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C
Corbin-st2HIt
Inspiring
April 2, 2012
Question

Best project sizing strategy for software tutorials when UI is 1024w or over?

  • April 2, 2012
  • 1 reply
  • 1599 views

Hi,

I've read many of the discussions on the forum related to project size, but am still wondering about this.

I'm creating e-learning modules for software where the required minium resoultion is 1024x768 (but in practice most users have wider displays). In the past I would use a project size of around 965w (as RodWard suggests in his helpful blog post ) and then either downsize the images a little to fit, or do some panning in the project when necessary. I've also used zoom areas a little, but these add considerable labor for the benefit IMO.

My quandary is, while I've always designed my Captivate projects to match the software UI size as closely as possible, I'm wondering if user expectations about this are changing. There are umpteen software 'how to' videos on Youtube and elsewhere set at around 640W (or smaller) and though the screen shots are inevitably blurry, I'm not hearing a lot of complaints. Since one of my goals is to extract the "screencast" portions of my tutorials and publish them as MP4 videos (for mobile delivery, right?) I am wondering if I should not just set my project size smaller and live with the blurry screens, using zoom areas in places where detail is absolutely essential.

Thoughts, opinions and lively discussion welcome!

Corbin

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1 reply

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 3, 2012

Personally, I would never settle for blurry images of any tutorial I create.  If we're creating a tutorial for output to YouTube video, we now use the HD format size, 1280x720.  If there is any way you can use that, go for it.  Alternatively, go for YouTube XGA format at 1024x768.  Anything is better than 640.

The only way I've seen tutorials work at 640 size is when making heavy use of Panning to follow the cursor around the screen.  However, I don't personally like this method because I find it disorienting.  It's like watching a screencast through a keyhole.

clairef69307797
clairef69307797
Participant
October 16, 2017

Hi Rod

I am creating my elearning projects in YouTube size of 1280 x 720. I then have a TOC in Separate style and the play back bar NOT as overlay. Users are needing to scroll my courses when using a Laptop.

1. What is the best size to record my courses to prevent users having to scroll?

2. Can I add a collapse/expand icon to a TOC separate style?

3. Will it help if I overlay TOC and Player bar?

My courses are running in an LMS.

Forgive me if these are stupid questions but I can never understand resolutions.

Thanks

RodWard
Community Expert
RodWardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
October 16, 2017

If your courses are running in an LMS, and your courses are set to open in a new playing window, then the scrolling issue may simply be that your LMS administrator has not configured the playing window to be large enough. Check what size has been configured in the LMS for the launch window.  Some LMSs default this size to only 800x600 pixels, which is not going to be large enough to view your content without scrolling.

If that is not the issue, do you mean that the content in your course is mainly consisting of YouTube videos playing from Captivate slides, or do you mean that you are publishing out your course modules to YouTube MP4 and then uploading them to YouTube?

If some users are finding that the content is too large for their screen resolution, and your project size is 1280x720 then it would appear your users must be running relatively small screen resolutions (below 1440 pixels wide).  Most users nowadays would be running resolutions at least 1600 or even 1900 pixels wide.  So what percentage of your users are experiencing this issue?  Have you verified what resolutions they are running?

No you cannot add a collapse/expand icon to Separate TOC, only Overlay TOC.

Yes, if you are experiencing issues with users not being able to see content without scrolling then overlaying the TOC and playbar would help.  But overlaying the playbar is likely to be the most beneficial of the two because it's usually the vertical height of the content that is more of a problem than the horizontal width.  Most screens nowadays are widescreen format at around 16:9 ratio.

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