Transitions in Responsive Project

[KatieKarkowski]

I'm using Captivate 2019 for Mac Big Sur (11.0.1) I created a responsive project, but once I published it the transitions are choppy and slow. My first thought is to add space between the beginning and end of each slide so the transition runs more seamless. I just am not seeing clear whole slide transition properties to play with. Any help is welcome. This is my first project so I might be missing something completely obvious. Thanks for your help.

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

Slide transitions are not recommended for use in HTML5.  They may work, but it depends very much on the end user's system and choice of browser, etc.  Most mobile devices and mobile browsers don't handle them well (in my experience).  There are no configuration options provided in Captivate to adjust the slide transitions. 

The better way to handle transitions seems to be using the Fade in and Fade out properties of objects on the slides rather than trying to transition the entire slide.  Fades work fairly well but they can tax the CPU and that means some mobile devices struggle. If there are numerous objects on the slides that might need to fade in or out at the same time, it's usually better to just place a white Smart Shape over the entire slide and fade that out to 'reveal' all the objects at once or fade it in to make it look like the objects all fade out together.  This way there is only one object being manipulated and the CPU load is less.

[KatieKarkowski]

Thank you so much for your response! I really appreciate it. That all makes sense. I think I can play with the smart objects. One more question. Are transitions an option if I do a regular non responsive project? I may not need the versatility. 

[RodWard]

As I mentioned before, you CAN use them with HTML5, and that includes non-responsive HTML5, but it's going to depend a lot on what your end users are using to view the content.  You need to do some UAT (User Acceptance Testing) within your target audience to find out if they have any issues with the transitions.  

If you are in a corporate environment with default browsers then this job becomes easier because everyone is more or less using the same platform.  However, it becomes almost impossible to be sure when your audience is the general public and they might be viewing the content on everything from a desktop computer to a laptop to an iPad or Android tablet.

[KatieKarkowski]

Thank you again. That clarification helps me a lot. 

[KatieKarkowski]

I have one more question (for now). As I am building out my Smart Objects to act as transitions, they are still not smooth when publishing. Do you have any tips on length of time or specific fade options you use to make it look more seamless? 

[RodWard]

I usually use 0.5 seconds.  Occasionally I will make something 1 second fade in or out, but half second is my go to timing.