Tab as a click box shortcut

Hi lbcministry,
I will give this a try, but I don't really know anything about HTML so I may be back for advice.

Rick,
Yes, focus goes to the playback control, but then it goes to the browser. So if it still goes to the playback control but not to the browser, then it may work.

I really appreciate all of the help I receive from this forum.

Peter

*NOTE: I found this workaround on the web and it worked for me

In all versions of Macromedia's Flash Player prior to version 7.0.14.0, once typing focus was established (by clicking on the Flash movie), pressing the Tab key would move you between fields or objects in the movie - maintaining focus in the movie itself. As of version 7.0.14.0, the Flash Player switched to a behavior called "seamless tabbing". In this version, pressing the Tab key moved the focus right out of the movie and on to fields in the web page, the browser address bar, etc.

Needless to say, this has caused some difficulty to authors using Flash (or RoboDemo) to create simulations where the learner needs to tab. So, as of version 7.0.19.0 of the player, seamless tabbing is now an html parameter. Here's the official scoop from Adobe's release notes of that version of the player:

Disabling seamless tabbing
This release of ActiveX Flash Player supports a new HTML parameter called SeamlessTabbing. The default value is true; set this parameter to false to disable "seamless tabbing", which allows users to use the Tab key to move keyboard focus out of a Flash movie and into the surrounding HTML (or the browser, if there is nothing focusable in the HTML following the Flash movie). ActiveX Flash Player has supported seamless tabbing since version 7.0.14.0. Disabling seamless tabbing restores the tabbing behavior of Flash Player 6, in which tabbing from the end of the tab order inside a Flash movie wraps the focus back to the first focusable object in the Flash movie. Here is an example of disabling seamless tabbing:

<object ... >
...
<param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="false">
...
</object>

NOTE: In version 7.0.14.0 there is no way to disable seamless tabbing. Meaning that your simulation might just never work with this version. Fortunately it only took Adobe one 'sub-release' to realize and correct this problem.

So, if you're encountering this problem you'll want to:

Publish the project with html checked
Edit the HTML field for any media types which display Flash movies (including flash output from other programs like RoboDemo) and
Add the line
<param name="SeamlessTabbing" value="false">
somewhere in between the <object... .../object>
save the Html File.

I know this is a lot to take in, but it's really a simple fix.

Thanks Kris and Rick,
I am stumped! I have tried both click boxes and buttons and at different places on the timeline. Tabbing seems to activate the click box (or button) and jump to the nav bar at the same time, a second box or button did not seem to do anything to stop this. At first it is only a visual distraction, but if you tab or shift tab too may times it goes into the explorer menu (I am using IE 7).
I am almost to the point of taking this feature out of my simulation if I can't find any solution.
Thanks,
Peter

Thanks Kris,
That worked to solve the problem of focus moving away from the simulation, but it still jumps to the nav bar and puts a yellow highlight around the buttons. Any thoughts?
Appreciate the help,
Peter

Hi LyonLover,

What I meant was, yes, an additional click box with tab. If I am remembering correctly, and I will review my course again, that by adding the second click box with tab (or shift-tab), if the tab doesn't go the next screen, it will at least go to the second click box (you could also use a transparent button), not the nav bar. It shouldn't be visible at all to the user, and should remain within the course at least, not the nav bar.

That has worked for me in the past anyway.

Kris

Hi Kris,
Thanks! I am not sure what you mean by creatiing a second click box. Do you mean in addition to the first click box with tab? Also, I am not sure the timing will make a difference, it seems to click and go to the nav bar at the same time.
It also appears that Shift+Tab is really causing the problem, not Tab.
Thanks,
Peter

Hi LyonLover,

I had a similiar issue in a course that I did. How I got around it was to create a second click box, with TAB as the shortcut, on those slides. You may also want to check when your slide is pausing. If you click the tab before the pause, that may register as a click, but the slide will still pause, then when you hit click again, Captivate sees it as a second tab, and it will go down to the playbar.

At least that is what was happening to me.

Hope this helps.

Kris