Remove device Responsive project Captivate 9

[jenducati]

How do I delete a device in a responsive project? If I click the plus sign to add a custom device the bar displays an X to delete the device. But there is no X on the bar for the existing devices (computer, tablet or mobile). How do I delete one of them?

When you publish, do you publish all devices at once or do you choose which devices to publish? What happens if I do not delete a device I do not want to use? Thanks!

[Captiv8r]

I don't believe there is any provision to delete them. My guess is that the best you can do is rearrange the breakpoints so they are very close together so as to appear maybe to be a single breakpoint.

[jenducati]

I not clear on how the final published file works. If you publish one file with 3 different sizes for 3 different devices, does the LMS determine which to serve based on the device used? If you publish both portrait and landscape for a tablet or phone, will the portrait or landscape display when the user turns the device? Or, does it just display either landscape or portrait?

[RodWard]

The published output detects the 'viewport' size, that is, the number of height and width of the device display in pixels.  It then attempts to adjust the content to that viewport size according to the way the developer has set up the breakpoints.

Building responsive projects implies that you have a pretty good idea which specific devices are likely be used by your target audience because you have researched this BEFORE you build your content.  If you don't do this, you're really flying blind when it comes to setting up the breakpoints.

[jenducati]

Thanks Rod! So, I am understanding that if I create both portrait and landscape, that view will be displayed as the user turns the device.  I totally agree with you about knowing the user's device before hand. I am pushing the client. This is a very large audience and the company recommends adding mobile. We are looking at just desktops and ipads. That's why I was trying to figure out how to build just ipad landscape and desktop as responsive. Looks like you have to have a minimum of 3 devices in responsive. But from what you are saying it may make sense to build desktop, ipad landscape and ipad portrait.  In the past I have used one version that accommodated ipads and desktops by using a resolution of 960 x 620 non responsive. Any adivce? Once again, I am pushing the client to find out what others are doing. Thanks!

[RodWard]

In my experience the 'clients' have no idea about what specific devices or viewport sizes will be used by their target audience.  They just mandate that "the proposed elearning course will work on all mobile devices" and think that covers it.  They have no concept of the impossible task they have just set for an elearning developer.

When I quote on an HTML5 course I always put in disclaimers that say I do NOT promise that the e-learning will function on every mobile device on the planet.  I also warn the client that asking for responsive elearning will mean their budget will need to be bigger than if it was just normal HTML5.

Building for desktop and iPad/Android tablet isn't all that much different.  It hardly warrants the extra trouble of going to responsive.  Where things get sticky is when the client wants exactly the same content to work on everything from huge desktop monitors all the way down to tiny mobile phones.  THEN you're forced into responsive and THEN your life becomes complicated to impossible.

[jessicaz5294720]

Hi Rod, are you aware of a way to only design for 1) Desktop 2) iPad landscape and 3) iPhone portrait? Our LMS recognizes those orientations the best, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the Tablet portrait option in the Captivate file.

[RodWard]

If you are on Captivate 2017, why don't you try out the new Fluid Boxes as an alternative way to create HTML5?  They aren't as flexible as the BreakPoint Views, but neither do they take as long to develop.  Fluid Boxes might be your better option.

[jessicaz5294720]

Hi Rod, we haven't yet upgraded from Captivate 9 to 2017. 

I feel like I'm missing something. I would LOVE to avoid responsive design and republish courses in just HTML5, however there is an internal management request to respond to mobile (unvetted, of course). In testing with our LMS, I find that some views display the playback controls and some don't--I'm still testing this--I may not have accounted for all orientations. 

Do you happen to have a recommendation for software simulation slides and responsive design? I'm finding that when I record some slides, that when I go to view it in essentially any of the mobile device views, the viewable area in no way includes the entire screen (which is of course needed from a learner perspective...)

[papaintegrator]

Hi there,

What you can do is create the project in blank (simple) design and publish as 'Scalable HTML5' project that would behave pretty much as responsive one and you wouldn't have to deal with the breakpoints.

/best

[RodWard]

I wholeheartedly agree with Papaintegrator here.  Many organisations wrongly assume that only responsive courses will be compliant with mobile devices, but that simply isn't true.  You just need HTML5 for mobile devices to play.

The ONLY real compelling reason you might need to have fully responsive courses (and go through all the pain) would be if you feel you MUST have your content playing on smart phone screens.  For my money, smartphones are too small to be truly effective as a delivery mechanism for anything other than pure video instruction (think YouTube).  And video is NEVER responsive, just scalable.

[jessicaz5294720]

Thanks papaintegrator​ and RodWard​. I agree--iPhone screens = unviewable/subpar content for the effort.

However, when I test HTML5 courses on mobile devices, on some orientations, I seem to lose the playback controls. Any ideas why that may be? Should I be selecting scalable HTML?

[jessicaz5294720]

One more related question--is there a recommended screen size when recording for straight HTML5 (non-responsive)? And should I be selecting Scalable HTML? I want to ensure my playback controls display correctly.

[Lilybiri]

Do you know what your audience will use? Will the course be displayed on a webserver or on a LMS?  There is not 'one' recommended size since those are factors you have to take into account. If you expect users to watch on many different screen resolutions (better, browser resolutions), I would recommend to use Scalable HTML and develop for a pretty high resolution, but try to avoid too big file sizes, especially if mobile devices could also be used.

[jessicaz5294720]

The course will be saved on a sftp site or web server, but accessed via an LMS. We do a lot of system demonstrations, so I would anticipate that if these courses are accessed on mobile devices, they would be accessed via/or we would recommend iPads, as iPhones don't make for very viewable system demos. I do think the vast majority will continue to use desktops/laptops to view our courses. With that said, is there a size you would recommend?

[Lilybiri]

Which monitors do they use? The lowest resolution in my network is HD, but yesterday I gave a training in a classroom where laptops had only 1280x720 resolution. You have to take into account the space taken up by the browser or the LMS to calculate the best resolution.

[jessicaz5294720]

22” monitors are pretty standard for the desktops at a resolution of 1680x1050.  The laptops are generally 1920x1200. 

I've inquired as to which we have more of, laptops or desktops, awaiting the answer.

[HimanshuSatija]

Hi Jennifer,

The device which you referring in your post is basically Breakpoints in Adobe Captivate. These breakpoints are basically standard of the devices on which you think your audience will be viewing the content.

So when you define a breakpoint or work in a pre existing breakpoints (Desktop, Tablets or Mobile) , you are actually kind of previewing how your objects will display after publishing on the devices having similar height and width.

When you publish the output, you are publishing a responsive output and the responsive output automatically renders according to the device on which it is being previewed. But there are users who want the output to be more specific on a specific screen size. so in that view you can drag and align the content to be displayed the same way even after publishing.

Hope this answers your query.

Regards

Himanshu