Captivate 9 and HTML5 (is this possible)?

[curvis]

I want to try and be aggressive in Captivate 9 and let me know your thoughts if this is possible at all -

I want to try and create a course with all the contents in an HTML5 document so that when I have too much content on a page, users don't have to continuously click on next, they just need to scroll down website-style. I am new to HTML5 but have some experience developing animation using Adobe Edge.

I am wondering if I can do the above in Captivate 9 and import the HTML5 document there?

Additionally, can I make objects inside that HTML5 document interact with Captivate, ie. I am planning to create the menu in HTML5, and have commands inside clickable objects like "Jump to slide", or "go to next slide"? I was able to do this before using imported Flash files inside Captivate (but Adobe killed Flash, which is a different topic altogether).

The reason I want to do things in HTML5 instead of Captivate is the limiting nature of interactivity and design I would like it to be -for example I cannot do an auto-hide of the playbar menu which I believe is easy to code in HTML5.

Any inputs will be appreciated.

[RodWard]

While I applaud the intention of being "aggressive", I think you're actually just making a lot of work for yourself with no real compensating benefits.

Even if you were successful in what you describe, you are likely going to create a nightmare of a project to maintain and debug.

I recommend you use the default Captivate functionality as much as possible for navigation such as menus etc.

I don't actually find Captivate's interactivity all THAT limiting to be honest.  You can hide the playbar using Captivate actions and System Variables.  Captivate already allows you to put Jump to Slide and Go to Next Slide actions inside clickable objects (buttons, click boxes, Shape buttons etc).  So why you would want to create your own is beyond me.

[curvis]

I've just been tasked to create paid training using the tool, and part of that is including a "wow" factor. It is too bad that I cannot integrate all my Flash knowledge into Captivate anymore, as I believe I have been able to create "wow" with utilizing both tools.

In my opinion Captivate's strengths are in its ability to create simulations and screen capturing. So if I wanted to create Flash-like interactivity, which in today's world is the equivalent of website-of-the-year interactivity, HTML5 is the way to go. My question is, is this possible?

I will be creating something in Captivate similar to the website of my favorite poison: http://www.jackdaniels.com/

[Kodiak100]

I sincerely hope this sort of extension of the basic Captivate functionality is possible. I need to do the same sort of work and will be exploring ways to do so in the near future. With my previous 'authoring tool of choice' we were able to extend it as much as needed using javascript and Flash. We even had an API to use when interacting with the default features of the tool. So far Captivate feels like a black box... yes it is a big box and it has a lot of built in features, but it is still a box and I find it easy to bump into the sides of this box.

[RodWard]

For several years now Captivate has allowed ActionScript 3 developers to extend the application with widgets.  There is also a JavaScript API that you can use to interact with the published output at run-time.  So if these capabilities are what you want, Captivate certainly has them.  The main complaint is usually that there is very little documentation provided by Adobe about HOW to USE these capabilities.

[RodWard]

For several years now Captivate has allowed ActionScript 3 developers to extend the application with widgets.  There is also a JavaScript API that you can use to interact with the published output at run-time.  So if these capabilities are what you want, Captivate certainly has them.  The main complaint is usually that there is very little documentation provided by Adobe about HOW to USE these capabilities.