The Main Toolbar

The Main Toolbar is located at the top of the Authoring Stage.

It contains the Page Navigator, the save, preview, copy and paste, copy and paste coordinates, undo, redo, and delete icons as well as the Text Toolbar controls and the hyperlink icon.

File Menu

From the File menu you can do the following things:

Saving a lesson

To save a lesson from the Authoring Stage:

Click File.
Select Save.
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Click the Save icon.
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If you close a lesson without saving it, you will be prompted to save it.
Click Yes to save the lesson.

SmartBuilder will Autosave your lesson based on the system settings (default 30 minutes). When opening a lesson, if an autosave is the latest saved version, you will be prompted which version you want to open.

Saving a copy of a lesson

To save a lesson as a copy from the Authoring Stage:

Click File.
Select Save As.
Enter the name of the new lesson and any Meta-data.
Click OK.

The current lesson becomes the newly created copy, and the original is left as the last saved version.

You must open a Work In Progress lesson in order to save a copy.

You can create copies of published lessons without opening them, by clicking Manage and choosing Save As.

Saving a page as template

Saving as a template will save the current page as a template in your Work In Progress > Template folder.

On the Authoring Stage, prepare the contents of your page to be exactly as you want the template to be.
Click File.
Select Save As Template.
Enter the meta-data for the template as necessary.
Click OK.
Close your lesson.
Find the Template in your Work in Progress > Templates folder.
Open the template and clean it out (see tips below).
File > Save and Publish your template. It will now move to your Published > Templates folder.
Apply the template following these directions.

Tips:

Templates can only be one page in size, so if you want to templatize a multi-page lesson, consider making a template for each page within the lesson, and using a naming scheme to suggest using them together (for example, Multiple choice quiz page 1 of 3, Multiple choice quiz page 2 of 3, etc).
It is highly recommended that you take the extra time before creating a template to rename all objects logically so that someone less familiar with the interaction can make sense of the objects present.
Be explicit with your objects on the page. (For instance, rather than leaving a text object saying "Text object 6" edit the text to be "Caption for intro picture text" so that way the guess work is taken out of what you intended to do with your objects on the page.
Always check your Variables panel. All Global Variables will come with your lesson, even if they are not currently being used on the page. It's a good idea to clean out (delete) any extra Global Variables so they do not pollute the lesson you are going to apply the Tempalte to.

Previewing a lesson from the Authoring Stage

Click File.
Select Preview.
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Click the Preview icon.
When finished previewing, click the X button or the Close button to close the Preview window.

You can also take a Snapshot of your lesson for use in the Details Pane.

Publishing a lesson

To publish a lesson from the Authoring Stage:

Click File.
Select Publish.
Enter any version comments.
Click OK.

This will create a new published version of the lesson in the Published > Lessons folder.

Open the Translate window

To open the translate page from the Authoring Stage:

Click File.
Choose Translate.

This will open the Translate window. Read more about Translation here.

Close a lesson

You can close the lesson that is currently open by:

Clicking File.
Choosing Close.
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Clicking on the X button located on the lesson tab.

If you haven't saved your lesson, you will be prompted to do so.

Copy and Paste Objects

1. Select the object you want to copy.

2. Click Copy or press <ctrl + C> on your keyboard.

3. Click Paste or press <ctrl + V> on your keyboard.

4. Your last 10 items will remain in your Paste Queue. Use the drop down arrow to the right of the Paste icon to view your Paste Queue.

paste queue

Copy and Paste Object Coordinates

1. Select the object whose coordinates you want to copy.

2. Click the Copy Coordinates button.

3. Select the object which you want to paste to those coordinates.

4. Click the Paste Coordinates button.

Delete Objects From the Page

1. Select the item to be deleted.

2. Click the Delete button or press the <delete> key on your keyboard.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks can be used to link to an asset, to an external URL, to another page, or to trigger an internal event.

Hyperlinks can be applied to the following objects:

Text (as a whole, or just selected portions)
Hotspots
Buttons
Shapes
Graphics
Streaming SWFs

The Hyperlink Icon is located up near the Text toolbar.

Hyperlink to an asset

1. Select the item to which you want to attach a hyperlink.

2. Click the Hyperlink button.

3. Click the Launch Asset radio button.

4. Click the browse folder to the right of the entry field.

5. Click on the appropriate folder directory.

6. Click on the desired asset.

7. Click Select.

8. Click OK.

Hyperlink to an external URL

1. Select the item to which you want to attach a hyperlink.

2. Click the Hyperlink button.

3. Enter the desired URL in the text entry field.

4. Click OK.

Hyperlink to an relative URL

1. Select the item to which you want to attach a hyperlink.

2. Click the Hyperlink button.

3. Enter the desired URL in the text entry field. For example, "../lesson4/player.html" will go up one level from the current document, into the folder called "lesson4" and open the "player.html" file it find there.

4. Click OK.

Hyperlink to an internal page

1. Select the item to which you want to attach a hyperlink.

2. Click the Hyperlink button.

3. Click the Go to page radio button.

4. Select the desired page to be linked to from the page selection drop down menu.

5. Click OK.

Use a hyperlink to trigger an internal event

1. Select the item to which you want to attach a hyperlink.

2. Click the Hyperlink button.

3. Click the Internal Event radio button.

4. Assign a name to this internal event.

5. Click OK.

6. In your Action Panel triggers list, you will now see a hyperlinks category.

Edit Menu

From the Edit menu you can do the following things:

Apply a Template

Click Edit in the main toolbar.
Select Apply Template.
Select the appropriate template from the template folders in the tree on the left.

