Main Menu Properties


Of course, there are other ways to change the appearance and contents of your List Box. This is done in the Main Menu Properties dialog, which contains four or five tabs, depending on whether you’re in a submenu.

image from book

There are a number of ways to open the Main Menu Properties dialog:

  • Click the Edit Menu Properties button on the toolbar. This will open the dialog box on the General properties tab.

    image from book

    or

  • The Edit menu will allow you to not only open the Main Menu Properties dialog, but actually choose which tab you wish to open. Click the Edit menu, and then choose General Properties, Cursor Properties, List Properties, Menu Content,or Button Properties (the latter can only be opened from a submenu).

    or

  • Double-click the List Box. This will open the dialog box on the List properties tab.

image from book

Let’s tackle the tabs on this dialog in order, starting with General.

General Properties Tab

As the name implies, the General tab contains some basic settings for how your menu will ultimately look. It contains three sections:

  • Menu title. Remember giving your menu a name back when you first started your new menu project? Well, here’s where you can edit the title you entered.

  • Background. This section contains information and settings about the background image used in your menu.

  • Size. The dimensions of your menu, measured in pixels. There are fields for width and height. The default size of your menu is specified in the template. Note that the dimensions of your menu need not match the dimensions of your video content.

While the first and third sections are pretty self-explanatory, the second section, Background, merits some further explanation. First, you have a field that shows the path of the image file you’re using. If the file comes from a template, the field will be pointing to a temp directory, as Camtasia MenuMaker must first unpack the image from the template file that contains it. Of course, you may also select a different image to serve as your background. Simply click the Open button, located directly to the right of the Image file field, to open a dialog where you can browse for a new image file. MenuMaker will accept GIFs, bitmaps (BMP), and JPEGs (JPG).

Once you’ve settled on an image for your background, you’ll want to specify a layout. Note that this option is only important if the dimensions of your menu exceed those of your image file. If they do, you’ll need to instruct MenuMaker as to how to use this image in filling up the dimensions of the menu. You’ve got three options here:

  • Center, which displays the background image at its normal dimensions, centered in the middle of the menu screen.

  • Stretch, which takes the image and stretches it out to fit the dimensions of your menu. Image quality may degrade considerably if the dimensions of your background image are significantly smaller than the dimensions of your menu. If this is the case for you, you can always select…

  • Tile, which takes the background image at its usual dimensions and repeats the image to fill up the menu window. This works best for images with very small dimensions.

If you chose the Center option (and the image is smaller than your menu), you need to choose a background color for the space of the menu that is not taken up by your background image. Simply click the Background color drop-down list to select that color from a palette of 48 colors, or choose More Colors… to create your own custom background color using HSL or RGB values.

Cursor Properties Tab

When creating your menu, it helps to design a uniform theme that carries throughout the entire presentation. This presentation starts with your menu, not your videos. After all, the menu is the first thing your audience is going to see. While an appropriate background image can really help establish this theme, there are additional visual and audio elements to aid you. The Cursor tab sports the ability to set a custom cursor as well as sounds for a mouse click and for the mouse hovering over a menu item.

The Cursor file field lets you enter a path to a custom cursor. This custom cursor will appear instead of a browser-like “pointed finger” whenever hovering over a menu item. Custom cursors are great for creating a cohesive theme. For example, say you’ve got a series of videos on the iPAQ personal digital assistant. You might try using a custom cursor in the shape of a stylus to help take your PDA-themed menu to the next level. While subtle, it is a nice touch, provided your cursor isn’t so unwieldy as to inhibit functionality.

You can use any cursor file on your system, and the cursor will be packaged into your menu. You can either type the path directly into the field or click the Open button (image from book ) to its right, which allows you to browse for the file. Camtasia MenuMaker can use both static cursors (.cur) and animated ones (.ani). So where do you get additional cursors? There are a number of software packages (such as IconWork- shop from Axialis, a demo of which is on the companion CD) that allow you to create a cursor from scratch, but if you wish to experiment with this feature right now, Windows generally has a number of default cursors. In Windows Explorer, access the drive that contains your operating system (usually C:), and then go to Windows > Cursors, and you should have plenty of cursors to play with.

