General Thoughts on Captivate

[Chaaaaaaaalie]

These are my thoughts on using Adobe Captivate.  I appreciate how much effort goes into producing software, and Captivate fills an important niche in the production of web based content.  Nevertheless, I feel like Captivate has not really lived up to my expectations based on my experiences with other Adobe products.  I tried to submit this to their bug report/feature request form, but it was too long.  Hopefully someone will see it here.

Master Slides
When I add an object to the master slide, it creates an instance of the same object on each slide.  In most programs, this object would only be accessible when accessing the master slide, but for some reason, the object it editable in the filmstrip view, and must then be locked to prevent editing.  This is kind of redundant and counter intuitive.

Grids
Grids are kind of useless if they only appear behind all other objects - there should be an option to place the grid on top so you can actually see it when you have an image on the slide.

Guides
Every Adobe product I've ever used has guides which one can drag from the edge of the screen.  Not so with Captivate.  It would be helpful to include this feature.  I was able to recreate something like this by adding an outline box to the master slide, but that has it's own issues - see Master Slides section above.  Also, if I wanted to use any more substantial guides, like in the middle of the screen, I would then have to remove them all before publishing - a lot of extra work.  Please add guides.

Timeline
The timeline, pardon my language, is a joke.  When I drag the playhead across the timeline, it should show the point at which the playhead rests.  Instead it shows a strange conglomeration of all the items on the timeline in a sort of confusing collage.  Instead, I have to make each item visible or invisible, and this takes lots of extra time and gets very confusing to use.  I see no advantage to showing all the items on a slide at the same time.  Perhaps have a check box which can enable/disable this feature if there are people who want it.

Also, when I add things to the timeline, it has a very annoying way of placing the item at the playhead location.  This is fine in and of itself, however, it also insists on pushing other items around in the same process.  I then have to spend extra time moving other objects back where they belong. 

Playback
Related to the timeline, when I play back a media file on the timeline, it often stutters or even cuts out parts of the audio and video.  This can get very frustrating, as I am unsure whether the problem is with your software, or my media files.  And though this may depend upon the users hardware, I don't think it's too much to ask for smooth and consistent playback in a multimedia software such as Captivate.

Highlight Boxes - Click Boxes etc...
Highlight boxes have the words "Highlight Box" smack in the middle.  This is nice if someone is an idiot and doesn't know what a highlight box is ... however, if someone actually wants to have the highlight box match something on the screen, like a button, it's annoying because of the words covering the screen image.  It's really bad when the box needs to be small.

Another issue is that baxes should be interchangable.  A Highlight box should have the option of being clickable or not, that way someone could add functionality to the highlight box, without having to create a separate click box.  This is particularly important if more than one person is working on a project.  This way, one could take someones demo recording and easily convert it into an interactive tutorial.

Yet another issue with Highlight boxes.  It seems that when I use the "Fade In" functionality, somehow the whole screen changes color slightly.  If I use more than one Highlight box at a time, this screen color change becomes even more pronounced.  I'm not sure if this is a feature, or a bug, but there is no apparent way to turn it off.

Text Entry Boxes
The way one sets up a click box vs. how one sets up a text input is very different and inconsistent.  With click boxes, there is an option to pause the slide, not so with text input - though it seems to do this by default.  This is confusing.  Also, with click boxes, there is an option to pause the audio, not so with text input boxes.  Why not?  Finally, with click boxes, there is an option to have the cursor turn into a hand pointer when rolling over the box.  This option does not appear with the text input "submit" box ... these seem like very basic things that should be available for users to manipulate.  My recommendation would be to make all kinds of boxes into one object type, with different options, so the user can select whether it is a text entry field, or a click box, button, or a highlight box, etc ... then the options would all be available in each case (certain things might be greyed out depending on feasability) but at least they would all be consistent.  The way it is now seems random and haphazard.

[Captiv8r]

Hi there

The fact you say an object remains editable on regular slides after adding them to a Master Slide would seem to imply you have the object in two places. Once on the Master and once on the slide. Captivate typically will not allow you to change an object that exists only on a Master Slide. There are two views. Master Slide View and Filmstrip view. Are you certain you aren't still in Master Slide view when you see the object and can change it on the slides themselves?

As for the Timeline, when you click and drag, it DOES actually show only the objects that will be visible at that time point. When you release the mouse, you return to editing mode and indeed you will see all the other objects. That's simply the way it has always worked with Captivate. At least, since it has had a timeline feature that's the way it's been.

