# Adding buttons

You can increase the interactivity of your Captivate projects by adding clickable buttons. To quickly add a button, use the default button style (a plain, white rectangle) or import custom button images you have created. You can size and position buttons on a slide. You determine what happens after the user clicks the button—for example, advancing to the next slide, opening a URL, or sending an e-mail message.

#### To add a button:

1. Open a Captivate project.

2. Double-click on the slide to which you want to add a button.

3. From the Insert menu, select Button.

The Button dialog box appears.

4. Click the Button tab.

This tab lets you determine how the Captivate movie responds to user interaction. The options are divided into two basic categories: what happens when the user clicks the button and what happens when the user clicks outside the button.

If the user clicks the button

On success: Specify what should happen after a user clicks the button. You can select Continue, Go to previous slide, Go to next slide, Jump to slide, Open URL or file, Open other movie, Send e-mail to, Execute JavaScript, or No Action.

Note: If you select the Open URL or file option and specify a URL, the URL is visible when you edit the slide in Captivate. However, it will not be visible to the user. To show the URL, create a simple image with the URL text on the image, add the image to your slide, and place a click box over the image.

Continue: Depending upon the type of action you selected above, this box changes to let you enter destination information.

If the user clicks outside the button

Allow user [#] attempts: Click the arrows to select the number of attempts a user can make before another action takes place.

Infinite attempts: Select this option to give users an unlimited number of attempts.

After last attempt: Specify what you want to happen after the last attempt. You can select Continue, Go to previous slide, Go to next slide, Jump to slide, Open URL or file, Open other movie, Send e-mail to, Execute JavaScript, or No Action.

Continue: Depending upon the type of action you selected above, this box changes to let you enter destination information.

Button type

Type: Click the drop-down arrow and select the type of button you want to create. (Details about the three types and the available options for each are explained below.)

### Text button

Select this option to create a button that displays text. In the Button text box, enter the text you want to appear.

Font: Select this option to open the Font dialog box, which lets you select a font, font style, font size, color, and effects for the button text.

Transparent: Select this option if you want the button to be transparent. When a text button is transparent, only its text appears.

### Transparent button

Select this option to create a button that is completely or somewhat transparent. You select the degree of transparency.

Frame color: Click the color box to open the Color dialog box, which lets you select a color for the button border.

Frame width: Click the down arrow to select a size for the border around the button.

Fill color: Click the color box to open the Color dialog box, which lets you select a color for the button.

Fill transparency: Specify a transparency level for the button. For a very dim button, select a low number such as 10. For a darker button, select a high number such as 85.

### Image button

Select this option to use an image as a button.

Use default buttons: Select this option to use the default image (a white rectangle).

Up Image, Down Image, and Over Image: Click More to navigate to images that can be used for the Up, Down, and Over button states.

Transparent buttons: Select this option if you want transparency set for the button. Captivate recognizes the color of the upper left pixel in the image and makes that color transparent throughout the button. If you test the image button and it does not display correctly, try opening the image in a graphics program (such as Fireworks) and changing the color of the upper left pixel.

5. Click the Options tab. This tab enables you to design the button's appearance. Select from the following options:

   ### Timing

   Display time [#] seconds: Specify the total number of seconds the button should appear.

   Appear after [#] seconds: Specify the number of seconds that should pass before the button appears on the slide.

   ### Options

   Hint caption: Select this option to include a hint caption. (The hint caption appears when a user moves the mouse over the button.)

   Success caption: Select this option to include a success caption (for example, Congratulations!).

   Failure caption: Select this option to include a failure caption (for example, Sorry, please try again).

   Display button for entire slide: Select this option to have the button appear for the entire amount of time that the slide is displayed.

   Show pointing hand when over button: Select this option to have the pointing hand appear when a user moves the mouse over the area on the slide that can be clicked for a successful result.

   Stop audio when clicked: Select this option if you want the audio to stop playing when the user clicks the button. This option stops only slide audio, not background audio. Also, only a mouse click on the button stops the audio; using a shortcut key combination does not stop the audio.

   Pause movie until user clicks: Select this option if you want the movie to stop playing until the user clicks the button.

   Double mouse click: Select this option to allow users to double-click the button.

6. If you want to add audio
   to the button, click the Audio tab.

7. If you want to keep score for the button or coordinate the score with a learning management system, click the Scoring tab. Select from the following options:

   - Keep score: This option keeps a quiz score.

   - Weighting: Weighting signifies the relative importance of a button question. You can enter any numeric value (without decimals). If all questions have the same value ("1", for example), they are scored equally. If you want to set different values for different questions, keep in mind that weights are relative to each other. So, a question assigned a weight of "2" has a value twice as high as a question with a weight of "1." You can use this feature to give introductory questions a lower value and advanced questions a higher value.

   - Objective ID: This is an optional parameter. If the button question is related to an objective set in your learning management system, enter the objective here.

   - Interaction ID: If you want the Captivate movie to send tracking information to your learning management system, you must use the interaction ID specified by your learning management system.

8. Click OK.

The button appears on the slide.

9. Size and drag the button as desired.

10. If you selected the Success, Failure, or Hint caption options, double-click the text boxes to edit the text.