Click boxes

[sjucker]

Adobe announced click boxes aren't supported in fluid boxes for Adobe Captivate 2017. We have many click boxes in our existing responsive Captive 8 courses. If we upgrade to Captivate 2017 how can we continue to use responsive click boxes?

[Captiv8r]

Perhaps use Buttons or Shapes configured as Buttons? With the objects being configured as invisible by setting no fill or outline and total opacity?

[sjucker]

yes. this might be the way to go. Thanks!

[Lilybiri]

Can you specify where you did read that click boxes are not supported, please?

Just tested quickly: I inserted a click box in a Fluid box, it was active and rescaled when using the slider, remained active from desktop to phone resolution. Must confess that I didn't publish, only tested in Preview.

[sjucker]

Hi,

Yes, I read it here Adobe Captivate (2017 release) known issues 

I would love to know about whether the click boxes work in the fluid boxes on publish.  Let me know if you are able to publish click boxes with advanced actions  in a fluid box. Thanks for the help!

[sjucker]

I read it here Adobe Captivate (2017 release) known issues 

[Lilybiri]

OK, I see, should read that documentation really better. I had a shared action triggered by the click box, which works in Preview project.

Must confess that I rarely use click boxes since shapes appeared, but software simulations still do insert click boxes. Of course, they do use the Blank master slide, which has no fluid box in the included responsive themes.

If you upgrade a responsive project created in a previous version, you'll keep the breakpoint views but will not be able to use fluid boxes. To use those new FB's you need to copy/paste the slides to a new responsive project. It is quite a lot of work, I have been trying that out because you have to rethink the project totally. Even when starting with creating fluid boxes on the master slides, it takes a lot of time.

Why did you use so many click boxes? Sorry to ask, because I still see a lot of people using click boxes over an image instead of inserting that image in a shape which you can use as an interactive button (shape button).

[sjucker]

We have started using click boxes because 50% of our users are accessing our courses with Firefox and when have used smart shapes as buttons in the past the buttons don't work- the screen is blank. Do you know if Smart shapes as buttons work in Firefox in Captivate 2017?

We have found click boxes a little more flexible than regular buttons

• When using buttons you can't remove the pause, whereas using click boxes you can. We found using click boxes beneficial because we can limit the amount of pauses that we have to keep track of. When you are using a button, you have to ensure that all the buttons and all the pauses are in the exact same place otherwise, there will be multiple stopping points in the project. Click boxes allow you to take the pause off, we have found them easier to work with.

• We have several projects where we use one image such as a map where we can overlay click boxes on top. We have found click boxes easier to work with in this instance rather than creating multiple images as buttons that have to be pieced together.
  
  
  

Are there any workarounds that you know of for these two instances? I think for us, it has just been a personal preference.

[Lilybiri]

You can perfectly take out the pause for a button as well. Look in the Timing properties. The only difference is that since a click box is by definition invisible to the user, its pausing point is always at the end of its timeline. Whereas for a button, which has an active and an inactive part, the pausing point is default set to 1,5secs for a default button with a timeline of 3 secs. But for both you can uncheck the option 'Pause' in the Timing Properties.  The problem with a need to have all pausing points at the same location in the timeline: what is the difference between a click box and an button? Maybe this article could be interesting:

Pausing Captivate's Timeline - Captivate blog

I never did have issues with shape buttons in FF? I know about issues with 508 compliance (but I live in Europe), not with a browser.

I understand that for multiple hotspots you want to use click boxes, but even there I prefer shape buttons because they can have any shape, not just rectangular. Moreover, I can use them obn master slides, quiz slides, score slides and they can be timed for the rest of the project. Another link:

Custom Hotspot questions in Captivate 8 - Captivate blog

BTW Just published a short project with a click box in a FB, and it seems to be functional. I wonder, will try to explore more.

[mohanadas]

Hi,

Clickboxes are not supported inside Fluid boxes in Captivate 2017. However, you can use them on the Stage or inside a Static Fluid box.

Since clickboxes work on the concept of overlapping, this contradicts the mantra of Fluid boxes, which follow a two-dimensional paradigm. This is why it does not make sense to put them inside a Fluid box.

Thanks,
Mohana

[Lilybiri]

Hi Mohana,

I try to understand, because I checked a file after publishing, where the click box is functional in a normal, not a static fluid box.

