Captivate
Streaming a Flash Video Through Captivate
by Tom Green - 29-Mar-06
Reader Level: 
Not being a huge fan of embedding video into a SWF, when I discovered that was exactly the way it is done in Captivate I thought, "Gosh, there has to be a better way!" There is: embed a SWF into your Captivate movie that calls an FLV into Captivate. Turns out, the bandwidth hit is minimal and Captivate does the preloading duties to boot. Does it get any better than that? You can beat the "video bloat" of an embedded AVI in Captivate simply by using an FLV instead.
Approximate download size: 2.8MB
Creating a Custom Controller for Captivate
by Tom Green - 01-Mar-06
Reader Level: 
Though Captvate ships with quite a few controllers there will come a time when you think, "You know, I need something different." In this article I show you how to create a custom controller for Captivate in Fireworks 8.
Text in Captivate
by Tom Green - 13-Sep-05
Reader Level: 
Why, oh why, oh why do people not format their text in Captivate? Here's a quick overview of some the options available to you for formatting your text in Captivate.
Breezin' with Breeze - Part 3: The Captivate Connection
by Tom Green - 25-Mar-05
Reader Level:
It isn't only PowerPoint that can be used to create Breeze content. A direct upload to Breeze from Captivate is dead simple to accomplish and adds a whole new level of interactivity to your Breeze efforts.
Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting - Part 5
by Tom Green - 24-Jan-05
Reader Level:
Branching, in many respects, is no different from the non-linear navigation systems we create in New Media. Depending on the object clicked, the user is taken to another area on the page, another page or even other web site. In terms of elearning, non-linear navigation is called "contingency branching". In this case, depending upon the answer given or choices made by the student, the Captivate presentation can "branch" to another slide or presentation.
The Preparing Captivate for eLearning Series:
Part 1: Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate
Part 2: Preparing Captivate For eLearning
Part 3: Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback
Part 4: Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides
Part 5: Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting
Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides - Part 4
by Tom Green - 17-Jan-05
Reader Level:
In the previous article, I showed you how many of the eLearning features of Captivate can be used to provide immediate student feedback. In this article I go to the next level of feedback and present how to test student knowledge. This is accomplished through a feature that is new to Captivate: Question Slides. This feature allows you to test a student's knowledge of the concepts presented.
The Preparing Captivate for eLearning Series:
Part 1: Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate
Part 2: Preparing Captivate For eLearning
Part 3: Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback
Part 4: Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides
Part 5: Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting
Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback - Part 3
by Tom Green - 10-Jan-05
Reader Level:
Feedback is an important eLearning element. The very nature of digital media is such that the student should be able to respond to questions and then receive an immediate response that either reinforces the decision or suggests alternatives.
As you saw in the previous
article, you have the option of providing the student with his or her test results almost immediately, and you can even show where the student made mistakes or provided wrong answers. This aricle shows you how to provide this feedback.
The Preparing Captivate for eLearning Series:
Part 1: Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate
Part 2: Preparing Captivate For eLearning
Part 3: Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback
Part 4: Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides
Part 5: Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting
Preparing Captivate For eLearning - Part 2
by Tom Green - 03-Jan-05
Reader Level:
In the first part of this series, I made it quite clear that Captivate is more than a screen capture application. The fact that you can add interactivity and student feedback puts it in a class all of its own. Another distinguishing characteristic of this application is the ability to integrate your Captivate movie with a Learning Management System, or LMS, which is the subject of this tutorial.
The Preparing Captivate for eLearning Series:
Part 1: Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate
Part 2: Preparing Captivate For eLearning
Part 3: Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback
Part 4: Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides
Part 5: Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting
Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate - Part 1
by Tom Green - 27-Dec-04
Reader Level:
To consider Captivate nothing more than an "industrial strength" screen capture utility would be, to use a computing term, a "fatal Error". The simple fact that you can add interactivity through the use of click boxes and add Question slides that integrate with a Learning Management System (LMS) moves Captivate into a software category of its own.
The Preparing Captivate for eLearning Series:
Part 1: Creating eLearning Applications in Captivate
Part 2: Preparing Captivate For eLearning
Part 3: Captivate and eLearning: Providing Feedback
Part 4: Captivate and eLearning: Creating Question Slides
Part 5: Captivate and eLearning: Branching and Reporting
Creating a Captivate Movie - Part 3
by Tom Green - 15-Nov-04
Reader Level:
Creating Captivate movies is much more than simply doing a screen capture and "adding stuff here and there". Whether it is demonstrating a software technique, a product demonstration, executing a quiz, or developing a tutorial, the key to success is that old business adage: "Plan your work. Work your plan".
This 3-part series is an exerpt from Tom Green's "Captivate Visual QuickStart Guide". Published by PeachPit Press, it will be available in mid November.
In Part 1, we looked at the movie creation process. The process starts with planning — which, in many respects, is the most time time-consuming aspect of creating a Captivate movie.
In Part 2, we looked at using Captivate templates, how to change the movie properties and resize your Captivate movie.
In Part 3, the final installment, we will cover adding some "jazz" to your Captivate movie. I will show you how to add audio to a movie, change the pointers used by the mouse and how to change mouse movement. I will also show you how to add a playback controller to a Captivate movie and create your own custom controller. Captivate can also be used to create slide shows and I'll show you how to do that as well as explain the importance of a movie contaning no content.
Creating a Captivate Movie - Part 2
by Tom Green - 12-Nov-04
Reader Level:
Creating Captivate movies is much more than simply doing a screen capture and "adding stuff here and there". Whether it is demonstrating a software technique, a product demonstration, executing a quiz, or developing a tutorial, the key to success is that old business adage: "Plan your work. Work your plan".
This 3-part series, is an exerpt from Tom Green's "Captivate Visual QuickStart Guide". Published by PeachPit Press, it will be available in mid November.
In Part 1, we looked at the movie creation process. The process starts with planning — which, in many respects, is the most time time-consuming aspect of creating a Captivate movie.
In this article, Part 2, we will focus on using Captivate templates, how to change the movie properties and resize your Captivate movie.
In Part 3 will cover adding some "jazz" to you Captivate movie. We will look at how to add audio to a movie, change the pointers used by the mouse and how to change mouse movement. We will also show you how to add a playback controller to a Captivate movie and create your own custom controller. Captivate can also be used to create slide shows and we'll show you how to do that as well as explain the importance of a movie containing no content.
Creating a Captivate Movie - Part 1
by Tom Green - 10-Nov-04
Reader Level:
Creating Captivate movies is much more than simply doing a screen capture and "adding stuff here and there". Whether it is demonstrating a software technique, a product demonstration, executing a quiz, or developing a tutorial, the key to success is that old business adage: Plan your work. Work your plan. ”
This article is an exerpt from Tom Green's "Captivate Visual QuickStart Guide". Published by peachPit Press it will be available in mid November. In Part 1, the first of three parts, we will focus on the movie creation process. The process starts with planning — which, in many respects, is the most time time-consuming aspect of creating a Captivate movie.
Part 2 will focus on using Captivate templates, how to change the movie properties and resize your Captivate movie.
Part 3 will cover adding some "jazz" to you Captivate movie. I will show you how to add audio to a movie, change the pointers used by the mouse and how to change mouse movement. I will also show you how to add a playback controller to a Captivate movie and create your own custom controller. Captivate can also be used to create slide shows and I'll show you how to do that as well as explain the importance of a movie containing no content.
This 3-part series is an excerpt from Tom Green's Captivate Visual QuickStart Guide. Published by peachPit Press it will be available in mid November.
