Will I be forced to use FLUID BOXES in later releases of Captivate? I'm not sure they suit my project (or if I need more training)...

[InterventionsC]

Afternoon,

I've been using Captivate 9 (and now version 10) for about 14 months now, so a relative newbie. I've created a number of training courses for a client, and more recently these have been responsive using the breakpoints.  I only upgraded to Captivate 2017 in November 2017 and I have, since then, watched countless videos about fluid boxes as I presumed as I am building responsive training courses I'll have to use these fluid boxes.  My client wants to maintain the look and feel of the courses I've done already and would like the courses to be available on anything from a phone to a laptop.  I'm failing miserably at mastering fluid boxes, to the point where I actually dread logging in on a morning.  The previous courses I've designed were really coming from a graphic design background - there's a lot overlaps and different coloured shapes and movement in the timeline.  I just can't seem to replicate this with fluid boxes.  What I've created looks very unprofessional.  I've experimented with making the boxes static etc. but this doesn't work and just creates a lot of white space in the mobile view.

My client doesn't care whether I use fluid boxes or breakpoint view just as long as the training works on multiple devices.  If I use fluid boxes I can't seem to create anything that's 'nice looking', if I use breakpoint I have to spend a lot of time reformatting for ipad and iphone (and I guess there'll be problems with learners who have less popular screen dimensions). I have no issue with the latter as at least I am producing something decent.

So, to cut a long story short, I think my only option is to use breakpoint view where I have complete control over my slide elements (how on earth do you add a shape to a fluid box without it resizing to fit the box?  Still not figured that out - even with padding it looks terrible).  But, how likely is it that Adobe will take away the breakpoint view on the next release and not support it?  If this happened my client would be left with nothing.  Should I just stick to breakpoint view?  Do I really need to master fluid boxes?

I've so far watched all the videos on Lynda.com, numerous YouTube videos (thanks Paul Wilson, eLearningBrothers and Pooja Jaisingh ), scoured this forum, played about for hours and I just don't get it with fluid boxes.  I've been waiting for my 'ah-ha!' moment since November and it hasn't arrived.

I'd really really really appreciate any thoughts on this please.  Or, if there's other training out there that I don't know about please can you direct me to that?

Many thanks, Heather

[Lilybiri · Accepted solution]

Why would Adobe take away Breakpoint Views? To me they are still the only workflow that leads to full responsive projects, just regret that text is not fully responsive. Fluid boxes are suited for some projects, not for all. You cannot have totally different objects on smaller screens with Fuild boxes, and you lose control over the layout. Have a look at my analysis:

Fluid Boxes Or Breakpoint Views? - Captivate blog

[InterventionsC]

Hi Lilybiri,

Thank you for replying so quickly.  I've looked at a lot of your posts over the past 14 months and was hoping you would pick up my question.  Thanks for the link - I can't believe I haven't found this already.

I guess I'm coming from the 'conscious incompetence' corner - I know what I've created so far suits my client but I know that I've only used a fraction of what Captivate can actually do (I'm only just beginning to understand what Advanced Actions are).  I'm probably just creating a glorified PowerPoint presentation.  I guess i'm paranoid as I'm only a small step away from not being able to deliver my work - this would be the case if I were forced to use fluid boxes. 

I think in the back of my mind I'm assuming I'm missing something and that fluid boxes are the only way forward.  You've put my mind at rest here.  Thank you again.  I can get on with trying to learn more of the basics without worrying that all my work will become defunct in 2 years time.

Have a good day,

Heather

[Lilybiri]

Hi Heather,

Lot of my blog posts are 'ignored' because I don't like to follow all 'hype' flows. My logical engineer's mind first wants to explore, to see in-depth what that hype means really and then I write out my personal ideas. Not very much loved by the marketing people of course. I also like to mention the little gems than are as much ignored and often will save a lot more time than the big hype features. As for fluid boxes, don't be too humble. It took me a couple of months to understand their setup, the way they can facilitate the creation of a responsive project, the advantages but also the whole bunch of limitations nobody seems to talk about. It is a valuable new work flow, but not suited for every project as you seemed to believe. The enhancements to the Advanced Actions are to me as valuable as the Fluid Boxes.

Did you ever see the rulers and guides used in a Fluid Boxes tutorial? They are indispensable to set up a responsive theme in a consistent way because they'll show up i all master slides and the main master slide is pretty unusable for Fluid Boxes.

[InterventionsC]

It's reassuring to know that it took you a little while to master fluid boxes.  I don't like to think I have totally given up on them, I'll revisit them after this next project I think.

I did see the rulers and guides tutorial thanks. I think I need to spend more time looking at this.  I think I've basically panicked because what I'm used to doing isn't available to me with fluid boxes and I don't have any time on this project to go away and spend quality time learning things at my own pace.  I'm on a "I need this yesterday" type project schedule.

Thanks again, I really appreciate your help and time.

Heather

[rachelr26200645]

i'm with you, Heather. I tried several days with fluid and got nowhere. I read everything, including the article mentioned. I went back to 9 and I am happy. It's the quizes and KCs in FB giving me trouble. I also had to go back to 9 because of the closed captioning bug in 10. Never had to do that with any piece of software in my 20 years of creating. Hopefully a newer version will address these problems. I know we are not alone.

[Lilybiri]

I agree about the CC issue but a hotfix was released very soon to solve that problem.

As for responsive projects: it is still possible to use the Breakpoint Views as I explained in the mentioned article. No need to go back to 9 for that reason. No one forces you to use Fluid Boxes. They are great fro some projects, not suited for other projects. It is true that you need some learning time to master that new work flow. To me it is very weird that almost all tutorials talk only about fluid boxes on a blank slide, and ignore totally the use of fluid boxes on master slides, which was where I started exploring the fluid boxes in the exisiting themes. I still have CP9 installed but only switch to it when a client requires that version. I stay with CP2017 in all other circumstances. It has a lot to offer: new Advanced Actions dialog box, the While looping, better HTML5 output, easier way to record on retina screens etc.

[InterventionsC]

I need to check out this 'While' looping.  I also need to delve more deeply into Advanced Actions.  I'm not a programmer (and don't have a very process driven mind!) so I'm quite scared of Advanced Actions.  I bought a manual way back when from Infosemantics to try to learn more.  I've found that I don't really know what I want to achieve with them though (I don't really know what's available to me) so can't find solutions in the manual as I don't know what I'm looking for!

I switched to Breakpoint Mode after this discussion though and I've swerved the Captivate nervous breakdown....for now.   Good luck.

[Lilybiri]

I have several examples on my blog using the while loop:

Automatic list

Playing a dice game, using While loop - Captivate blog

Board Game

Progress Bar

[InterventionsC]

Great, many thanks.  I'll take a look. 

[rachelr26200645]

Thanks, Lieve. I just got an email this morning from adobe replying to my concerns. Hopefully the CC issue will go away. I don't get why I have to ask them for it and wait. I would rather stay in 10 and will see what I can do about using breakpoints within 10. many thanks, R