Create a custom TOC

Report · Aug 02, 2017

Hello everyone,

I came here trying to get answers from all you people who have become experts by using Adobe Captivate. I want to create my own TOC into my projects so I drew up a white rectangle with content inside as a list and a cross symbol to simulate a window. In my toolbar I have a button that triggers the TOC and I can jump to specifics slides by using the links.

Problem:

1. If I come back to the slide where I initially used the TOC, I see that TOC remains open (logically correct).

Question:

1. What can I do in order to automatically close the TOC as soon as I use any link on it?.

I have around 50 slides in my project so I have 50 TOCs objects too. I tried to use just one by selecting REST OF THE SLIDE from the timeline however that doesn't work.

Any ideas?.

Report · Aug 03, 2017

Which version are you using and which output do you want?

You have to use 'Rest of Project', not 'Rest of Slide', and be sure to use the option 'Always on top'.

Not only will that bunch of TOC objects increase considerably the file size, to be able to control it you'll need to use shared actions or a multitude of duplicate advanced actions, because each TOC object will have its ID. If you use one TOC as I described, you have to deal with only one ID.

Is that X symbol a hyperlink to close the TOC? Or do you have a toggle button that opens and closes the TOC? Have a look at:

More is in a...hyperlink - Close button - Captivate blog

If you follow my recommendation to have only one TOC object, timed for the rest of the project, you have to:

create a user variable (Boolean) v_visib to track the visibility of the TOC object; set its default value to 0
create a conditional advanced action to check the value of the variable; that action has to be triggered On Enter for each slide:
    IF v_visib is equal to 1
          Hide TOCObject
          Change state of Bt_TOC to Normal
          Assign v_visib with 0
          Continue
   ELSE

Continue

This action supposes that you have a toggle action for the button. If not take out the Change state command.

Report · Aug 06, 2017

Thank you Lily. Your explanation was very useful I will keep that advice about "place object on top" which resolved part of the problem.

Report · Aug 03, 2017

Another alternative is to simply make a separate slide for a Table of Contents and have buttons that "jump to slide" to your particular sections. Then have a Menu or Table of Contents button on your navigation panel that users can select to jump to that particular slide at any time in the course.

I hate to be the bad guy and constantly wave the accessibility flag here, but I am pretty certain hyperlinks are not up to 508Â compliance standards. Unless things have changed with Captivate 2017, hyperlinks are not part of Captivate's tab order and screen readers access to them is hampered. All your hyperlinks would be skipped by any screen reader or keyboard user when they tab through the slide. Which is why I always advocate to use smartshape buttons (disable rollover/down states, No Action, disable click sound, add accessibility text) for textboxes, alt text images, etc.

And before someone chimes in that not everyone here is from the US and has to consider 508 compliance rules, I say the following. YOU SHOULD STILL BE DOING THIS. Accessibility is and should be a worldwide concern for instructional designers and elearning developers. It's not like all the people who have disabilities and use screen readers reside only in the US. There are people in Europe that use screen readers. There are people in Australia that use screen readers. In it in your best interest (and also just the right thing to do) for you to consider how much or how little your Captivate courses are accessible to individuals with disabilities and assistive technology. It is really easy to get started. There is a free screen reader you can download immediately and start playing around with it in your Captivate courses.

https://www.nvaccess.org/download/

http://webaim.org/resources/shortcuts/nvda

Report · Aug 03, 2017

I will not discuss about the compliance requirements (all depends on the situation and you cannot cripple a course for valid users) but want to warn that this 'old' technique of having to jump all the time to a specific slide could cause serious issues especially for bigger responsive projects that are watched on mobile devices.

Report · Aug 05, 2017

Here is my take on a custom table of contents menu. https://youtu.be/pm3qOekdsZ4

Paul Wilson, CTDP

Report · Aug 06, 2017

Hi Paul,

Your example is exactly what I was looking for. I just have a question, following your instructions and those from Lily, if I create a group with the options REST OF THE PROYECT and PLACE THE OBJECT ON TOP, when I get to the Quiz slides there are invisible areas where originally were the trigger buttons that remains useful. I am also having troubles during the quiz because after answering the first question, the project freezes. Am I doing something wrong?