At the most basic level, a typical Captivate project is a collection of slides, just like a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. So, your first task when creating a new Captivate file is probably to create a bunch of slides to work with. There are several ways to do this:
- Captivate has the ability to record any action you perform onscreen. You typically use this ability to create software-related interactive training or simulations. You use your mouse to perform actions on your computer, and behind the scenes, Captivate watches and records any action you do using a sophisticated screen-capture engine based on screenshots. Each of these screenshots becomes a slide in your new Captivate project. Using the screen-capture feature of Captivate is covered in Chapter 8, Capturing Onscreen Action.
- Very often, though, the Captivate project you are working on has nothing to do with software-related skills. In this case, you don't need to use screen capture to take screenshots. Instead, you create the slides entirely within Captivate. This is the preferred approach for new training materials that don't require screen-capture capabilities.
- A third solution is to import the slides from Microsoft PowerPoint. You typically use this solution to convert existing training material made with PowerPoint into interactive online training modules, but it is not considered best practice for new training material. Importing PowerPoint slides into Captivate is covered in Chapter 12, Using Captivate with Other Applications.