Cp6 - Have I reached the 'limits' of what can be done with Captivate?

[shawninvancouver]

Earlier, I wrote about a crashing problem with Captivate: http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1140677

But it seems that the extra slides I have added have brought Captivate down to being so slow, it is unusable.

To get to the bottom of what is causing the problem; I started by hiding about 1/2 the slides and then publish, everything work... the course is responsive. Then I unhide a few more, publish again, and repeat. What I am noticing is that the responsiveness gradually becomes slower and slower.

At 22 slides, the course is already beginning to show some sluggishness; at 40 slides, the course is impossible to run (see my above listed thread).

What the heck is going on? This is unacceptable!

Have I done something wrong along the way? Is anyone else out there using Captivate to build full self-paced training?

I still need to insert another 15 slides before this course is complete but seem to have hit a roadblock!

I have also tested externalizing much of the content but that had zero affect!

Any advice?

BTW:

- Total size of project folder (components are externalized): about 5MB

- The course is self-paced, meaning that I use custom FORWARD/BACK button for navigation. I am not using a skin with a playbar.

- I have very few animations/aka Effects

Thank you,

Shawn

[shawninvancouver]

I removed some content and brought back (unhide) most of the slides.

Now, between NEXT button press and actually switching to the next slide, it takes 5 seconds. Better but 5 seconds is not acceptable.

Like I asked earlier, am I doing something wrong or is this accepted behavior?

[AndyKingInOC]

I've created projects with more than 100 slides and not experienced those problems so I don't think it's the number of slides.

That said, on average how long in seconds are your slides?

When the learners are using the fwd/back buttons to jump to different chapters, how far down your list of slides can they jump?

Do you have audio/video/etc on the slides?

Does this happen on every computer or just yours?  How will the finished project be hosted?

[shawninvancouver]

Thank you for your reply Andy.

(BTW- if you notice any weirdness in my reply - I am on my iPhone and mobile Safari isn't entirely compatible with this forum)

I agree, it isn't the number of slides that is the problem but perhaps it is the type of slide. I have 10 min video simulations of well over 100 slides that function perfectly.

However, this is my first time building an entire course in Captivate and I have noticed a trend in the course slowing down which each addition to the content.

Because this is self-paced with custom nav buttons (no playbar), each slide button controls pause at 2 sec (unless there is an Effect on the slide and more time is required). Typically, each of the 30-40 slides is between 2-4 seconds.

The learners can only jump to a specific slide via the TOC.

IMPORTANT NOTE: when I posted this message, there was a 6 second delay from clicking a nav button and the next slide appearing. However, since deleting 9 Smart Shapes (that acted as a topic menus that allowed the learner to jump to specific topics) - I have since replaced these Smart Shapes with simple bullets and all Jump To's removed. As a result, the unacceptable 6 second delay is reduced to about 2.5 seconds. Still not good but a significant improvement.

I have no audio but I do have inserted SWF software simulations. It is important to point out that removal of the sims had no affect on the responsiveness.

The poor responsiveness spans all tested systems both from with Captivate and as a published SWF (with and without externalizing resources).

Hosted on AICC LMS but in this situation, not relevant.  🙂

Thanks for your advice.

[shawninvancouver]

I think the clue is in the removal of the Smart Shape buttons. I wonder if this is a problem with branching?

This course still contains a number of branches. The template alone has one branch (A HELP button - Jump To help slide).

[AndyKingInOC]

while I don't know if it explains all your challenges, but there are known issues with delays in branching and jumping a lot of slides.

If you jump from say slide 3 to slide 20, when you click the button it has to render slides 4-19 to get to slide 20.  Depending on what's on those slides the delay may be minor, or could be long.  I don't know if that's what you're seeing, but it's possible.  I don't have enough experiene with Smart Shapes to point at that as the sole culprit.

In the reporting options are you reporting score only or score an interactions?

[shawninvancouver]

I found the problem and removing it immediately made the course FAST again.

It turns out that the little branch (via HELP button that is in the template) was causing the problem and making the delays worse as I added new slides.

Removing the button from the template had an immediate affect.

But now the question is, how do I add a help button (w/ On Success Jump to help slide) for every slide WITHOUT affecting responsiveness?

[shawninvancouver]

Update!

A partial solution is to set this button (FYI, a Smart Shape filled w/imaged button) to display throughout course via "display for rest of project"

That works, no more delays

But, using this method has a caveat... it gets displayed on EVERY subsequent slide because it is always on top.

Perhaps an advanced action might be able to turn off this image on selected slides.... But another caveat... When you turn off an object it is global, meaning it must be reactivated upon exit from those slides where it is turned off.  😞

[AndyKingInOC]

Depending on how many slides are in the help branch, you could put it up front somewhere.

intro slide > intro slide > help slide(s) > menu

that way it's rendered immediately.  Not sure if that'll work, but worth a try.

[shawninvancouver]

I am not entirely certain that it specifically a rendering issue.

At least by that definition, I expect that rendering is a one-time event.

What I experienced was a permanent slowness throughout the course. What I mean is that regardless of the number of views, on a single slide, the slow responsiveness remained.

FYI, Despite finding a partial solution last night, I since added another eight slides today and the result was a horrible 25 second wait per navigation click. That was just two hours before an important presentation! I cannot begin to explain my panic (unforgiving overlords lol).

Fortunately, I was still stuck on the theory that this may be related to that evil/old branching problem from the past.

Anyhow, removing the help button from the master template instantly fixed everything!

I really need to get back to Adobe about this. Need to know [for fact] if this is a Captivate bug or a flaw in my design.

[shawninvancouver]

Mini update:

I have since added a new feature that allows the learner to quickly jump between the three lessons (from each lesson intro slide).

That means that I have added 6 new buttons (On Success: Jump to xx) to this course. As a result, I immediately noticed an impact on performance. The nav button controls went from being instant to now ~ 600ms. Not a huge concern but definately noticeable. 

[RodWard]

When I need to provide Help to the user, I add a rollover caption to the Master Slide for those sections.  If I need different Help for different sections, I duplicate the Master Slide so everything looks the same, but change the text in the rollover caption.

No impact on performance.

[shawninvancouver]

RodWard wrote:

When I need to provide Help to the user, I add a rollover caption to the Master Slide for those sections.  If I need different Help for different sections, I duplicate the Master Slide so everything looks the same, but change the text in the rollover caption.

No impact on performance.

Thanks Rob...

I have a dedicated help page because some features may require a more detailed explanation than what a roll-over caption can provide. Also, my personal preference, I find roll-over helpers rather intrusive (especially for those learners that do not require reminders).

But like I said, the problem was resolved after removing the help button from the Master Template. BTW, the only action was a "Jump to slide 31" and Slide 31 simply had a button with a return to last slide action.