As for the Highlight Box object, (or any objects, really) it's super simple to size two or more of them identically. Just click the first object and you should see that once you select it, it has white sizing handles. Press and hold the Control key and click the second object. Note that each object you then add to the mix has Black sizing handles. Now if you right-click, you will find an option on the context menu to Align > Align and resize to the same size. Poof! Both (or all) objects should now be perfectly aligned and positioned. As for the color change, my guess is that you likely have the option "Fill outer area" selected for the Highlight Box. Look in the Properties panel for that. Likely you need to clear that option.

Cheers... Rick

[RodWard]

When you submit a bug report, each bug needs to be separately submitted because they need to go under specific headings.  You cannot just dump all of these ‘issues’ in Adobe’s lap and tell them to: ‘Sort it out yourself’.  So if you REALLY want Adobe to notice this list of issues, you need to spend some time individually logging each ‘bug’ or enhancement using the form page provided on their website.  All bug reporting mechanisms work this way.

I've looked through your list of issues and I can agree with some but not all of them.  For example...

Master Slides

Your issue with the way objects on Master Slides appear on all slides that are attached to the Master is not a bug.  You need to think of Master Slides as like being a reusable background that gives a common look and feel to all slides that are attached to them.  However, Master Slides are much more useful than a simple background in that some objects on master slides can also be interactive components for navigation, and you can even set them to sit above objects on the child slides.  Master Slides were a much-requested enhancement and I think they work well.

Grids

If you don't like the way Grids work, please log an enhancement request.  But I would also suggest that you may want to try what I do in my projects. I never use Grids because I prefer to place a graphic of my preferred grid configuration on the first slide, time it to Rest of Project, select the box to Place Object on Top so that it sits ABOVE everything else, and deselect the Visible in Output option so that it never appears at run-time.  I use a transparent GIF graphic for this grid.  It allows me to place objects on the screen when in Edit mode but not get in the way at other times.  For even more convenience, I build this grid into all my project templates.

Guides

I agree with you about Captivate needing Guides.  Many of us that are long-time users of the product have requested this specific enhancement.  I suggest you add your voice to the list as this is the best way to get Adobe to see it as a popular enhancement.

Timeline

Many users of other apps that have timelines find it takes a while to adjust to the way Captivate does it.  I also came from a Flash background to Captivate and at first did not 'get' the different way this timeline works.  I disagree that it's a "joke". It just works differently, and now that I've used this product for around 10 years it feels perfectly normal to me. It helps if you remember that Captivate was intended as a 'more user friendly' version of Flash for people that originally used MS PowerPoint and were not accustomed to having a timeline at all. In PPT all of the objects remain present on the slide too.  If you REALLY prefer the Flash version of a timeline, that product is still available for building e-learning. I've not observed your issue where inserting a new object on the timeline pushes other objects out of timing.  Never seen that issue reported.  Try making sure your objects on the slide either do not touch the end of the slide timeline or else are timed to Rest of Slide.  Inserting a new object in the timeline should not affect the timing of other objects.

Playback

Your issue with jerky or malfunctioning playback does indeed sound like it could be a hardware driver issue.  It hasn't happened on any of the laptops I've used over the past 10 years with Captivate.  You may need to try updating drivers or hardware.

Highlight Boxes - Click Boxes etc...

Highlight boxes have those words so that you can easily tell what type of object it is.  However, if the words annoy you, try using a Smart Shape instead.  They can be used in almost the same ways as Highlight Boxes, except for the ability to Fill Outer Area.  That feature is unique to HBs.  Rick has given you the tip on how to size objects so that they match other objects.  It's very easy to do.

Text Entry Boxes

Text Entry Boxes, like all other interactive objects in Captivate have the ability to pause the timeline.  The point at which they pause it is usually shown via a thin vertical line on their timeline object.  You can configure the exact frame where this pause will take place by either dragging the pause point left or right, or by configuring the option in the Timing tab.  (It appears from your complaint about TEBs that you haven’t as yet discovered the Timing tab.) 

I confess I’ve never had a need as an e-learning designer to use audio on a TEB, but if you think it needs more options around this area feel free to log an enhancement.  If enough people agree with you, Adobe might listen.

Your point about not being able to configure a Hand cursor for the TEB submit button is quite valid.  I suggest you log this enhancement as well.

As to redesigning the way all boxes in Captivate work, that’s not really your call is it?  In many years of dealing with the Captivate development team I can personally vouch for the fact that there is usually a good reason why they opt to go in a certain direction when developing a given feature.  Like you, I don’t always agree with their decision.  But I try to remember that I’m just one of many thousands of users.  So I log the bugs I spot and suggests enhancements I think would be beneficial, then I have to sit back and let them do as they see fit.