The Captivate Workflow

Captivate content is most effective when you create many small, concise Captivate demonstrations or simulations. This is because Captivate has to manage all of the media it creates: the screen-capture images, the audio narration, the custom text, cursor movements, and so forth. That is a lot of activity and assets to track. Even with a fast computer, it is best if you create many small Captivate demonstrations and simulations because this affects your end user. If the Captivate content is smaller, it is easier for an end user to follow and understand. Moreover, the actual SWF file size is smaller and results in quicker downloads, which ensures a better playback experience for the end user.

Following this best practice creates a challenge, however: You suddenly have a bunch of SWF files, and you might not be sure what to do with them. If you are like most authors, you probably want your users to access your Captivate content in a web browser on the Internet, your local intranet, or as a companion executable. Since Captivate creates an HTML file or an executable for each Captivate demonstration or simulation, does this mean you have to create a website just to manage all of your content? Do your users need to keep track the content (which, by the way, isn’t the best experience for them)? What about the executables? Will the user see each piece of Captivate content as a separate “program”?