Can't Group certain items

[Russ Lickteig]

Hi all.  So frustrating!  I am trying to group three text boxes and a photo but it won't let me.  Is this a bug?  Doing testing I can select a smart shape and a text box and group works, but if I select two text boxes it won't let me.  What is going on???  If you have had this issue please let me know what you did to fix it...if you were able to that is.  

[Russ Lickteig]

Could this have something to do with Master Slides?  The Text boxes and Image I want to Group on my slides are part of the master Slide layout.  I am trying to Group items on pages so that I can "Hide" them from Accessibility screen readers when I Show a popup box.  Adobe....you need to step up your game when it comes to Accessibility! Really hope the next version of Captivate has more feeatures to help production time.  

[Lilybiri]

The most important detail is lacking: are you talking about reponsive or non-responsive projects? In a Fluid Boxes workflow is it impossible to group objects.

If the objects are on the master slide, they do NOT have an ID, which means that you cannot hide nor show them with an action.  Did you know that? Nott sure to understand, but are you trying to group objects from master with other objects on the slide? That is impossible as well.

[Russ Lickteig]

Hi Lilybiri.  I am working in a Non-Responsive project. I have a course where we have a Topic Title, Page Title, Page Text, Page number, and Photo that are all laid out on my Master Slide.  So when I add a page to my course those areas are populated with content for that particular page.  I am confused about them not having an ID.  Each item has a different name on each slide. "Text_Caption_2848" for example. Everything I am trying to Group appears on my Master Slide.  I am trying to Group them however on my course slides NOT within the Master Slide.  Am am "Hiding" my course navigation buttons with an Advanced Action when viewing a popup box ( a group of items that I show when a button is selected ) to keep focus on the popup box ( a 508 requirement ) but I just realized I also need to hide the page content from the screen reader as well.  This is why I am trying to group the main elements on the slide that I can hide one group vs five individiual items.  Hope this all makes sense.  

[Lilybiri]

I see, those are placeholder objects on the master slide. I rarely use them except for Titles and subtitles. Too much limitations. In that case they get their ID on each slide. My confusion was about real objects on the master slides, which never have an ID.

You cannot group placeholder objects, one of the reasons I rarely use them.

Just an idea: instead of hiding objects, why not use a shape as cover (in the colors of your theme) which is initially hidden, and make it visible when you have to hide all objects? Just make sure the popup box is on top of the cover which needs to be stacked over the other objects.

[Russ Lickteig]

Well that's a bit of a bummer.  I always thought Master Slides were a good "Best Practice". I had issues with Fonts awhile back so I made sure to go in and setup my Master Slide to help eliminate that issue.  As for "Hiding" I literally have to "Hide" or perhaps a better word is "Remove" them from the screen when the popup is Shown becasue of the screen reader (JAWS).  If you just "Cover" something the screen reader will still read it.  This is why in my Advanced Action I am "Hiding" my navigation buttons. The ONLY thing the screen reader is allowed to read when a popup is shown is the content of the popup and the close button for the popup.  A User of assistive technology ( in this case someone with visual impairment ) will get lost on the screen if we allow them to tab ( or down arrow ) out of the popup to other areas of the screen.   This is a major area of improvement/enhancement that I feel Captivate needs to make.  I also use Articulate Storyline for other clients and it has much better control over issues like this.  For example, hiding objects from Accissibility, not allowing uses to interact with the background items when a Layer (Popup) is showing and more.  Captivate is a requirment for this project based on the Client/Contract.  

[Lilybiri]

In that case I would use CpExtra, an external widget which allows you to hide objects based on wildcards in their name, either on the slide or in the whole project. It means that you need proper names for objects, not the generic names.  It is not a free widget (HTML). 

As for navigation buttons I have created a shared action which needs only one parameter. Shared actions are also a way to save time.

http://blog.lilybiri.com/shared-or-advanced-use-case-hide-slash-show-custom-navigation

Master slides are part of the Theme, and they are good practice indeed. In many cases, with the often exaggerated requirements for Accessibility, it would be much better to create two different courses. It would allow to offer every learner the best experience, which is not always possible with one course. Told it before, I didn't even try to teach Photoshop to an almost blind student because I deemed this to never lead to a result. I did teach Audition, uniquely to that particular student.

[Russ Lickteig]

I wil give CpExtra a look.  Had no idea Captivate allowed widgets.  Our client requires the same course for everyone.  We have done it with HTML 5 in the past but again Captivate is a requirement with this client.  

Thanks for the help!  If I have luck with CpExtra I will post a Reply here!  

[Lilybiri]

Really? The learning interactions in Captivate are widgets.  You seem not to be a frequent user of Captivate, which supports widgets since eons. There were quite a lot of widget developers in the SWF period, now with HTML5 much less. This one is really very powerful, extends Captivate's features.

[Russ Lickteig]

We have NOT been able to use anything "Built In" to Captivate becasue of 508.  Everything we do is has to be custom. And yes, I am pretty new at Captivate. I relate Widgets more for things like HTML, Adobe Muse and a few others.