Product to use?

[andreae97120871]

Hi what is the best Adobe product to use to create an interactive demo with screenshots of our application that would have hot spots to click on and that would take you to other screens? Can someone from Adobe pls contact me?

[Lilybiri]

This is in the first place a user forum. Did you ever have a look at Adobe Captivate? It is the eLearning authoring tool by Adobe, and from your description I think you'll need that. It can publish interactive tutorials both to HTML and SWF, and it is also possible to create responsive projects. However it is NOT part of the Creative Cloud. You need a separate subscription or buy a full license:

Adobe Captivate 9 - Create eLearning Content For Any Device

[andreae97120871]

Hi, thanks for your response but I am still not sure if this is the right tool that I am looking for.  Does it allow me to create hotspots on an screenshot image that will take me to other screenshot images and give the impression it is the real application?

Thanks,

[Mod Note: Please do not include personal contact information. If replying through email, please delete signature]

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

I am sure you are looking for Captivate. FYI to prove that I know what I'm talking about: I am a freelance consultant and trainer for Captivate. You can even create in one action three versions of a software simulation: demo, training (where the user has to act as if in the software) and assessment simulation (where you can add scores). Captivate has a toolset with interactive objects: shapes, buttons, click boxes, Text Entry Boxes that allow you to create branching between slides. I blog about Captivate, but mostly for advanced use cases. The small movies which I insert as examples are all interactive. They are not for software applications but you can feel how 'hotspots' work. Here is one link, feel free to explore my blog posts:

Custom Hotspot questions in Captivate 8 - Captivate blog

[andreae97120871]

Ok thanks I will download the trial version and try this,

Andrea

[andreae97120871]

Should I use the Responsive project or software simulation icon as a starting point?

[Lilybiri]

Start with the software simulation at this moment. It is possible to use a responsive project and insert software simulation slides, but I recommend not to do that to start with. First get acquainted with the software simulation features and with the design of Captivate. It has a lot of features. Adding at this moment the responsive project functionality, where you have to take into account at least 3 breakpoint views would make it to complicated to start. Just my point of view. Success with Captivate!

[andreae97120871]

Thank you, I was successful in using Captivate9 and creating a click through demo using the click box interaction.  I do have two questions:

1-    Is it possible to add more than one Click Box per slide?  For example if the user clicks in one place, one thing happens and if he /she clicks somewhere else something different happens?

2-    When I try to publish the work it is saved as a cptx file- but would someone without the Captivate s/w be able to view/use my demo?  i.e. is there a way to save it in a different format?

Many thanks for your response.

[Lilybiri]

Yes, but you'll have to stagger the click boxes on the Timeline. One of the core features of Captivate to understand is the Timeline. If you did record a software simulation, you'll have seen that there is only one click box per slide. That is much easier to manage: each click box will have the action On Success to move to the next slide. The user will not see that there is a slide movement at all. This is an old article with some explanations about the Timeline: Tiny Timeline Tidbits - Captivate blog

You have to publish the project, cptx is the raw file for editing. Publishing can be done to HTML or to SWF (use the button Publish in the Big Button Bar). You'll end up with a folder when publishing to HTML and the course will be started from the html file. If you publish to SWF, you have to start the course from the HTM file with the same name as the SWF file.

[andreae97120871]

Thanks Lilybiri,

The Publishing part is still somewhat confusing to me… If I want to send the demo to my colleagues for display on their laptops and tablets, do I send them the zipped file and if yes, how do they get it playing?

Please advise,

Andrea

This message has been sent on behalf of a company that is part of the Harris Operating Group of Constellation Software Inc. These companies are listed at the following link: http://subscribe.harriscomputer.com Unsubscribe Option: If you do not wish to receive any future email, please unsubscribe by clicking on the following link:http://subscribe.harriscomputer.com This message is intended exclusively for the individual or entity to which it is addressed. This communication may contain information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the named addressee, you are not authorized to read, print, retain, copy or disseminate this message or any part of it. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately by e-mail and delete all copies of the message.

Save the Date! 2016 Harris Customer Training Conference:<http://www.harriscomputer.com/en/conference/>

November 16-18, 2016; Nashville, TN

[andreae97120871]

We are evaluating the Adobe Captivate9 software and I have created a click thru demo and want to send it to my colleagues for their review.  Is there any other way to publish this in another format besides html? In the past some former colleagues published in PDF and they were not dependent on the web browser,

Please advise,

Andrea

[Lilybiri]

You can publish to PDF when you publish to SWF (check that option): this means that you create an interactive pdf and the user needs to have installed not only Acrobat Reader but also Flash plugin because that interactive pdf is Flash-based. You could also publish to standalone exe (or app for Mac's) but that is also Flash based. That is not a problem if the colleague will use a desktop/laptop to view.

If you publish to SWF, you'll get a companion HTM file, a CSS and a JS file and the user needs to launch the HTM file which will call the JS and the CSS file and then start the SWF.

If you publish to HTML, you'll get a folder (which you can zip if you want). After unzipping the colleague needs to launch the HTML-file in the folder.

If you want to report to a LMS you'll have to fill in the Reporting section in Quiz Preferences. Then you'll publish a SCO which is also a zipped folder, but this one can only be used on a LMS.

[andreae97120871]

Thanks,

Can you pls clarify whether I can publish my Captivate9 project to PDF?  I don’t see a SWF option.

[Lilybiri]

Choose Publish, Publish to my Computer and see the settings below:

[andreae97120871]

Sorry I do not see an option to publish to my computer.  On the menu on top of screen I only see:

Publish for devices,

Publish for devices (APP),

Publish to Adobe Connect and

Publish to Adobe Captivate Prime.

I have looked at the settings but do not see it there either

Would it be possible to do a screen share so I can show you?

I need to get this resolved as soon as possible so I can show my colleagues later today.

Many thanks,

[Lilybiri]

I recommended to use a software simulation, when you asked me before. But now it seems that you created a responsive project. In that case only HTML output is possible, no way to have a pdf (which is Flash, SWF-based) nor a standalone (exe or app). You will have to publish to HTML and find the index.html file to launch the published project.

BTW just to avoid misunderstanding: I am just a user like you, I'm not paid by Adobe, I'm not a staff member.

[andreae97120871]

Ok thanks for the clarification. I will re-explore Software simulation but I have screenshots already and i was not sure if I had to record the software or if I could leverage existing screenshots also with software simulation.

[Lilybiri]

If you want to do everything manually, use a Blank project, not a responsive project. Do you need to publish for all devices? It is a lot of work to have a responsive project that will look fine in all breakpoint views.

[John T Smith]

You need to ask Captivate questions in that forum

Adobe Captivate

[Lilybiri]

It was not a Captivate question at the start. I will move this now to the Captivate forum, was waiting in case someone else popped in to propose another application which is part of the CC (although I don't believe personally that there is a better one than Captivate for this goal).