Intro

Several users have asked me already for tips about localisation in the new version of Captivate - momentarily version 12.3.0.12. There is still a way to export texts (now called captions) to a Word document, similar to the old workflow. However I wanted to limit my endeavor for an in-depth exploring to Quizzes. The main reason is that I expected a bunch of issues, which can be solved with improvements in future releases. I have indeed logged already several bug reports and feature requests based on this exploration.

In this first part I will show you an example of a Captivate project where the quiz is presented in 2 languages, to see how this can be managed in the new Captivate. I used the CSV import feature which is new in this most recent release, and had to abandon the third language (French) for reasons linked with problems due to languages with more characters than English, and maybe also with the use of a non-US keyboard. 

Example project

Try out this project, using this link. Please be patient, because output from this version is much slower to render than in all previous versions.

Used workflows

I will explain in-depth the workflows I used for this rather simple quiz: it hasn't multiple attempts on quiz nor question level. It is not possible to Retake nor Review the quiz. I left the default Results slde visible, although it is not relevant. Reasons for this simplification is the lack of the feature Branch aware which I hope will become included soon in a future release. Branch aware would make the quizzing system variables dynamic. That means the variables are adapted to the behavior of the learner, so that only the (quiz) slides visible are taken into account to create the values to be transmitted to a LMS. More info in this post on the eLearning community:

What is Branch Aware? - eLearning (adobe.com)

You can support the request to re-add this feature by voting on:
Please include quizzes that – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)

That feature is also important in projects where you want to give the opportunity to skip some parts based on a pretest or knowledge of exisiting skills for some learners.

1. Preferences

Before adding any quiz slide, start with the translation of the labels under Preferences, Quizzing, Default Labels.Changes to the Preferences will not affect existing quiz slides! In this project I started with the default labels in English, to insert the quiz slides in that language. After this first set, I translated the labels to Dutch and inserted the Dutch quiz slides. In this screenshot you see that I didn't translate all the labels, only those I would need:

In a previous version I would probably translate everything, because it was possible to export those Preferences and import them in a new project, which needed to be in Dutch without any impact on the Theme (styling) of that project. This is not yet possible in the new version of Captivate - saddening. It means that you will need to repeat this workflow in a new project from scratch, or use a model project which will have already a theme. Please support this feature request:

Export/Import Preferences – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)

More issues

• In all previous versions the Quiz Preferences included also the possibility to edit the Quiz Result messages in Settings. That has been moved to the Interaction button of the Results slide, as well as the former Pass/Fail settings. In a later example where I will show a fully translated version in one language I will include a table with all workflows needed for a full translation. The Review messages however are included in Quiz Preferences, General. 
  
  
• Some button translations do not appear. That is the case for the Back button, which is necessary for the Submit All but in this version also during Review. Buttons on the results slide always need to be translated manually, but for the Review status this is cumbersome. The 'Next' button in Review is not available in Default labels. That problem was inexistent in previous versions because the Review buttons were 'international', didn't need a translation.
  Translation Back/Next in Preferences – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)
  
  
• Label for "Partial correct" message (MCQ with multiple correct answers) is not available for translations, but it is even non-existent in the multistate object with all feedback messages. There are more problems with MCQMA but that is off topic.
  Partial correct caption – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)
  

2. CSV import

Question and answers both in English and Dutch were imported using the new CSV feature in Captivate 12.3. I used the provided template in Excel and added different types of questions. CSV doesn't allow to have partial scores, which is possible when using GIFT import in previous versions. Here is a partial screenshot of the translated CSV to Dutch:

I have indicated the cells in the Option1 column which caused problems.

Issues

1. You cannot translate 'True'/'False'. I did it in the example screenshot above, but when importing the CSV the default 'TRUE/FALSE' remained and you need to translate them manually. In the screenshot I highlighted them with a blue box.
    I logged a bug report:
   TRUE/FALSE translation in CSV not imported – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)
   
   
2. The second bug is more worrying. Look at the sentence highlighted by a red box. It has a word 'creëren'. The second "ê" has a sign on top of it which will not import in Captivate. It is a character which needs two keys on my keyboard to create it. Several characters in Dutch are in that situation, and more in other languages like Spanish, German and French. It may be the reason why the French translation of the CSV file was not imported at all.  
   When importing the Dutch version, it worked but the sequence 'eë' was replaced by a Chinese character. When trying to edit the word manually in the question slide, I discovered that it is impossible to type the character 'ë', it is always replaced by a simple 'e'. This version of Captivate doesn't allow to use any character created by a sequence of two keystrokes; Problem is not limited to quiz slides, it is the case for all text containers in a block or in a slide template. To be complete: I am using the English version of Captivate (there is no Dutch version) and was not able to check this situation in the Spanish, French or German version. For me it is a big problem! Characters like 'à', 'è', 'ç' which are available on my keyboard with one key press are not a problem.
   Combination characters in CSV replaced by Chinese characters – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)
   

3. Translation on slides

I was dearly missing the quizzing master slides which were available in the Themes in previous versions. 

