explaining this… mostly skipped in books as well.
The problem is indeed that font, which is not a websafe font, and not an Adobe font. That means that dynamic text (which include variables) will not show that font if it is not installed on the learner’s system. It will be replaced by another font, mostly Times New Roman. That is also the case for all text in responsive projects, not only for dynamic text. Not sure at all that the alignment issues are solved that way…
In non-responsive projects the static text is replaced by images. That was meant in the past to allow system fonts in text. But the non-standardized HTML5 output by browsers is another cause for what you see.
Please give this warning about the use of system fonts to the client. That may be a bigger issue than the alignment problems.
You can create a custom score slide using the quizzing system variables. That may sometimes give a better alignment depending on the used font, and you can control exactly how everything is presented. But you’ll still lose the correct font if it is not installed on the system. You may find a way to embed fonts, but not out of the box with Captivate.
Thanks for this Lieve,
That explains a lot.
We are stepping away for a few days but will be testing some things upon return with this new understanding.
May have some additional questions as well. Will advise.
Thanks again! Greatly appreciated!
You’re welcome. Let the questions come…
Hi Lieve,
Thanks so much for your quick and detailed response.
The project was set up as a non-responsive project and we are trying to use Effra font as requested by the client. Not sure what you are referring to as a Theme other than a form of template format? We did not use any pre-design setup in any of our attempts.
Initial attempts were fully custom with alignment issues trying to place the score over a fixed background placement. Every time we produced output on different computers the location is slightly different in vertical alignment. Same goes when using the system supplied fonts right from a reset of the results slide with it’s native output.
Kind of understanding your reasoning with the runtime creation though. Every time there is a runtime output, depending on the system, there could be a slight difference in posting. That makes bigtime sense.
What doesn’t make sense however is that, with such a formal system as Captivate, there is no way to stabilize or lock down the results screen so that the left side text and right side digits stay aligned. Hard to believe clients are accepting misaligned visuals on their results screens.
You made reference to non-responsive and responsive projects. Is there better or improved stability of alignment in responsive projects? If yes, can you briefly explain why? We will be glad to go that route if that is the solution or any other route for that matter if there is a solution that works.
Thanks again for your prompt response overnight. Greatly appreciated.
Best regards,
Denis
The score slide is an instance of the results master slide (same as quiz slides from master slides). The alignment of the columns has always been a pain. It depends largely on the used font. Which theme do you use? Both the object styles and the master slides are components of the Theme. You didn’t specify if you work with non-responsive or responsive projects. The fields in the score slide are dynamic text fields, which means they have to be generated on runtime. Some parts on the score slide are however static, and those are converted to images on non-responsive projects. That is, based on my experience, one of the problems with the alignment.
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