Embedding New System Fonts in Adobe Captivate 2019

Fonts help set the tone for an e-learning project, but they are rarely a choice made by the e-learning developer or instructional designer. In my experience, most organizations have fonts stipulated within their branding requirements and compliance with the brand is mandatory. Marketing or Communications departments will often supply the font files to support and encourage continued brand compliance. That is how I typically acquire new system fonts. I then have to embed these fonts within an Adobe Captivate Project. This is the process I describe in this article.

Novices: The Missing Link

This article is the second of two that are based on some thoughts I had while teaching an E-Learning Essentials class to experienced classroom trainers transitioning to e-learning. During a discussion, I shared that one of the key differences between designing e-learning and face-to-face instruction is that the flexibility to correct or explain information on the fly does not exist. In the classroom, if we realize that something is missing from the content, we can simply add it –possibly even deciding to shorten, move or remove other content to do so. For obvious reasons, that opportunity does not exist with e-learning. Therefore, initial data gathering during the analysis and design phases has to be as thorough as possible.  

The first article, “How Was Your Day?” (https://elearning.adobe.com/2019/07/how-was-your-day/) focused on gathering more robust data from SMEs. In this article, I take that a little further and discuss how interviewing potential learners a.k.a novices may provide an additional perspective that can help us create even better online courses.

Interacting with Web Objects in a Mobile-First Design

I created this short grammar exercise to showcase interactivity with scrolling text in Web Objects. When it is necessary to present a lot of text, I think scrolling text works particularly well on mobile devices because users can simply swipe up or down through the text. However, there is the danger of loss of engagement. Hence the addition of some relevant interactivity. I have presented this exercise as a short game whose purpose is to identify just one type of […]

Experimenting with Interactive Video & Overlay Slides

New in Adobe Captivate 2019, overlay slides enable you to add a slide to a specific frame along an interactive video’s Timeline. While the video is playing, when it reaches that frame, it pauses, and the slide appears as an overlay. In this article, I’ll discuss some of the questions which led me to experiment with overlay slides, and the answers I discovered through testing.

Overlay Slides 1: An Example

Overlay slides are a new feature in Adobe Captive 2019. They allow you to place interactivity at preallocated points throughout a video using only a single slide, and no Advanced Actions.

I wanted to investigate overlay slides, so I created “Are You Ready to Learn?” It consists of just twelve slides and runs for approximately three minutes. Enjoy!

How Was Your Day?

This article explains a technique I use when interviewing Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). I transitioned it from designing classroom courses, and I apply it to designing e-learning because it is a great way to tie all the information together. Plus, it also helps supply the details necessary to create a flowing storyline.

Drag-and-Drop Quiz Questions Scoring Incorrectly in Fluid Boxes

Quiz within fluid boxes that starts with a scored drag-n-drop question only scores the first question, and then stops reporting the scoring. The problem does not occur if I do not use fluid boxes. I’m seeing either a workaround or resolution.

Twin Cities E-Learning Developer’s Group

The Twin Cities E-Learning Developer’s Group is a new group I started the group in January because I was looking for a space to meet other e-learning developers for hacking, experimenting, exchanging ideas and improving my skills through helping others solve problems. I wasn’t able to find a local group that provided these kinds of hands-on interactions, so, inspired by similar groups in other cities, I decided to create one. If you’re in or around the Twin Cities in Minnesota, I’d like to invite you to join us.

Creating Custom Themes: Tips & Takeaways

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation on Creating Custom Themes at our local Adobe Captivate User Group. As I was going through the step-by-step process of creating a theme, I found myself reflecting on my experience over the years – what worked, what didn’t work, and how to save time. In this article, I will share some of those lessons learned – as opposed to the step-by-step technique of creating a theme.

Custom, Accessible Quiz: Development Highlights

I recently posted a showcase – a Custom, Accessible Quiz. This was a shorter, rewritten and rebranded version of a fully customized, yet accessible quiz I created for a client.
In this article I want to share some highlights of the development process. If you haven’t tried it already, it will help to understand the rest of this article if you try out the quiz before reading further. It’s at: https://elearning.adobe.com/2019/01/custom-accessible-quiz/.

A Custom Accessible Quiz

This showcase is similar to a custom, accessible quiz I recently developed for a client. I used custom and shared actions along with variables and smart shapes to mimic the functionality of radio buttons and checkboxes with a custom look and feel.
Although this short course contains some helpful tips, it is not a comprehensive guide to implementing accessibility in Adobe Captivate 2019.

Adobe Captivate Specialist Q&A: My Experience

Last month, I attended the Adobe Learning Summit in Las Vegas and was part of the second cohort to gain the Adobe Captivate Specialist Certification. Since returning, several people have asked about the process of gaining the certification, so I’ve decided to share some of the Q&A. If you’re thinking of taking the certification, my hope is that there might be something useful in here for you too.