• Results slide: you can have only one results slide in a project. In the example project I kept the English version and will show the workflow in part 2 for a full translation of a quiz when only one language is used.
• True/False question: you need to translate the answers on each of the slides of this type.
• Matching question: the 'Select an option' needs to be translated as many times as it appears. Contrary to changing style of the radiobuttons or check boxes which need to be done only on one item, for this 'Select an option' you need to repeat the translation.
  
• Progress indicator: is not correct for the Dutch questions. You cannot restart that indicator for the second sequence of questions. In previous versions it was easy to remediate this by replacing the default indicator by a custom indicator and using the On Enter action of the question slides. I couldn't find a workaround: the On Enter event has been taken out, and it is not that easy to get a custom indicator somewhere neither.
• No On Enter event:  makes it also impossible to calculate partial totals which could be used here or in other situations. Personally I think it is important to get the On Enter event back, especially when the Question pools will be back. Please vote for this request/
  Quiz Slide Enter trigger: restore please! – Adobe Captivate Feedback Page (uservoice.com)
  

Custom slides

To restore some of the functionality I added several custom slides, which are using multistate objects to show the necessary text in the wanted language. The chosen language is stored in a variable and conditional interactions take care of setting the correct state. The two last slides use also bookmarks and animations.

Meant for?

Collaboration ibecomes easier with good understanding. This blog aims at improving understanding between the Captivate developer and her/his team mate - Photoshop expert.  You'll start with typical Photoshop terminology, followedby the two import workflows to import source Photoshop files into . Watching some typical examples can help you to make suggestions to your PS expert. 

Goal:  make your Captivate use of their creative work more agreeable, and save time.

Photoshop terminology

Layers

A layer in Photoshop is always static (not linked to a timeline) but can have multiple objects on a layer (not possible in Captivate cptx files, where each layer is an object timeline as well). They have some added functionality compared with Captivate likes:

• Mask on a layer can limit a region for applying editing or keeping it from editing.
• The opacity of a layer can be changed (or part of it if masked).
• Photoshop can have special type of layers interacting with other layers (you’ll see an example below, where Adjustment layers are used).
• The way pixels on layers interact can be changed by blending modes. I will not expand on that powerful possibility.

Similar to Captivate, a layer can be locked and made invisible. In the screenshot layer ‘Failure3Trans is visible. Layers Failure1 and Failure2 are locked.

The active layer – like in Captivate – is the one you are busy editing. Grouping of layers is also possible. In the screenshot you see two groups of layers and one individual layer at the bottom.

Flattening

However in the Captivate dialog box for importing a source Photoshop file (see below) the meaning is slightly different. Only the ‘checked’ layers will be imported as one merged image. You will see a typical example in the last section.

Layer comps

A Photoshop document can have a multitude of layers of all kinds. Not all of them are content layers as mentioned before. This can make the decision on which layers to import for a certain goal in Captivate very difficult. For an easier, workflow the Photoshop expert can define ‘layer comps’. See them as a filter: when you choose a comp, some layers will be made visible and checked off, while the other layers remain invisible. Using a comp you’ll import exactly the right layers just by choosing a ‘comp’ name. You will see examples in the third section of this blog. Very useful!

Import Photoshop Source Document

Default way to import graphic assets is by using the Media button on the Big Button Bar. That is possible both for  (bitmap) Image and SVG. You will not find an option under that button to import a PSD-file (PSD is the extension of a native Photoshop file).  You need to use two possible workflows:

1. File, Import, Photoshop file (Shift-Alt-P)

Using this method will import both to the slide and the Project Library. Similar to importing images with Media button, on the stage it will be centered automatically both vertically and horizontally. In the Library you will see a new folder under the root. The folder has the same name as the Photoshop file, and includes what is imported.

In the screenshot you see the Library with 3 imported Photoshop files: FailureSuccess – the file for which the layer panel was shown in the previous screenshot; CompExampleCP which will be shown as example for use of comps; TemplateFlatten which you’ll discover as an example for flattening and non-flattening in the example section.

2. Import button in Library

Using this workflow only export to the library, not to the stage. In the screenshot the Import button is indicated with a red rounded rectangle.

The result for the Library is the same as with the first workflow. New folders will be created. The level below the folders are all PNG images. You can drag those PNG-images to any slide and location.

Which of the two workflows is better, depends on the situation. Have a look at the example section, where I will indicate which workflow may be better for each example. Photoshop files can be designed for multiple purposes to be used in Captivate.

