This publishing format creates a package for the Player and an LMS. The Player interface includes a customizable header (showing a default image or custom image/html page), Outline/Search pane, and a content pane. Users can play topics in See It!, Try It!, Do It!, and Know It? modes. They can also select Print It! mode to view and print a document of the process covered in the topic.
Note: The Player content can be viewed on an iPad. For more information, see the Content Deployment manual.
You can launch the Player when the publishing process is complete. If you publish just the Player format, the option to launch the content automatically is selected and you can launch it directly from the Publishing Wizard. If you want to launch it later, navigate to the location where you published and open the Publishing content folder. Within that folder, open the PlayerPackage folder and double-click the Play.exe file to launch the Player.
For complete information on using the Player, see the Content Player manual or online help.
The Player and LMS options page on the Publishing Wizard contains 5 subcategories (Content, Player Preferences, Print It!, LMS Options, Knowledge Center Publishing). Subcategories are collapsible/expandable so you can view only the options of interest. The following publishing options are available for the Player:
Content
Sound: By default (Medium), sound files are published at the medium playback quality. You can select one of three sound playback quality settings; Low (5.5 kHz), Medium (11 kHz), or High (22 kHz). Medium produces sound files (.FLV) in the published output roughly double that of the Low setting. High produces published sound files (.FLV) roughly double that of the Medium settings. Sound playback can be excluded by changing the setting to None.
Note: Sound is also published in AAC format to support sound on an iPad. If you do not need these sound files, you can prevent them from being published by changing a setting in the Player publishing style. See Customize the Player for more information.
Convert screenshots to 256 colors: Reduces the number of colors used in the screenshots, which therefore reduces the size of the published topics and improves the playback speed.
Create links for backward compatibility: If you have created web pages or HTML links to content from a previous version, use this option to generate a folder structure that will allow you to keep the existing links without needing to update them. After you publish, open the folder in which you published the content and rename the Linked_folders directory to match the name of the application folder from the previous version. For example, in a previous version, you published a Player package for the WordPad application. Within that Player package, there is a folder called WordPad, in which all the content is located. If you convert that title to the current version and republish it to a Player package using the backward compatibility option, you would rename the Linked_folders folder to WordPad. The pages within this folder will redirect your existing links appropriately into the new content structure.
Note: If you want to use this option, the module names in the content you publish MUST be unique, as the module name is used to determine the folder name.
Include HTML Web Site: You can choose to include the HTML Web Site format when you publish to the Player. The HTML format is contained in a folder called html within the PlayerPackage folder. If this folder is present, the HTML Web Site format will launch if a user has a browser that is not supported by the Player.
Create zip file from published Player package: You can create a zip file of the Player package in the published content folder. The zip file is created at the same level as the PlayerPackage folder. This option is helpful if you want to import the content into an LMS.
Include Test It! mode: This option adds Test It! mode to the Player. Test It! mode is used to guide a tester through a test case and record the steps that are used to create a Test Document used in bug reporting. Test It! mode is launched from kp.html. When Test It! mode is included, all topics are published, no matter what other modes are enabled.
Player Preferences
With the Player output, you also have the following options.
Marquee color: Set the color for the action area (or highlight) that appears in See It!, Try It! and Do It! modes.
Play audio: You can set how audio plays on the Player. The All available sound option (default) plays any available sound files during playback. The Keyboard and mouse clicks options play only keyboard and mouse clicks sounds during playback in See It! mode. These sounds are FLV files, delivered in the Audio folder of published content, that play automatically when keyboard and mouse clicks occur in See It! mode playback. The None option disables sound during playback. The user must have Flash 9.0 or greater installed to play sound in the Player.
Default playback mode: This option controls the default mode launched when double clicking on a topic in the outline.
Show introduction text: This option controls whether the Introduction frame appears when a topic is played in the Player. Select this option to show the Introduction frame as the first frame during playback and deselect it to suppress the frame.
Enable users to change their Player preferences: If you enable this option, the Player will include a Preferences link that enables any user to change the settings. If you disable this option, the Preferences link does not appear in the Player.
Enable skipping in Try It! mode: Select this option to enable the user to advance to the next step in Try It! mode by pressing Enter instead of performing the action in the bubble.
Enable outline navigation buttons: This option places navigational arrows in the outline of the Player. Use these arrows to move up and down the outline.
Enable Direct Do It!: When a user launches Player content in a context-sensitive manner from a target or web application and only one topic is returned, the topic is automatically launched in Do It! mode when this option is on. This option is off by default. Note that the topic must also be configured for Do It mode using the Play modes property. You can close Direct Do It and display the full TOC with the View Outline link on the Action menu.
Key combination for advancing in Do It! mode: Configure a key combination for advancing to the next step in Do It! mode.
Note: The Key combination to advance in Do It! mode does not work in Firefox.
Print It!
