The Recording Phase

The recording phase affects file size the most when creating Captivate content. By planning for your recording phase, you can minimize potential file-size issues. In this section I cover ways to plan the recording of your content.

Reducing the Recording Area

Minimize file size by reducing the recording area in Captivate. If the application you are recording can be easily shown in an 800 x 600 area, don't record it in an 1024 x 768 area. The larger the area, the bigger the screen shot and the more data you capture. By reducing the amount of data captured, you reduce the file size accordingly.

Reducing the recording area benefits you in other ways as well. Many end users have different monitor sizes and desktop resolutions. If you record a demonstration on a computer that has a desktop dimension of 1024 x 768 and your users have a monitor with an 800 x 600 resolution, they will have a difficult time seeing all of your recorded content because their monitor resolution will be too small to view the entire demonstration. They will have to scroll side to side to see all the content.

Tip: Don't record the application at its maximum size. Reducing the size that the application occupies on the full screen also results in smaller file sizes and more usable content.

Removing Background Noise

Reduce the amount of background noise you have in your recording area. Any change in color, icon, or background image increases the size of the file. Here are two ways to reduce the amount of background noise in the recording area:

• Set your desktop background to a standard color. This is probably the single most important factor that decreases file size. Many standard operating systems today come with bright, colorful background images on the desktop. Although these images can be visually appealing, they increase your file size and can confuse users if you capture them in your Captivate projects.
• Remove excess desktop icons. Any type of color change can cause your Captivate demonstration to increase in file size—including desktop icons. If you record a demonstration that does not involve desktop icons, you can lower your file sizes by removing them prior to recording (you can always return them to the desktop after recording). Excess desktop icons can also confuse your users and make demonstrations look too busy and crowded. Removing excess desktop icons reduces file size and simplifies the appearance of your demonstration.

Planning for Color Gradients

Reducing the color gradients in your recording area can help you further reduce file size. Although you may sometimes need color gradients for certain parts of a demonstration, you can usually remove color gradients without affecting the end user's experience. For instance, you can remove the color gradients on the application's title bars.

To remove color gradients on a Windows application's title bars:

1. Click the Start menu.
2. Select Control Panel > Display.
3. Click the Appearance tab.
4. Click Advanced.
5. Locate the Item pop-up menu.
6. Select Active Title bar.
7. Set Color and Color 2 to the same color.
8. Select the Inactive Title bar.
9. Set Color and Color 2 to the same color.

Note: These steps may vary, depending on your operating system.

You can also lower your file size by reducing the number of color gradients during the recording phase. Use a Windows Classic desktop theme instead of a Windows XP desktop. (The Windows XP desktop uses a wider range of colors and therefore has more color gradients.) Windows XP uses the Windows XP theme by default. Switch to the Windows Classic theme by following these steps:

1. Click the Start menu.
2. Select Control Panel > Display.
3. Click the Appearance tab.
4. From the Theme pop-up menu select Windows Classic.
5. Click OK.

Note: These steps may vary, depending on your operating system.

"Full Motion" Recording

When recording in "Full Motion" format, Captivate converts the recording from AVI format to static screen shots. This increases the overall file size more than a traditional recording. Full Motion recordings, when converted, create 30 individual screen shots for every second of Full Motion recording (they appear only as one slide in Captivate). Avoid Full Motion recording whenever possible to keep file sizes to a minimum. By default, Captivate uses Full Motion recording for all drag-and-drop actions, which include any of the following:

• Dragging a file, folder, or icon from one part of the screen to another
• Dragging an application window from one part of the screen to another; read about an alternative to Full Motion capturing in the following Captivate TechNote: Creating a Smooth Scrolling Window in Captivate
• Dragging a scroll bar from side to side, or up and down

Tip: Instead of dragging a scroll bar during recording, click the directional arrows with the mouse (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Clicking the directional arrows

If you must record using Full Motion, you can modify the recording options to minimize the effect on file size. In the following demonstration, I show the Full Motion Recording dialog box and the settings you can make to conserve file size.

Play the demo: Setting Recording Options for "Full Motion" Recording

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