Examples

1. Photoshop file as ‘Library’

The first screenshot (Terminology, Layersà with the Layers panel of ‘SuccessFailure’ is a typical example of what I mean by ‘Library’. Several images, each on their layer, are in one Photoshop file. In this example they have the same style. The Captivate developer can choose which images she/he likes best for the active project. Some of the images have a version with transparent, and another with white background (multiple background are possible of course).

Another example which I saw several times with clients: Photoshop was used as layout tool, each of the slides were on a layer in Photoshop. That may be considered also as a PSD file of this ‘Library’ type. When you open the Import Dialog box, with one of the two workflows, it will look like the screenshot to the right:

• There are no comps, you leave it to ‘Simple’ (blue marker)
• There is only one option in the Dropdown list:’ Last Document state’. It means the state when the Photoshop document was closed in Photoshop.
• I recommend to check the option to scale (green), unless you have the images created exactly at the wanted size for use in Captivate (which is the best practice).
• You will see all the layers of the Photoshop document. You can check the layers you need to import.
• If you have multiple layers selected, you probably will not want them to merge to one image, since the images are choices, not part of a global image (red rectangle: Layers is the default setting).
• About the workflow: if you want more than one layer Workflow 2 (Import button) is recommended here. If you choose Workflow 1 (file menu) all layers will be converted to PNG images AND inserted all in the center of the slide. Not what you want. Use workflow 1 only when you import one layer.

2. Flattening or not?

The screenshot shows the Layers panel (Photoshop) of the file ‘TemplateFlatten” which you also could see in the Library screenshot.

This file has 3 image layers which were extracted from 1 bitmap image. Each of them is exactly on the location as in the original bitmap image. I added a ‘template’ layer which can eventually be imported and used to restore the original combined image. But in most cases that will not be necessary.

In this case I recommend Workflow 1, whether you want to import the individual layers as PNGs (Layers in the Import dialog box) or the combined image by checking the option ‘Flattened’.

Reason: when the image are imported to the stage, they will in the correct (relative) location. When you import them only to the Library, you’ll need to use the Template to position the individual PNGs in the correct location.

Look back at the Library panel (Captivate) in the section ‘Import’: the four layers were imported as layers, and in a second process the flattened image was imported as well. That flattened image will be posted automatically in the correct library folder, and gets a generic name (FlatImage1) which you can edit of course.

3 Use of Comps

In the second example I used the same image as here for the comps example. In that example 2, each of the images has a text on the head scarf. The color of the images is gold. I wanted to make this file more flexible in two ways:

• To have another ‘hue’ for the images, so that it better fits with a project color scheme.
• To be used with the Texts in multiple languages.

That has led to a lot more layers, since text had to be on a separate layer (make it also editable), and to change the hue I used Adjustment layers which are a non-destructive way to change the ‘look’ of the layers below. In the screenshot below you see text layers in two languages (English and Dutch) and 3 adjustment layers on top. To keep it manageable for this blog, I kept only the global image, not the individual ones.  Next to the layers panel you see the Layer Comps panel. Each of those comps defines a situation. Presently ‘DutchSepia’ is active and reflected in the Layers panel: the visible layers (eye icon) are needed for this look, with Dutch text on the scarfs and a Sepia adjustment layers.

Captivate makes it really easy to import the wanted ‘comp’. Kudos to the team! In most instances you will want to import one comp, and it is possible with two different setups of the Import Dialog box.

In the left screenshot, next to ‘Photoshop Layer Comps’ the option ‘ Multiple’ is checked. If the comps were labeled well, you can easily select the wanted comp to import. It will be imported always as Flattened. The options for ‘Import as:’ are dimmed.

The result of comps import is visible in the Project Library screenshot (Import section). You see that I repeated the import process 4 times, because 4 comps are available, each being a merged image from the layers visible in that comp filter.

Second possibility is to keep the Single radiobutton checked next to ‘Photoshop Layer comps’. Have a look at the screenshot to the right which shows that situation.

Open the dropdown list under ‘Last Document State’ and you will see all the available comps.

Advantage of this second workflow is that you can see which Photoshop layers are selected for import. You could eventually edit those selections, but be careful. You can import layers in this case as well, but I would not recommend that if adjustment layers are used. They cannot be imported into Captivate, only the real images.

Since you will mostly import only one comp the choice for the Import workflow is free, whether with File, Import or with the Import button in the Library.

Updating

Not mentioned so far, because you’ll find this in all blogs and video about Photoshop roundtripping.  The ‘green’ checkmark next to the Photoshop folder, which indicates that the original PSD-file is in synch with Captivate. If your Photoshop expert updates that file in any way: adding layers, editing content on one or more layers, correcting typos in the text layers this will be reflected in Captivate by a color change in that round checkmark.  Clicking the red checkmark will allow you to update and have the changes automatically be imported and applied in Captivate.