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I
I-Am-So-Professional
Known Participant
November 4, 2020
Question

Editing workflow idea for slide notes in multiple projects

  • November 4, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 291 views

I am on a team that produces course material for the internal LMS. Over the course of three years, our company has changed hands twice. Each new sale introduces new branding since we are now a new entity. We produce hundreds of LMS courses for a wide array of software tools. Each time we re-brand, we need to go back into literally hundreds of Captivate projects and swap out the branding elements, change styles to the new standards, and change colors on thousands of slides.

 

One of the most time consuming tasks is involved with changing and updating slide notes. I was intrigued by the Speech Management dialogue window. In this window you can view all the slides notes for the entire project. However, this is the only plus for my workflow. I can't resize the window, and the text styling tools are missing.

 

For my workflow, I need to be able to select all the TTS notes and style them in one operation. I also need to remove bold from the properties of closed captions, if present. If I was able to see the slide notes in a spreadsheet view and have style control, it would facilitate my need to make hundreds of edits in a very short time. If the Captivate project file format was in a human readable format, it would also have a good chance to become scriptable. And if it becomes scriptable, the time spent is an order of magnitude shorter than currently possible.

 

I'd love to know if anyone else would benefit from this proposed overhaul.

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1 reply

Lilybiri
Lilybiri
Legend
November 4, 2020

Did you log a feature request for the slide notes? Here is a direct link;

https://adobe.allegiancetech.com/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?Y9CHVD

 

 For changing the branding, why not rely on a very solid custom Theme, with documentation (which is not possible inside of Captivate). You can switch colors (and fonts) very easily, but need to knowwhich objects use which colors (hence the documentation I mention). For branding elements, keep them as much as possible on Master slides, which are also part of the theme. It is much easier to swap a logo and update a theme that way than having to do it on all the slides.  Same for object styles, another component of the Theme. Since you talk about software training, if you use software simulations, the Recording defaults are also included in the Theme.

 

    I
    I-Am-So-ProfessionalAuthor
    Known Participant
    November 4, 2020

    Thank you, I just did. I follow you on the Master Slides solution.

     

    However, there are styled elements that don't adhere to the mantra of KISS (Keep it simple, stupid). For instance, the TOC and player skin styles are only accessible via the TOC dialogue box and the Skin Editor, respectively. Slide Notes styles are not able to be saved as custom styles: nor are they able to be edited en masse. If there was a unified styling palette, it would greatly simplify things from a workflow standpoint.

     

    I think I just composed my next feature request.

    Lilybiri
    Lilybiri
    Legend
    November 4, 2020

    Skin is partt of the Theme and includes playbar and TOC with all its settings.

     Maybe you'll have to read this blog:

    http://blog.lilybiri.com/whats-in-a-theme-a-template

    Or this one;

    http://blog.lilybiri.com/themes-are-time-savers-what-is-new-in-11-dot-5

    All object styles are part of a theme. The workflow in the Object Style Manager needs refurbishingso that it includes all styles. 

    http://blog.lilybiri.com/manage-the-object-style-manager

     

    You are correct about Slide notes styles and editing them in masse. I never style my slide notes but you must have a reason for sure. And I have logged feature requests to have the CC style being part of the Theme as well as the layout grid which I mostly build for a project from Guides.

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