Menu Wizard
The Menu Wizard is a 3rd-party software product that integrates directly into Adobe Captivate movies. The Menu Wizard is a Flash movie that provides a dynamic menu - a series of buttons that navigates to slides you specify within your published Adobe Captivate movies. The Menu Wizard can dramatically improve the usability of your movies for end-users!
The Menu Wizard is useful within all types of Captivate movies including software demonstrations, interactive simulations, soft skills, quizzes, Power Point imported content, and branching.
The Menu Wizard was specifically developed to work with Adobe Captivate versions 2 and 3. We have carefully programmed all the files with the proper technical code, structure, and references to integrate directly with a published Adobe Captivate movie.
uring installation the Menu Wizard application files are copied into the default location of My Documents/My Adobe Captivate Projects/Menu Wizard. During installation, you can select an alternative location. The Menu Wizard requires end-users to have the Flash version 9.x browser plugin.
Basic Workflow
Using the Menu Wizard is easy. Here's the basic steps for integrating the Menu Wizard with any Adobe Captivate project:
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Develop and publish your Captivate movie. Note the slide numbers you want the Menu to navigate to. |
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Copy the Menu Wizard files to your Captivate publish folder. |
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.Edit the Menu Wizard .xml file. |
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Test the Captivate movie on your local PC to confirm Menu Wizard functionality. |
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Stage the files to production (copy files to web server). |
Customizing the Menu Wizard's Appearance
The Menu Wizard includes many options to control the content, location, and appearance. You can edit the following elements:
| General | |
| Horizontal and Vertical orientation | |
| Location (x,y) within the Captivate movie. | |
| Transparency (0-100%) | |
| Drop Shadow | |
| Buttons | |
| Title of each menu item | |
| The Captivate slide number each button navigates to | |
| Size (width & height) | |
| Background color - Up state | |
| Background color - Over state | |
| Border color | |
| Border width | |
| Text | |
| Font | |
| Font size | |
| Font color - Up state | |
| Font color - Over state | |
| Header | |
| Font | |
| Font size | |
| Font color | |
| Background color |
Example Movies
We have several example Captivate movies available that provide demonstrations of the Menu Wizard.
Why Use the Menu Wizard?
A menu system is one of the most desired features by Captivate developers. The Adobe Captivate product includes a menu system. However, this menu system is generally regarded as inadequate for many reasons (search Adobe's forums for detailed discussion). Here's a table comparing the Menu Wizard vs the default Adobe Captivate menu (available under Project > Skin > Menu):
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Adobe's Menu
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Menu Wizard
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| Number of movies possible in a Captivate movie |
1
|
unlimited
|
| Location options |
Top left, Top center, Top right
|
Any x,y coordinates
|
| Vertical and Horizontal layouts? |
Vertical Only
|
Vertical and Horizontal
|
| Adjust Transparency |
No
|
Yes
|
| Change to menu requires republishing Captivate? |
Yes
|
No
|
| Use any font for button text? |
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Specify width/height of menu/buttons |
No
|
Yes
|
| Adjust Border Color |
No
|
Yes
|
| Adjust Border Size |
No
|
Yes
|
| Drop Shadow |
Always visible
|
Visible or hidden
|
| Font choices for menu items |
Any font available
|
Any font available
|
| Control background color of Header (menu title) |
No
|
Yes
|
| Control text color of Header (menu title) |
Yes
|
Yes
|
| Adjust text color of "over state" for menu items |
No
|
Yes
|
| Use different font for header and button text? |
No
|
Yes
|
| Use different font size for header and button text? |
No
|
Yes
|
| General Visibility |
Menu expands on mouse over of header
|
Menu always expanded
|
| Header (menu title) |
Always visible
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Visible or hidden
|
Installation
The Menu Wizard is distributed as a software installation package (setup.exe compiled using InstallShield 2008). The following components are included in the installation:
| Files | |
| Instruction Guide (.PDF) - instruction document | |
| .HTML, .SWF, .XML, .JS - all the necessary technical files | |
| Shortcuts | |
| Within the Start Menu, you'll have easy reference to the: | |
| Instruction Guide - (see above) | |
| Support Web site - go directly to support information for product | |
| Uninstall |
Purchase - $44.95
To order the Menu Wizard or any of our other products, use our
Lifetime License
All of our products now include a free lifetime license. You purchase the product once, and you're entitled to free upgrades to each version we release. Worried about upgrading to Captivate 4? Well don't - we'll provide a free upgrade to you.