That click box was not overlapping with any other object however, maybe that was why the functionality was not damaged?

If this is indeed the problem, replacing that click box by a shape or other button with Alpha =0 and no stroke over another object will not be an alternative (as suggested by Rick), but having an image inside of the shape button, is not an issue?

Lieve

[mohanadas]

Yes Lieve, you are correct. If you want the object to be part of a non-static fluid box, using a shape button with an image fill is the way to go.

Otherwise, you would have to use a Static Fluid box

Regards,

Mohana

[Lilybiri]

Thanks Mohana.

Three of the non-supported objects in (normal) fluid boxes have to do with overlaying objects I suspect: click box (mostly used over an image), highlight box (ditto), zoom object. Mouse object isn't supported either, is that because it needs continuity on a sequence of slides and cannot be moved nor resized for that reason? I try to understand better the paradigm of the Fluid boxes, when to use them and when not.

What can be the advantage of a static Fluid box over not having a Fluid box?

Lieve

[sjucker]

Thank you Lieve for continuing this discussion. Mohanna I chatted with you a bit on the webinar yesterday and am also very interested in your feedback regarding when to use the fluid boxes. We will be importing our responsive Captivate files into Cp 2017 next month. You said yesterday that we can import responsive projects and we will still get the breakpoints. I understand we can also copy all the images from our responsive project at one breakpoint and then import to the 2017 version, add the fluid boxes and save as responsive. The second option seems like a lot of work. Which option is better? What advantage do the fluid boxes have over my already responsive project?

Thanks again for your great advice.

Sheryl

[Lilybiri]

Hi Sheryl,

It is my nature, I first have to understand a feature in-depth before trying to write about it. Real Captivate-experts seem to be much quicker and have been writing already quite a lot about Fluid Boxes£. I did not, will soon publish a post about other new features/enhancements but not yet about FB's.

The work flow in CP9 with the breakpoint views has some disadvantages. One of them is the fact that text will not rescale in between the breakpoint views: you define the exact font size for each view in the object style, but that font size will not change. With FB's and Enable uniform Text rescaling this has been solved. As you could see in this discussion with Mohana (such a nice woman, I have once met her IRL), the normal FB's do not allow overlapping objects, which can be a limitation. I wonder how hotspot quiz slides are configured (will explore them).  At this moment I have also no idea about the way software sims are used with FB's.

At this moment I don't see any advantage concerning responsivity in upgrading an existing responsive project to CP2017 since you'll keep the breakpoint views, in master slides and slides. Other new features (advanced actions, use of retina screen, states for shape buttons on master slides....) can be useful however.

The second work flow is indeed a lot of work, although you can use the Library as external library, no need to copy assets one by one, even shared actions can be dragged easily in the new project. All depends on the way you structured the responsive projects in CP9. I often had much more important layout differences for mobile compared with primary than FB's will allow at least AFAIK at this moment. I always start by customizing a theme, and that work flow is quite different in 2017 compared with 9. It needs a 'change of mind' for me.

Sorry for this long answer.

[mohanadas]

Lieve Weymeis I think you meant Nimmy, whom you have met IRL.  

[Lilybiri]

@Mohanadas My apologies for the confusion

[mohanadas]

Hi Sheryl,

Since a CP8 or a CP9 breakpoint project already has been designed custom to each breakpoint, we have given the option to keep it as it is, since it has already been created and finished. For new responsive projects, Fluid boxes will reduce the overhead of having to customize for each and every breakpoint. Only by setting some values in the Desktop view, you need not worry about how it will look on a device. The content will fit and adjust itself according to the device it is viewed on.

If you have any doubts or queries, please feel free to email us at CaptivateHelp@adobe.com

[mohanadas]

In order to visualize this, you can think of Static as a mini-slide. The inside of a Static behaves the same way as your slide area. You have support for overlapping objects, additional state objects etc. with the added advantage of having that container adjust itself when it's parent wraps. 

[Lilybiri]

Thanks for the explanation about Static Fluid Boxes. I am still struggling with the Optional status...

[mohanadas]

Optional works when your parent is set to "Squeeze in a row"  Optional is used when you want some objects to not appear on smaller devices (in case there's no room to fit them on the screen)