ramblings
I have some simple questions I’d love to get feedback on. I’m curious about what people are looking for in their e-learning authoring tools, specifically: 1. What feature is your current tool missing that you would love to see implemented? Support for team collaboration? Support for themes or
Project Updates
A year ago this week, I launched the not-for-profit and ad-free pipwerks E-Learning Development Forum. It was mostly intended to be a way for me to answer questions about some of my projects, such as the SCORM API wrapper, SCORM ActionScript classes, and my many Captivate hacks. The forum wasn’
ramblings
Before I get to my point, I’d like to give you some background information. For better or for worse, I’m something of a perfectionist. I’m also something of an idealist; this combination makes life very difficult sometimes. When I embark on a project, I’m usually driven
best practices
Understanding that we should be using standards and best practices throughout e-learning development, the question becomes “what standards and best practices should we follow?” Here’s my attempt at outlining some basics. Please feel free to suggest additional items in the comments section. Follow established “web” best practices. Separate presentation
ramblings
Question: Why don’t more e-learning developers use standards? I don’t know for sure, but I have a number of guesses. Here’s a quick list off the top of my head: * Lack of knowledge about standards * Confusing or obtuse documentation * Competing standards * Misconceptions about cost effectiveness * Difficulty / Lack
ramblings
Today Rapid Intake announced a new service named Unison. Not having used the service, I won’t pretend to know whether it’s a worthwhile service or not. It’s certainly an intriguing idea, and with its oft-mentioned low price, it’s guaranteed to get some industry buzz. Out of
ramblings
This post was triggered by BJ Schone’s question “How do you build e-learning courses?“ So, here’s my question: How do you build your e-learning courses? Do you build them from scratch (ex. HTML, JavaScript, etc.)? Do you use an authoring tool for the whole course structure? This is
Tips and Tricks
Update April 7, 2008: I’ve written a new AS3 class named LegacyCaptivateLoader that uses ExternalInterface to bridge the AS3 SWF and the Captivate SWF. Check it out. I guess I’m late to the party, but I only recently realized that although a Flash Player 9 SWF can load
ramblings
Here are my first impressions of Captivate 3’s improvements and new features. This is part one of a multi-part journal entry. Importing PowerPoint presentations Disclaimer: I have never recommended nor will I ever recommend using PowerPoint presentations as online courseware. It’s a bad idea, whether it’s been
ramblings
I just got Captivate 3, and eagerly installed it to see if any improvements have been made regarding JavaScript and ActionScript handling. Short answer: nope. JavaScript According to Captivate’s ‘Help’: You can add JavaScript to click boxes, text entry boxes, and buttons in Adobe Captivate projects. The JavaScript can
ramblings
Captivate SWFs can communicate with the host HTML file via JavaScript, but the scripting options suffer from severe limitations imposed by the Captivate authoring environment. For starters, this communication is (generally) a one-way street: the JavaScript goes out of Captivate to the HTML file, but the JavaScript in the HTML
Adobe Captivate
Captivate 2.0 doesn’t include the ability directly manipulate Actionscript. This has been problematic for people like myself who have Flash-based ‘players’ that load and unload both Captivate SWFs and Flash SWFs… we often need the Captivate SWF to perform some kind of action when it reaches its end.