Playback problem Captivate 8, text captions

Report · Dec 29, 2015

I am using Captivate 8, Windows, and am fairly new to using Captivate (about a year). I've published a couple projects, and once published, have uploaded them to our LMS test site. They play back great for me. However, on some other computers these projects don't play back properly---the text captions run off the slide and cannot be read. This is only the case for some folks here where I work--not everyone. And we're all using the exact same file that's in the LMS. We have pretty up to date computer resources, though most of us are still using Windows 7. 21" monitors are what most of us are using, but the monitor size does not seem to be the issue. I also checked the browser size to make sure it was showing 100%. Why is this happening?

Report · Dec 30, 2015

What was the resolution of the project? Did some of the users change the settings for text display on the monitors, and which resolution do they use? Did you use a websafe font?

Report · Dec 30, 2015

My project resolution is 1280 x 800. I went bigger than the default because I didn't like how it used so little of my screen, but now I wonder if that was a mistake. I used websafe fonts for those text captions that did not look right. I used Rockwell (not websafe, I think) for the heading, but the headings aren't really giving me trouble. As for the users and the settings on their monitors, no one changed anything from what they normally use, but I don't have access to their monitors right now---our IT helpdesk folks could help me out with that. Do you think this problem is coming from different people having different resolutions on their monitors? I initially thought that, but since the slide fits, just the text doesn't, I reconsidered. I'm no tech person though, so I don't really trust my gut here.

Report · Dec 30, 2015

Project resolution too big, really. In blank projects every size of objects and position is absolute, not relative.

Report · Dec 30, 2015

So this means I have to be OK with just using about 50% of the screen real estate for presentations if I create them in Captivate? Is this a monitor resolution issue where there is variation in our resolution settings so it works for some and not for others? I was really hoping to find something besides powerpoint that would use up more than just a portion of the screen. Seems like such a waste of space. Are there other authoring tools that actually use most or all of the users' screen real estate? This is kind of disappointing.

Report · Dec 30, 2015

You have to take into account the lowest resolution that ever will be used, that is the same for all eLearning authoring tools. If you ever want to use responsive projects, you'll even have to cope with browser resolutions below 360px in the width. Moreover if you publish from a LMS, that LMS will take up some real estate as well. For HTML output you can use the Rescale feature, but be prepared for some quality loss. If you are OK with scrollbars, (which most users hate) go ahead with a bigger resolution. I wonder if it will improve the learning experience. Do not forget that a big resolution also means the file size will increase considerably! How do you have to deploy, maybe which devices will be used to watch the course. Captivate is not a presentation tool, maybe you misunderstand, it is a full-blown eLearning authoring tool which is something quite different. If you want just a presentation tool, use Powerpoint. To convert to HTML, use a plug-in like iSpring, or Adobe Presenter.

It is not about waste of space, it is about the real goal: providing eLearning courses that can be used by all your users on all devices they want.

Report · Dec 30, 2015

I see what you are saying. And I realize I am going to be running into more issues due to the variety of mobile devices people use when it is a responsive project---fortunately most of the training will be accessed via desktop computers. So this is a resolution issue with the individual monitors then---and the fact that we don't all have the same resolution. That seems like it would be difficult to control, so I understand why you're telling me to consider the lowest resolution. I think my best bet at this point is to have my users test a project where I did not adjust the resolution to make it larger (using the default settings) and see if that plays properly. And if so, squish down the ones I have that are too large. Maybe I will try to find out what the lowest resolution in use here is, and set my computer to that, and then possibly adjust the size then, if I can. Does that seem reasonable? I appreciate your help and expertise, thank you.

Report · Dec 30, 2015

You don't have to change your resolution, you can create a cptx- file with a lower resolution. I never change the resolution of my desktop monitor (nor the laptop screen, which is retina).

Report · Dec 30, 2015

OK, thanks. I just thought I might be able to still increase the size of it a little bit if I worked out what would work on a lower resolution monitor. I'd go back to my regular monitor resolution once I did that----but I'm not sure it's worth the effort. You can see I still really want to use up more screen space! Might not be practical though. Thank you for all your help.