Captivate 12 - How do you create templates?

[wmsgva]

Currently reviewing the new Adobe Captivate 12. After trying out various aspects, one important constraint (probably necessary to make it fully responsive) is the closed nature of the various blocks (text block, media blocks). Once added, you can't just add another graphic element to your slide, or make changes to the existing elements other than those in the predefined parameters located on the right.

This initially seemed truly limiting, but in a recent YouTube review of the product by Tim Slade, someone from Adobe elearning (Allen Partridge) responded that it is possible for users to "...create your own design options - and those will allow you to change the contents / arrangements and layout of the items for any given layout slide - so things like moving a button around etc. are all within reach". If this is the case, it makes the product truly powerful. My question is how does one do this (haven't spent hours trying to find out how, but it doesn't seem obvious)?

Another aspect of the product which is easy for Adobe to improve is the quality of the default templates. Why can't Adobe hire a team of graphic designers to create some beautiful templates for this new version of Captivate?

[sabre123]

Why can't Adobe hire a team of graphic designers to create some beautiful templates for this new version of Captivate?

By @wmsgva

You'd think a company that is an institution in the graphic design marketplace would have put forth a better showing in this regard, but design trends are constantly changing, and adding some templates that look great now would not age gracefully. Dumping a boatload of cash into maintaining a template library is probably not where they see their best returns. 

I'm not using the latest version, so I don't know what, if any, control you have over creating custom templates.

[wmsgva]

Adobe taking responsibility for good content for their platform doesn't mean they have to create everything themselves. Why not create a content market similar to Envato Elements on which people worldwide could create good looking content for the software? This would provide a new line of revenue for good content creators, help Captivate users that are not graphic designers (I prefer to concentrate on learning design and interactivity) and make their product more appealing.

[sabre123]

My reply focused on  your comment:

Why can't Adobe hire a team of graphic designers to create some beautiful templates for this new version of Captivate?

By @wmsgva

but, I agree that there could be a platform for creating design templates for the CP marketplace. I have home grown all of my interactivity since I started using CP because of the lackluster templates.

[wmsgva]

I also avoided the interactive templates in Captivate, my true need is more around graphics (I suspect many other instructional designers aren't also great great graphic designers). Of course, I can use a service such as Envato Elements and then import content into Captivate, it's just easier if everything is more integrated.

[Lilybiri]

AFAIK this should be done using JSON. But so far I don't know about any user manual, nor tutorial explaining the workflow. You could also contact Allen directly: allenp@adobe.com