Contents Differences between Xerte and Xerte Online Toolkits usage...2 Connector pages...2 The Hotspot Image Connector page...2 Properties of the Hotspot Image Connector Page...3 Hotspot Properties...3 Author Support [Xerte only]...4 Show Language Options...4 Contents Page 1 of 5
Differences between Xerte and Xerte Online Toolkits usage Xerte Online Toolkits (XOT) and Xerte projects created using the Page Templates type of project, that provide a similar interface to that of XOT, store the data for all the pages in a project in a single xml file. This enables the form offered by the page to provide features not available to standard Xerte projects or the new Xerte Pages projects. Attributes that vary between project environments will be indicated below as being either [XOT only] or [Xerte only]. When using connector pages in a Xerte project be aware that for technical reasons a connector page should not be used as the first page in your project. If you start your project with a Title Page and then use a Connector page as your second page you should have no problems. This is not an issue with XOT projects. Connector pages Connector pages provide you with a means of setting up connections between one page in your project and another page in your project. Thus you can now divert the user off the sequential route defined by the order in which you list your pages. New features have been introduced to support the use of connections between pages. 1. In XOT / Page Templates and Xerte Pages projects the learning object now offer an additional option of Historic for the Navigation attribute. Selection of Historic will provide a Home button that takes the user back to the first page of the project and a Back button that takes the user back to the previous page visited (rather than to the previous page in the project sequence). The Table of Contents, Progress Indicator, and the sequential Back button are not displayed. 2. Every page now has an attribute navigation buttons (either optional or mandatory) which allows the project author to define which navigation buttons are enabled / disabled when that page is displayed to the user. 3. In XOT / Page Templates projects the project Author can select text within a text field and create a Page Link by right clicking on the selected text and choosing Page Link from the context menu. This enables any page to operate as a connector page. 4. As a result of the above new features the following Connector pages have been removed from XOT projects, as the new features render them obsolete. a) Redirector Connector b) Tabbed Navigator Connector c) Plain Text Connector The Hotspot Image Connector page The Hotspot Image Connector page is based on the Hotspot Image Page. Like the Hotspot Image Page it allows you to display an Image and then place rectangular click-able Hotspots over the Image. However whereas the Hotspot Image page just displays text related to each Hotspot, with the Hotspot Image Connector page you can associate one of several items including media files, text or a connection to another page in your project. Contents Page 2 of 5
This makes the page suitable for creating image based menus as well as a variety of image based interactivity e.g. click on the picture of frog to hear it croak, or to display information about the frog, or to display the name for frog in a different language, or to watch a video of the frog. Properties of the Hotspot Image Connector Page Title Page Title Page ID Text Min Text Width Image Image Tooltip Hide Panel Highlight Hotspots Highlight colour Align Text Description Displays in the Top Left of the Xerte Screen Unique identifier used by Connector Pages to locate the page [Xerte only] Displayed to the side of the image No Text gives full window width to the image Narrow gives most of screen width to the image Wide use for smaller images as this allows more space for text Max Available takes whatever width is available after image has loaded The image file against which to display the hotspots. Note: This page will fail to display properly in preview until an image has been specified for this attribute. Text to display when the mouse is over the image Hides or displays the white panel background If selected all hotspots are shown against the image and when a hotspot is clicked it alone is highlighted until the action associated with the click has been completed. The colour in which the high-lights will be shown Select whether to have text to the left or right of the image Optional Parameters Auto-play narration Image Transition Narration Navigation Buttons Output Check List Set whether sound file should play when page loads You can select from a number of transitions to enhance how the image is initially displayed. Sound file Select which navigation buttons you want enabled when this page displays This only operates if the Learning Object optional parameter Add Author Support has been added and is checked. This will then output to the clipboard a report detailing all the pages in your project, their title and page ID. [Xerte only] Pop Up Horizontal Align Select horizontal position for pop up windows, text etc. Pop Up Vertical Align Select vertical position for pop up windows, text etc. Child Element Hotspot A click-able hotspot which is positioned relative to the image. Contents Page 3 of 5
Hotspot Properties Title Hotspot Title Edit Hotspot Hotspot Image Connector Page Guide Description Displays only in the Page Tree Opens a window that allows you to size and position the hotspot relative to the Image Optional Properties Destination Page Select the Title of the page to connect to from this hotspot (though optional this property is added by default) [XOT only] Go to Page ID (1) Enter the Page ID of a page to connect to from this hotspot (though optional this property is added by default) [xerte only] Relative Connection (3) Specify a connection to either the First, Previous, Next or Last page of your project. Sound (6) Specify a sound file to play on clicking the Hotspot Text Pop-up (2) Enter text to display in a Pop up window URL HTML (4) Enter HTML text to open in new window URL Window Height Height of window to open a web address or HTML in (4) URL Window Width (4) Width of window to open a web address or HTML in URL of External Page The url of a web site to open in a new window Note: if you specify both a (4) URL HTML and a URL of External Page then URL of HTML will take priority and the External Page URL will be ignored Video (5) Specify a video file to play on clicking the Hotspot Video End Time (5) Specify at what point in the video to stop playing Video Reset at End (5) Choose whether video should go back to start when it reaches the end Video Size (w,h) (5) Set the width and height of the video e.g 300,200 will display the video in a window 300 pixels wide and 200 high. Video Start Time (5) Specify at what point in the video to start playing from e.g. A Start time of 5 and an End Time of 15 would skip the first 5 seconds of the video then play the next 10 seconds, ending on the 15 th second of the full length video. Video Tooltip (5) Text to display when mouse is over the video Note: The optional parameters are grouped into sets (as indicated by the numbers in brackets above). Only one set should be used for each Hotspot, though different Hotspots on the same page can each use a different set. Author Support [Xerte only] If Add Author Support has been added to the Learning Object properties and is checked then this page will display extra information. This includes Error messages in red which will identify if a Page ID cannot be found Contents Page 4 of 5
A report that can be output listing for each page in your project the Page No, Page Title, and Page ID Show Language Options Some pages have an active Show Language Options check-box. Checking this box will reveal additional attributes that provide standard labels for features used by the page such as buttons and messages. Normally these can be left unchanged. However if you wish to alter them then you can edit there entries in the form. Changes made here will only apply to this instance of the page. Contents Page 5 of 5