You can also apply a template from the Templates panel.

Copy and Paste Pages between Lessons

Click Edit in the Main toobar.
Select Page Sequence.
Select the page(s) you want to copy.
Click the copy button.
Click OK or Cancel.
Close the lesson.
Open the target lesson.
Click Edit in the Main toobar.
Select Page Sequence.
Select the page after which you want to add the copied page(s).
Click the paste button.

Delete a Page

To delete a page:

Go to a different page. If you want to delete Page 4, you cannot have Page 4 open. Simply move to a different page and then follow the rest of the steps.
Open the Page Sequencer
Select the page(s) you want and then use the Delete button in the top toolbar.
Click OK in the warning prompt, and OK in the Page Sequencer to accept the changes.

Edit Meta-Data

To edit the meta-data of a lesson from the Edit menu, click Edit in the Main toolbar. Then, select Meta-data. From the resulting Edit Meta-data window, change the information about your lesson as needed (for example, rename your lesson).

However, this is not the only way to open the Meta-data window.

Re-Order Pages in a Lesson

Click Edit in the Main toobar.
Select Page Sequence.
Select the page which you want to move.
Click the Move Up or Move Down button respectively.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 as necessary to re-order other pages.
Click OK.

You can also copy , paste , add , and delete pages from the lesson from the Page Sequence window.

Setting the Page Size

The page size determines the dimensions of the lesson, and the way it will be scaled.

It can be accessed from the Edit menu.

You can specify the size of the page in the Page size drop down. You can also specify a custom page size and enter in the Page width and Page hieght fields directly.

The page size can be fixed, scaled proportionally, or it can be set to stretch to fit the screen.

Fixed

A fixed page size will set your lesson to the proportions that you specify. If the window containing the lesson is smaller than the specified page size, scrollers will be implemented.

Scale proportionally

A scaling page size will adjust to fit the lesson into the size of the window containing it. As a window is minimized, the content will shrink, and as a window is expanded, so too will the content.

Stretch to Fit

The stretch to fit setting will cause the page to fill the screen regardless of proportions.

Using the Grid

The Grid allows you to quickly and easily align objects by providing a visual cue by which you can measure the spatial relationship of objects and the page.

The Grid in use.

You can set the size, choose the color, set the visibility, and turn on or off snapping.

Snapping will make objects only move to vertexes of the Grid, which makes aligning objects easier.

Note: when using the Grid, holding down the <Control> key while using the arrows will allow you to move objects one pixel at a time.

Show or hide the Grid

From the Authoring Stage, click Edit, and select Grid.
Select or clear the Show grid check box.

Turn on or turn off Grid Snapping

From the Authoring Stage, click Edit, and select Grid.
Select or clear the Snap to grid check box.

Change the Grid size

From the Authoring Stage, click Edit, and select Grid.
Change the values in the Cell height and Cell width fields.

Change the Grid color

From the Authoring Stage, click Edit, and select Grid.
Click the color tile.
Select the desired color.
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Enter the Hex color code value in the Color field.

Tips for using the Grid:

Vary the size of the grid depending on your work task.
Speed up creation time by using the snapping feature.
Plan object layout with page measurements.

Keyboard shortcuts

Here is a list of all the Keyboard Shortcuts that you can use while on the SmartBuilder Authoring Stage:

Command	Description
Ctrl + Z	Undo
Ctrl + Y	Redo
Ctrl + X	Cut
Ctrl + C	Copy
Ctrl + V	Paste
Ctrl + A	Select all
Ctrl + Arrows	Move object one pixel at a time
Alt while Dragging	Duplicate object
Shift + Left arrow	(While in a Display) go to previous Display
Shift + Right arrow	(While in a Display) go to next Display

Page Navigator

Main Toolbar

The Page Navigator contains a drop down list with all the pages in the lesson, and the Master Page. Clicking on a page will take you there.

It also contains arrows that will take you to the next and previous pages.

In addition, it has an Insert Page button that will create a new page after the current page.

You can also create new pages from the Page Sequence window.

Text Toolbar

The Text Toolbar can be used to format the style of text on the following objects:

Text
Input Text
Buttons
Checkbox Groups
Radio Buttons
Drop Down Lists
Timers
Percent Trackers

You can change the following features:

To change the line spacing

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Choose the degree of line spacing from the drop down.

To change the font

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Choose the style of font.

You can use either embedded fonts or device fonts.

To change the font size

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Choose the desired size from the drop down.

To change the font color

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Choose the desired color by clicking on the color tile.

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3. Enter in the hexadecimal color code and press <enter>

To apply bold formatting

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Click the Bold icon.

To apply itallic formatting

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Click the Italicize icon.

To apply underline formatting

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Click the Underline icon.

To change the alignment of the text

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Choose one of the Text Alignment icons.

To create a bulleted list

Select the object as a whole, or select some of the text.
Click the Bullets icon.

Note: At this time, bulleted lists do not support outline formats (bullets with multiple levels). There are also no numbered lists.

Fonts

SmartBuilder can use Embedded fonts and Device fonts.

Embedded fonts are packaged with the lesson and any learner can view them, regardless of what fonts they have installed on their computer. Device fonts need to be installed on a learner's machine in order for them to see the font. This is useful if the font is prevalent, or if you are using doublebyte characters (such as Chinese or Japanese) and want to add ~15mb to your lesson size. When selecting a font, the Embedded fonts are at the top of the list.