You can configure the widget through the Widget properties dialog. This dialog automatically appears when you first insert the widget or when you select the widget on the stage and double click on it. The dialog contains many tabs; select the “Widget Parameters” tab. For more information on the other tabs, please consult the Captivate Help.

From the “Widget Parameters” tab, you should now have access to the interface allowing you to configure the widget. You should see three tabs:

• Text Tab
• Option Tab
• Style Tab

Each tab offers different configuration parameters. Following, is a detailed description of the parameters you will find under each tab.

Text tab

The text tab is where you enter the text that will be displayed by the widget. It is composed of two sections: The Title and Description sections. The Title text is the text being displayed when you initially move your mouse over the button. The Description text is the text appearing when the user clicks on the button.

Both of these texts can be formatted to fit your needs by using common formatting controls such as bold, italic, underline, font color, font size and font face.  The Title section is limited to only one line of text but the Description text supports paragraphs. As such, the Description section offers more formatting controls like bullets, indentation and text alignment.

Applying a text formatting

To apply a text formatting, you need to select the text and then click on the corresponding formatting button. For the bullet, indentation and text alignment formatting, you need to either select the entire line of text or the first word on the line.

Removing text formatting

In some cases, you may want to remove text formatting and return to the original text. To accomplish this, select the text that you want to clean up and press on the eraser button.

Inserting Line breaks

Captivate has some issues with inserting line breaks when in the Widget Parameters tab.  Captivate wrongly assumes that the focus is always on the dialog itself even if you are currently configuring the widget. The side effect is that the Widget dialog closes when you press on the Enter key.  If you want to enter a line break in the Description section, you have to use the Shift+Enter key combination. A note at the bottom of the Text tab reminds you of this at all time.

Options tab

The Options tab is used to configure the widget’s functionalities. You will find two sections here: one for configuring the label’s options and one for configuring the widget’s success criteria.

Label Options

This section will describe the different options that can be used to configure the label’s behavior:

Label Placement – This is how you configure where the label will appear with respect to the button. Available modes are: Auto, Bottom, Top, Left and Right. If you select the Auto mode, the widget will calculate the best label position based on the label size and button location. The label will be positioned such that it never extends past the slide’s border.  If the widget cannot position the label without extending past the slide’s border, it will choose to display the label underneath the button. If you select any other mode, the label will be place based on your selection even if the label extends past the slide’s border.  A small indicator is displayed beside the mode selector to show you were the label is positioned with respect to the button.

Maximum Label Width – This is the maximum width that the label will extend to when the description is displayed or if the title is too long. This option comes in very handy to control the label’s height when you have a lot of text to display.

Include Label In Mouse Over Area – Check this option if you want to keep the label visible when the mouse leaves the button. By default, the label is hidden as soon as the mouse leaves the button. With this setting on, the label will remain displayed until the mouse leaves the label itself.

Label Displays Description – By default, the label extends to show the description when the button is clicked on. If you uncheck this option, the description will never be shown, even when the button is clicked on. This option could be useful if the title holds enough information and you don’t want the user to see a description.

Success Criteria

A Captivate Interactive Widget is responsible for letting Captivate know when it has achieved its goal. This allows a content developer to use Actions to tailor the presentation to the user’s interactions. The Interactive Label Widget allows the content developer to customize when the widget tells Captivate that it was successful. Available choices are:

On Show Title – The widget will tell Captivate that it was successful as soon as the Label’s title is displayed.

On Hide Title – The widget will tell Captivate that it was successful as soon as the Label’s title is hidden.

On Show Description – The widget will tell Captivate that it was successful as soon as the Label’s description is displayed.

On Hide Description – The widget will tell Captivate that it was successful as soon as the Label’s description is hidden. This will happen when the user clicks a second time on the label to hide the description or when the user leaves the button.

Style Tab

The Style tab is used to configure the widget’s look. It includes a widget preview area that will immediately reflect all the changes that you do to the widget. The parameters that you can influence are:

Button Color – The button’s background color.

Border Color  – The label’s border color.

Border Thickness – The size of the label’s border.

Background Color – The label’s background color.

Transparency (%) – The label’s transparency, also known as alpha channel. This value ranges from 0 to 100%: 0 being totally transparent and 100% being totally opaque.

Gutter – The spacing between the label’s border and its background.

Radius – The label’s corner radius. A value of 0 creates a label with sharp corners.

Text Padding – The padding between the text and the label’s background.

Drop Shadow – Creates a drop shadow effect on the label.

Predefined Styles – This combo box offers templates that completely customize the look and feel of the label, including its default text formatting. You can add style templates in the combo box by adding new values in the widget fla files and republishing the widget. Note that you will require Flash CS4 or above. Open the fla file and read the comments in the first frame for more details.