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Create branching and forced navigation in Captivate Classic

Last updated on Oct. 9, 2023 | Also applies to Captivate

Leap over the hurdle of authoring complex branching logic, to create multi-module eLearning courses. The all-new Quick Start Project branching slides help you easily create branching logic without programming or using advanced actions.

Simplified branching workflow

Branched Module

Branching in Adobe Captivate Classic involves a learner clicking on the screen to choose an option and then navigating to a different slide depending on what the learner chooses. Depending on the learner’s choice, the learner continues to the next question or goes back to a previous question and retakes the question. Branching is an effective way for learners to practice and get meaningful feedback.

Branching involves creating interactions with the help of variables and advanced actions. While this approach was useful for eLearning developers and Instructional Designers, the approach had a learning curve, especially for someone who was a new user of Captivate Classic.

In the 2019 release of Adobe Captivate Classic Update 2, this workflow has been simplified so that users who want to implement branching in their projects can do so without creating variables and advanced actions. The new workflow is an addition to creating branches using variables and advanced actions, which continue to exist.

The new branching exercise involves a set of rules that are mandatory and optional. You can see the rules take effect when you preview the project.

For this sample project, click the link below to download the cptx and the assets. Download the zip and save the contents on your computer.

Download

To implement branching in your project:

Create a responsive project and apply any theme. Add a background to the slide. This slide becomes an introductory slide to your branching project. Add a title and a background to the slide.

Start slide
Create a slide that is the origin of all your branching workflows. It is necessary that you name the slide as branching. The name is case sensitive. This slide is critical to branching because after you finish all the activities in a branching scenario, you are redirected to this slide. Let us break this step into sub-steps:
1. Insert the flags of Germany, France, Italy, and Spain to the stage.
  
  Branching slide
  
  It is recommended that you name the objects appropriately. For example, name the German flag as Germany, and so on.
2. If you want your learners to take an assessment after completing all the branching workflows, you can insert a button that launches the quiz. It is important that the name of the button must be quiz. The name of the quiz slide group must also be quiz. The button can be hidden when you launch the project. Only after you complete all the branching workflows, the button gets displayed.
3. The branching slide must contain interactive objects, for example, smart shapes as buttons, images as buttons, etc., which when acted upon, jumps to a particular slide group. It is necessary that the names of the slide group and the interactive object must be the same.
  
  In this slide, convert the four objects as buttons. The name of a button must be the same as the name of a slide group.
4. Create your first slide group. For this example, insert two slides and the following objects to the slides.
  
  Eiffel Tower
  
  Champs Elysees
5. To create the slide group, select both the slides, right-click > Group > Create. Name the group as the object on the branching slide. For example, name the newly created group France because you had previously named the button France in the earlier slide.
  
  Slide group properties
6. Similarly, create slide groups for the other buttons, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Name the slide groups same as the buttons.
If you want to use states in the objects, you can also create a state called completed. When the branching for that object completes, the object displays the properties that you had set for the completed state.

Custom state completed
After you finish authoring the project, you can the preview/publish the project. When you preview the project, you observe the following:

· If you click an interactive object on the branching slide, you are taken to the corresponding slide group.

· Once you have visited the last slide in the group, the branching slide re-appears, so that you can visit other branched paths.

· Once you have visited very branched path, the interactive object linked to quiz appears. You are now ready to take an assessment.

Forced navigation

Forced Navigation

This update introduces another feature that boosts your productivity as an instructional content designer. Previously, when creating an interactive project, especially by new users of Captivate Classic, the process involved creating multiple states for multiple interactive objects, variables, advanced actions.

With Forced Navigation, you can create an interactive project quickly and with minimum learning curve. While creating such a project, you must however adhere to a set of rules, similar to creating a branched project, discussed in the previous section.

For example, in compliance trainings, using Forced Navigation, you can only move on to the next part of your training only after completing a set of pre-requisite trainings.

Download the sample cptx and the assets by clicking the link below:

Download

To create a project with Forced Navigation,

On an empty project, insert these objects, as shown below:

Multi-state slide

In this project, on runtime, after clicking every button on the left, you will see a Yoga method on the right.

IMPORTANT: You must name the slide multistate.
Set states to the object on the right. Name the object ms_poses.

Assign states for the object names ms_poses, as shown below.

Note:

The name of the object must be prefixed with ms. For example, ms_myobject.

Object states
Name the objects on the first slide as shown in the slide. Turn each object into a button and assign each the action No Action.

IMPORTANT: You must name the objects according to the convention <objectname>_<objectstatename>, as shown below:

Object state naming convention
Insert a button on the multi_state_interaction slide, which can be hidden on stage. Only when you complete all the necessary training, the button gets activated.

IMPORTANT: Name this button <objectname>_completed. In this example, name the button as poses_completed.

Navigation button
To view the effects, preview or publish the project.