Default Mouse Display: Rest of Slide

Report · Oct 15, 2018

In the Preferences > Defaults > Object Defaults > Select drop-down list, I selected Mouse, so that I could set the mouse to display for the rest of the slide as a default for the project.

How can I change the Display For to "End of Slide"?

As shown in the screenshot here, this option is disabled.

Thank you.

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Mouse objects don't work like other screen objects. If a mouse object is configured to be present on the slide then the mouse is actually visible at all times on that slide. The mouse object itself is only really configuring the part of the timeline where the mouse MOVES. So that's why there is no option to time it for Rest of Slide.

Report · Oct 15, 2018

Thank you for your reply. I have a follow-up question:

On any slide, if I click Objects > Mouse, to add a mouse to the slide, I can go to the Timing panel, and make this same selection. For each slide to which I add a mouse, the Timing for the mouse object defaults to Specific Time. I can change it to Rest of Slide for each slide, as shown in the screenshot here.

However, I was certain there was also a way to set Rest of Slide as a default for the mouse for all slides in the project. This way each time I add a mouse to a slide, the Timing would automatically be set as Rest of Slide, and I would not have to make this selection each time.

Thank you again.

Report · Oct 15, 2018

If you were to set a mouse object to Rest of Slide that would mean that the mouse began to move from the moment the slide timeline began and ended on the last frame of the slide. In my experience you very rarely ever want it to do that. Usually you have some time at the start of the slide BEFORE the mouse should move, and you need time AFTER it moves. This is true especially if you want voiceover on the slide at the same time explaining what is happening.

Mouse objects are usually added when doing slide-by-slide screen capture sessions. Having a default value of Rest of Slide for any new mouse object added to a slide would mean your screen captures would not accurately reflect at which exact points in the timing that the user executed some mouse movement. So I can quite understand why this option was left off the defaults for that particular object.

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Setting a mouse object to Rest of Slide means that the mouse remains on the slide to the end of it, which is the default setting for recording software simulations. The voiceover most often comes just before the action is demonstrated by the mouse movement and clicking. By default the mouse click is the last thing that happens on any slide that includes a mouse click, because the simulation needs to advance to the next slide immediately, which then shows what happens once the mouse clicks.

Setting the mouse timing to Rest of Slide however, does not mean that the mouse begins moving from the moment the slide timeline begins. The Appear After setting controls the point on the slide timeline at which the mouse appears.

What I find counterintuitive is that the mouse object is selectable among the other Object Defaults, yet the timing options are disabled. My thinking is that if the options for the mouse object were left off the object defaults, it wouldn’t appear among the object defaults at all. This issue appears to be more likely a bug or glitch with Captivate version 10.

Thank you again.

Report · Oct 16, 2018

I just checked in Captivate 9 and Captivate 2019 and the Mouse defaults are exactly the same there. This is not a bug in Captivate 2017. It's just the way Captivate has always been as far as I am aware. To my knowledge you are the first user that has felt it was counter-intuitive. But feel free to log an enhancement request if you feel strongly about it.

I agree that the voiceover explanation is usually before the mouse action that clicks something on screen. But I disagree that you would want the mouse object to go right to the end of the slide to accurately reflect how an actual software application works.

In most apps (especially web apps) there is likely to be a slight delay AFTER the user invokes some action BEFORE the system reacts and displays a change on the screen. So, when building a simulation, I usually leave a small gap after the mouse object would show the CLICK animation.

The timing of this gap allows the learner a split second to register in their mind the exact spot on screen where the click took place. And it also gives a more accurate impression of how the software is likely to work. I find this gap might only need to be a few tenths of a second in duration, but it seems to make the experience of watching the simulation less stressful for the learners. It gives them a moment to take in what has happened on that screen before you move to the next one.

This is probably a personal preference. But that's the way I've found things seem to work best for my clients and their target audiences. Your mileage may differ.

Report · Oct 16, 2018

Thank you again for your reply, and for suggesting that I log an enhancement request. I'll consider making this request.

I agree that in most web apps, there is a slight delay after a mouse click before the system reacts by displaying a new screen. The action is most often not instantaneous.

In my experience, when I'm recording a software simulation I find that Captivate automatically captures some of the visual transition that takes place in the very brief period after the mouse click, and before generating the next slide. In these situations, the mouse usually stays on the slide timeline to the end of the slide, even though there may be a tenth of a second transition appearing after the click sound.

What I meant was counterintuitive was in reference to the Preferences window > Defaults. Having the Mouse object appear as one of the selectable Object Defaults (as shown in this screenshot) led me to believe that there would be options available to adjust, specifically the Display For option.

Thanks again.