# Recording tricks and tips

Listed below are several tips and tricks for creating Captivate movies. These ideas should help you create movies quickly and easily, while also giving you professional, high-quality results.

Tip 1 - Consider auto recording

Captivate lets you create movies in two ways.

You can record onscreen action manually. This means that each time you want to capture what is displayed on your screen, you press the Print Screen key (or another designated selected key). Then you make a change on your screen (such as moving your mouse, clicking an icon, or selecting a menu) and press Print Screen again.

Or, you can let Captivate automatically record screen action (auto recording). This option automatically captures screen shots during the recording process each time you click the mouse, change the focus of your application or web page, or press a key.

Tip 2 - Capturing screen shots efficiently

It is important to know exactly when Captivate is capturing screen shots. Captivate contains a feature that plays a camera shutter sound each time a screen shot is taken. This feature is turned on by default, but if you do not hear the sound, open the Options menu, select Recording Options, and make sure the Hear camera sounds during recording option is selected.

If you are automatically recording, Captivate captures a screen shot each time you take an action such as moving the mouse, selecting a menu, or typing information into a text box. The camera shutter sound plays each time an action takes place.

If you are manually recording, Captivate captures screen shots each time you press a designated key or key combination. The default capture key is the Print Screen key. Each time you want to take a screen shot, press the Print Screen key; you'll hear the camera shutter sound.

You can also use both recording methods together. Simply turn on the auto recording option; while Captivate captures screen shots, you can use the Print Screen key to manually capture a screen when necessary. For example, if you are recording Microsoft Internet Explorer, there may be dynamic HTML or Flash menus that appear only when the mouse rolls over them. Captivate does not automatically capture the change that occurs on mouse rollover (you will know this because the camera shutter sound does not play), but you can press the Print Screen key and manually capture the change.

Tip 3 - Set an appropriate screen resolution

Select an appropriate screen resolution before capturing screen shots. When making a decision about resolution, consider your audience.

If your demo will be viewed by general web users, remember that their monitors may be set as low as 640 x 480, with some of that screen space occupied by the web browser user interface. For these users, a good low-resolution setting for capturing movies is 512 x 384.

Another option is "Full Screen" mode using a 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 setting. This slightly higher resolution may be a good choice if you are displaying movies on an intranet or to broadband users.

If you are producing movies for a CD or other high-bandwidth media, set the movie size to 1024 x 768 or 800 x 600.

Tip 4 - Turn off wallpaper

Desktop wallpaper is a distraction in a finished movie—the user may view the wallpaper instead of your movie. Also, colorful wallpaper increases the size of your movie (especially photographic backgrounds) and reduces the color accuracy of your movie, because many colors are required to display the wallpaper.

The best choice for a background is a plain color. For a professional end result, set the background to the same color as the web page on which the movie will be displayed.

Example with wallpaper background

Example with blue background

Example with white background

Tip 5 - Turn off icons

Icons, like wallpaper, are a distraction. Reduce the number of icons by moving them to a toolbar. You can also reduce the number of icons on the quick launch section of your Taskbar. You can completely hide the Taskbar by clicking Start and selecting Control Panel > Taskbar and Start Menu. Then select Auto-hide the Taskbar. (The steps you should take may vary, depending on your operating system.)

Tip 6 - Remove themes and nonstandard colors

Themes and color schemes are based on personal taste and may not look good in a finished project. For best results, set your theme to a standard Windows theme and your color scheme to the default.

Tip 7 - Remove color gradients

Color gradients on the title bars of windows increase the file size of your movies. To turn off color gradients on title bars, click Start, and select Control Panel > Display. Click the Appearance tab, click Advanced, and locate the Item pop-up menu. Select Active Title Bar and set Color and Color 2 to the same color. (The steps you should take may vary, depending on your operating system.)

Tip 8 - Go slowly when recording - particularly if recording websites in Internet Explorer

When recording onscreen action, it is best to perform action more slowly than you would normally. For example, if you are recording keyboard action, type text slowly.

It is especially important to go slowly when capturing a website in Internet Explorer. If you are manually recording, make sure each web page is completely loaded before taking a screen shot. If you are auto recording, you will hear the camera shutter sound and see the system tray icon (in the lower right corner of your computer) flash when a web page is fully loaded and Captivate takes a screen shot. Wait for the shutter sound before moving the mouse and taking another action.

For complete step-by-step instructions on how to create a new movie, see Recording movies.