Using image placeholder in a custom Theme

[laurieb4674]

I am very new to Captivate and I’m needing to learn a lot, very quickly (not
like you haven't that before!). I have searched through as much of the online
help and forums as I can to find an answer that is relevant to Captive 9 (I
currently have 9.0.0.223). I decided to create a custom theme where the
developers will use the option: “Insert > New Slide from”. The content
master slides (or theme slides) have the image placeholders and text
placeholders very specifically sized, positioned, and formatted. The Master
slide only has the required background color and a background for a custom navigation
button bar. From this theme, I’ve created a template with several slides that
will be common in most lessons. Here’s my question: when I select to insert a
slide from the theme, the image placeholder will not successfully bring in a
picture (which is the exact same size as defined) unless the placeholder is
“unlocked”, yet the text placeholder can be edited just fine while locked. This
is not a huge issue, but I would like to be able to keep the image position
locked so it is one less thing for the developers to have to think about. Is
this a bug or is there an explanation? Is this the same in the updated versions
of Captivate 9?

[Damienbkx__AEL-ACI_]

I just experienced the same behaviour. I think you found a bug in the application!

The workaround is simple though, just do not lock the image placeholders until the bug is fixed.

[laurieb4674]

I guess that's what I'll have to do! Thanks!

[Damienbkx__AEL-ACI_]

I just filled a bug report for this issue. I hope it will be fixed soon.

[Damienbkx__AEL-ACI_]

Just had an eMail from the team telling me they could reproduce the issue and are now tracking it as a bug. 

Will probably be fixed on the next update.

[laurieb4674]

Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

You are correct, I don't know if it is a bug (was not the case in Captivate 7, this behavior was then as you wanted) or by design. The issue with locked image placeholders is that not only the position is locked but also the size which means the width/height ratio. That could lead to deformation of images that have not the same width/height ratio. BTW, even for text captions, the user can turn off locking on the slides at any moment as well. If you create a template, you can have placeholders as well on slides. For the difference between theme/template, have a look at:

What's in a Theme - a Template? - Captivate blog

[laurieb4674]

Have read most of your blogs/articles and find them to be most helpful. And I thank you for that!

The only thing that makes the research difficult or confusing is some posts the come up in a search turn out to be outdated as new features and enhancements are introduced in subsequent versions of Captivate. When I get halfway through an article, feeling a bit more confused, I realize it was written for Captivate 5 or something. Even the help file on the Adobe site are not well labeled for the version they were written. I've resorted to picking what seem to work and what has been determined to be the "best approach" in the more recent post. Thanks so much for your watch on the forum, it nice to know you are out there to help the new developers along!

Thanks so much for your watch on the forum, it nice to know you are out there to help the new developers along!

[Lilybiri]

You're welcome. Wished I had more time to keep every article updated when things changed with a new release. I am even astonished that so much is still valid, even articles written many years ago. The change in UI makes screenshots sometimes outdated, would be a full-time job to watch everything. After all, have to earn something as well.

[laurieb4674]

I totally understand!! And that is why I continue to read your articles, I've always gleaned a gem or 2 from each one. I even go back to reread articles because as I learn new things some things become clearer when I read them a 2nd or 3rd time.