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
e-learning
I’ve been a longtime user of the ADL wrapper (with code from the late Claude Ostyn), and to be honest, it’s pretty much met my needs. But I was never completely comfortable with the wrapper for two reasons: 1) The code is hard to read with confusing and
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
I had an interesting conference call the other day regarding a learning management system’s browser support. We’re trying to implement a new LMS, and it needs to be accessible for Mac users. The vendor promised us Mac support before the contract was signed and — surprise! — it doesn’t
ramblings
Today was the day… I gave a presentation at the eLearning Guild’s DevLearn 2007 conference in San Jose. Topic? Captivate-to-Flash ActionScript Communication. Not a sexy title, I know, but there was a pretty respectable turnout… which indicates to me that a lot of people want to use Captivate but
Tips and Tricks
Just thought I’d pass this link on: ~~http://www.assistiveware.com/videos.php~~ (short write-up here — thanks to Roger Johansson for the link.) Update: The original link is now broken, but http://www.assistiveware.com still hosts great videos. These are video profiles of people with mild to severe
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
e-learning
Update: A few months after writing this journal entry, I developed SCORM class files for ActionScript 2 and ActionScript 3 (both require ExternalInterface). Check them out here. For the last week, I’ve been doggedly attempting to create a hybrid of Flash-to-JavaScript communication techniques for creating cross-browser SCORM-conformant courses that
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
ramblings
Having just finished my Making Actionscript calls from Adobe Captivate tutorial, I’ve been looking at Captivate 2.0 a lot the last few days. Specifically, I’ve been looking for ways to use JavaScript in Captivate. I’m a bit disappointed to report that JavaScript can only be used
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.