Format for Print It! mode: If you enable Print It! mode for topics using the Play Modes property, you can use this option to determine which document style is included when you publish formats that support Print It! mode. Choose "none" if you do not to want publish Print It! mode (even when this mode has been enabled for topics). By default, Job Aid, System Process, and Test Document are the only options for Print It! mode. However, the Training Guide and Instructor Guide can appear as choices by editing the Style.xml file for the appropriate publishing project document. If you want a publishing style to appear as a choice, modify the PrintItStyle Setting of the Style.xml file to have a value of 1.
Text mode: Each document output uses the text from a specific mode. Use this option to specify the mode text.
Include screenshots: Screenshots are included in a document based on the settings for the topic in the Topic Editor. This option allows you to override those settings and choose to include one screenshot per topic, one screenshot for each frame, or no screenshots.
Convert screenshots to 256 colors: Reduces the number of colors used in the screenshots, which therefore reduces the size of the published topics and improves the playback speed.
Include alternatives: Alternative Actions and Paths appear in document and Presentation outputs. Use this option to make the output simpler, with only one set of steps.
Include relative links: Relative links are included in all printed output with the exception of Test Case. Turn this option off to exclude relative links from printed output.
Output format: Published output is in HTML Web Page.
If you choose Adobe PDF format, the document is published to Word first and then converted to PDF. If you choose HTML Web Page format, the document is published to Word and then saved as a web page using the Web Page, Filtered option in Word. This creates a single HTML file, but all of the graphics are separate, linked files.
Note for Adobe Acrobat: If you are using Microsoft Word 2003, you must have Adobe Acrobat 8.0 (or greater) Standard or Professional edition installed to create PDF output. After Adobe Acrobat is installed, make the following changes to the PDF conversion settings in Microsoft Word: From the Adobe PDF menu, choose Change Conversion Settings, and deselect the View Adobe PDF result and Prompt for Adobe PDF file name options. If you are using Microsoft Word 2007 or higher, it has built-in support for Adobe Acrobat, so a separate installation of Adobe Acrobat is not needed.
Microsoft file type: If you choose the Microsoft Word output format, you can use this option to indicate whether you want the documents to be in .doc (Word 2003) or .docx (Word 2007) format.
Paper size: The paper size is set based on the Location setting in the Regional & Language options for your operating system locale. You can override this setting by choosing a different paper size. If you customize the print template to have a special paper size (for example, to print Job Aids on smaller cards), choose the option to use the print template setting; otherwise, it will be overridden during publishing.
LMS Options
This publishing option creates learning specification compliant course material. It performs all the tasks required to generate content files that are ready to be integrated with your Learning Management System without any JavaScript programming or HTML manipulation. The output is AICC and SCORM compliant. See the Content Deployment manual for more information about deploying the content on an LMS server.
SCORM version: The content is compliant with the specifications for SCORM 1.2 and 1.3 (SCORM 2004). This allows you to select the SCORM version for publication. Regardless of the SCORM version you publish, the published content includes the files necessary for the other version. You do not have to republish to use the content for the other version.
Prefix URL: Allows you to enter the URL prefix that points to the location where the package will be placed on the LMS server. Each URL in the appropriate AICC and SCORM file is prefixed with this text. The path should include http://, followed by the name of the server and the folder name.
Knowledge Center Publishing
This option allows you to use content created in the Developer and publish it to the Knowledge Center server. If the title (content) already exists in the Knowledge Center content root, it is updated with the new published content. If the title (content) does not exist, a new title is created with the new published content. As soon as the title is published to the Knowledge Center, users can access it and view the content. If you have the Professional edition installed, the title can also be used in knowledge paths, which are a way to organize the content into curricula through which the user can advance.
Publish content to Knowledge Center: Select this option to publish new content to or update existing content directly to the Knowledge Center server. When this option is selected, the current Knowledge Center server settings appear. If you are using this option for the first time, the settings are empty. Use the Server Settings button to specify the login credentials.
Server Settings: This button opens a login screen. You click Add to specify the URL for the Knowledge Center server, and then either enter a valid username and password, or use your Windows login account. You may also need to select a workgroup. The Knowledge Center server administrator should supply you with the server URL and the login information that you need. The settings will be saved with the publishing settings for the publishing destination.
Note: If the server settings are incorrect or missing and the publishing process is unable to connect with to the Knowledge Center server, the content is still published to a Player package and the error is logged in the Activity log. You can upload a title manually to the Knowledge Center server, if necessary. See the Manage Titles section in the User and Content Management Manual for more information.
Note: If you receive a Proxy Authentication dialog box when you log in, enter your username and password for the proxy server. If you select the Save my password option, the username and password information is encrypted and saved to the kcLogin.xml file in the path for the application data, for example c:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\User Productivity Kit (Windows XP) or c:\Users\<username>\AppData\User Productivity Kit (Windows 7). If your password changes for the proxy server, you can open this file in a text editor and delete the tags <ProxyAuthentication> and </ProxyAuthentication> and all the text in between. This will cause the Proxy Authentication dialog box to open the next time you log in so that you can enter your new password.
Current Server Settings: The Authentication, Connection and Workgroup information currently being used to connect to the Knowledge Center server displays below the Server Settings button.