Mastering Adobe Captivate 7 Illustrated Edition

While well worked through and comprehensive, this mammoth book also is exceedingly comprehensive. The good side to that is that we get into every nook and corner of Captivate 7 - the bad is that users with solid previous experience in, say, PowerPoint, may get tired of all that hand-holding and repetitive walking through settings and explaining of quite obvious options. Captivate does have a manual, after all, there is no need to repeat the dead obvious user interface components.The upside is that we really get into all major corners and capabilities of Captivate, including a solid explanation of the quizzing features in Captivate, a feature not easily duplicated by presentation programs. Here the book explains things very well along with the example files that can be downloaded for it, along with a good introduction to Learning Management Systems. This is where the book moves nicely beyond the trivial to being really helpful.If you want to get all the way around Captivate, this book, regardless of being longwinded at times, certainly gets the job done.

I bought this book hoping it would serve as a reference manual, but it's really a tutorial. As such, it's well above average. I do wish the Kindle version had a search feature (my other Kindle books do). Given that the index is lackluster, I hoped there would be some way to quickly find content. As a reference manual it's lacking.However, the sample files are useful and if you have the time to go through the tutorials, this could be the book for you. The sample files have to be downloaded from a different site than Amazon.

Easy to follow

just getting into the first couple chapters, and have several sections which don't sync up with the product. Bought this specifically because it was for Captivate 7, which is the "approved version" in my office. So far, not very impressed.

Love the book! Very down to earth and easy reading. Addresses many topics I needed. Highly recommend it! Goof bang for the buck.

Damien brilliantly approaches the book unlike any other technical book I’ve ever read. He walks you through the step-by-step process of creating eLearning for the sake of teaching… not just what it takes to create a Captivate project. Most authors will narrowly focus on the software, but Damien cleverly lays out the entire eLearning workflow that takes place, poses thoughtful questions, and leads you to other resources to help you along each step, allowing you to dig deeper into the eLearning community.You’re going to find this book a very refreshing change from the rest of the technical books you’ve read for the simple fact that behind each chapter, teachers and students are at the heart of Damien’s advice and guidance. Even the example files that come with the book open your eyes to how a teacher might craft and alter a learning experience based on a student’s aptitude… and that’s just it! We are crafting learning experiences… every chapter reminds us with sobering clarity that teachers and students are at the heart of what we do.One of the hardest things to do as a teacher is to take the fear out of learning… the fear of doing something wrong or stupid in front of all our peers (that’s why I like to read technical books!). However, I wish I could take a live class from Damien because I can tell he’s very gifted at this skill. He truly leads you and guides you as you walk through the book so you know what to expect. Some parts of Captivate are difficult and frustrating, others are easy to learn. But one thing you will always have is the big picture of how things are supposed to work. Reading this book, you will never feel lost or alone trying to figure things out… you will have one of the best guides that not only understands the software, but also the entire eLearning development process.I wish I would have picked up this book sooner because I’ve been missing out. This book really is one of the best technical books I have ever come across not because it’s written about Captivate, but because Damien offers one of the best perspectives for learning Captivate. He is thorough, he offers pros and cons on a matter, he goes under the hood so you can understand how the software works, not just what it does, he is an expert… and by the end, you’ll be an expert too.

Mastering Adobe Captivate 7As a teacher, I am constantly looking for books or different materials to help me stay abreast of the technological change in terms of software development to help my students learn. Adobe Captivate is a piece of software I constantly use for course development. Well, today I found the book, which will take my ability to help my students to a new level. The book is called, Mastering Adobe Captivate 7, by Damien Bruyndonckx.Some of the main reasons this book is so brilliant are:1. the level of detail Damien goes into from chapter to chapter, starting with Getting started with Adobe Captivate to the last chapter Variables, Advanced Actions and Widgets allows any teacher, or anyone who is trying to learn Adobe Captivate 7 to get started with confidence.2. If you are an eLearning developer or designer this book will help you to continue develop your skills.3. People who have contributed to the book are world-class eLearning authors and developers. People such as Pooja Jaisingh, who is a main contributor to the Official Adobe Captivate blog and Captivates Facebook page.In the book, Damien explains are how to use SCORM, AICC, Tin Can-compliant LMS which allows you to track your students, how to work with quizzes, add interactivity to your project, use and work with master slides and working with audio.Throughout the book Damien walks you through step by step how to use the program and is for me one of the best Adobe Captivate books I have ever read.You can follow Damien on Twitter @damienbkx or by visiting his site at http://www.dbr-training.eu.