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Future-proofing

Flash is almost gone and one thing I am having to do quite a bit of at the moment is remove swf files from my Lectora titles and replace them with something else that will work in future.

I used Flash files quite a lot with screen recordings of systems software. I would capture the steps in Captivate or a similar screen recording app and, rather than make it a simple video, I would include interactions so that the learner would have to locate and click on the right button to progress. In the past I would output these as swf files and insert them on the relevant page in the Lectora title.

With the ongoing demise of Flash I have to come up with a new solution. Here’s what I do. If anyone else is in the same position I hope that you find this helpful. First of all, in the screen recording software publish the recording as HTML5 and save the published files

Then, in Lectora:

On the Insert Ribbon, select Web window
The Add Web Window opens
Change the Window Source from Web Address to Local Web-based content
Click on the browse button and go look for the published files
You will be looking for an HTML file, typically called index.html (but that depends how your screen recording was published)
Your content will preview in the Web window dialog box. If there are files and subfolders, make sure you select Include all files and subfolders. Then click OK
The Web Window will appear on the page. Reposition and resize accordingly. It’s an object on the page and you may wish to add other objects such as a shape behind it to give it a frame
When you publish your Lectora title you will have an extra subfolder called extern. Inside there will be one or more subfolders (depending upon how many web windows you have created in your title) with the prefix webwin. Each of these subfolders contain all of the content from the recording

And that’s it, really. If, like me, you’re finding yourself going through some of your legacy work to future-proof it, I hope that this is helpful.