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jay fresno
Inspiring
February 7, 2011
Question

Cross-platform shortcut keys for Actions

  • February 7, 2011
  • 1 reply
  • 2012 views

I'm using Captivate 5 on Windows. If I enter a shortcut like ALT-F or CTRL-F for an Action for an object, will a Mac user be able to use that shortcut after the project is published?

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    1 reply

    RodWard
    Community Expert
    RodWardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 7, 2011

    This depends very much on which browser the end-user is viewing the content with.

    If the browser happens to use those particular shortcut combinations for some browser action then it will over-ride your actions in the Captivate SWF movie.

    The browser always gets first choice, and this issue of which shortcut keys you can depend on varies from browser to browser.

    I've come to the conclusion that depending on shortcut keys in e-learning without total control over which browser platform the user will have is just asking for trouble.

    J
    jay fresnoAuthor
    Inspiring
    February 7, 2011

    Rod,

    You make a good point about avoiding shortcut keys.

    What I was wondering is if using ALT or CONTROL, keys which Mac users don't have on their keboard, would be a problem for a Mac user -- or if Captivate would automatically translate the Windows shortcut to the equivalent Mac keys, which would be OPTION or COMMAND respectively.

    RodWard
    Community Expert
    RodWardCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 8, 2011

    The whole area of shortcut key combinations for use in e-learning is just one big nightmare, and it's not Captivate or Flash's fault.

    If you Google the Flash forums about keystroke combinations you'll find their all trying to find solutions for the same problems there.  It's impossible to predict reliably which keystrokes will or not work because every browser is at least slightly different.

    The ones that seem most unreliable are any key combinations involving function keys and the Ctrl or Alt keys.  Since the interaction with an elearning SWF happens in a browser, the browser always sees the keystroke coming first before the SWF gets to 'hear' it.  If the browser has a certain key combination reserved for its own functionality then it uses it...end of story.

    I realise this is a big disappointment for those people wanting to create elearning that showcases keystroke functionality for software sims, but that's the world we live in.

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