In the Sounds section of the tab, we actually have two fields: Mouse click and Mouse hover. Setting an audio file in the Mouse click field will play that sound whenever the user clicks on a menu item. For Mouse hover, the corresponding file will play whenever the user places their mouse cursor over a clickable menu item. While setting a custom cursor is mostly a stylistic choice for subtly augmenting the theme of your menu, setting sounds for clicking and hovering actually enhances the usability of your menu by providing audio feedback. A mouse hover sound lets the user know that the text they’re hovering on is actually clickable and not just static text. And a mouse click sound confirms that the user has actually selected something, which is particularly useful if you have larger videos that may take several seconds to open.

You set the audio file for these options in the same manner as setting the custom cursor, by either typing in a path or clicking the Open button to browse for it. However, with the Sounds fields you also have a Play button (image from book ) that will allow you to test out your file. Note that only WAV files (.wav) are supported. Try to keep these files to less than a second in length, as longer sounds either will be cut off as you hover from menu item to menu item or, in the case of a mouse click sound, can overlap with an opened video’s audio track.

List Properties Tab

While the Sounds options can help you provide audio feedback for the user’s actions, visual feedback is also quite handy. Let’s move on to the List tab for a way to provide this feedback, and to decide exactly how our List Box will look in general. This tab has three sections: Text, Frame, and Position.

image from book

The Text section lets you set the text color of your menu items as well as their alignment inside the List Box. As with a web browser, we can instruct MenuMaker to use different text colors for menu items that have a mouse cursor hovering over them or for items that the user has already visited. These color settings are inherited from the template you selected, but they are fully customizable. We have three settings for a menu item’s text color:

  • Normal color. This is the standard color for your menu text. When your menu opens, all items will appear in this color.

  • Visited color. Menu items that have already been clicked on will display in this color.

  • Highlighted color. This is the color for a menu item that currently has the user’s mouse cursor hovering over it.

To change one or more of these colors, simply click its corresponding drop-down box and select a color from the palette, or choose More Colors… to choose a custom color. In this section, you can also choose how you want the menu items in your List Box aligned. Just click the Default Alignment drop-down list and choose Left, Center,or Right. Note that this only changes what the alignment of the menu defaults to. You can manually adjust the alignment of each menu item as needed, which we’ll talk about in detail when we get to the Content tab.

When looking over your main menu screen, you probably noticed that your list of menu items was encapsulated in a box. Now that we’ve discussed how to change the appearance of your text, it’s time to customize the look of the box itself, called the frame. You can adjust the appearance of your frame in three ways. Use the Frame section to set the background color, opacity, and frame style.

The Background color field lets you choose the color of your frame. After selecting a background color, you may notice that the color in the dialog is darker than it appears in the actual menu. This is because the opacity of the frame is adjustable by using the Blend effect slider. Just click and hold on the slider, and then slide it to the desired point on the opacity spectrum, which runs from Transparent (completely invisible) to Opaque (completely solid). The text color of your List Box won’t be affected at all by this option. Setting it all the way to opaque will show the actual color you selected, but if you make the frame totally opaque, make sure that there’s enough contrast between this color and the text colors you selected to ensure legibility.

Finally, you have the option of choosing a border for your frame, using the Frame style drop-down list. You have five options:

  • None. No border.

  • Bump. This places a thin raised border around your frame.

  • Etched. This gives your frame border a slightly sunken-in look.

  • Raised. This option creates the illusion of the entire frame being slightly raised off the menu background, almost like a button.

  • Sunken. This option creates the illusion of the entire frame being sunken below the menu background, almost like a pressed button.

The third section, Position (pixels), gives you a way to numerically specify the exact size and location of the frame on your menu. It contains four fields. The Left and Top fields define the upper left-hand corner of your frame. For example, a value of 20 in the Left field means that the left-hand edge of the frame will start 20 pixels to the right of the menu background’s left-hand edge. Meanwhile, the Width and Height fields give the frame its size. Personally, I find it much easier to simply move and resize my frame on the main menu screen by clicking and dragging on the frame (or its corresponding resize handles). But it’s really useful if you want true precision in stipulating the location and size of your frame. For example, say you have a series of submenus in addition to your main menu. You just moved and resized the frame in your main menu, and you want the frames in all your submenus to be uniform with it. Simply note the location and size of your main menu frame, and then type this information into the Position fields of all your submenus.

Content Properties Tab

Now that we’ve tailored the appearance of the List Box to our liking, it’s time to fill it up with content, and the place to do that is the Content tab. This is where all the magic happens. The tabs we’ve talked about up to now have sported some cool ways of customizing your menu, but they’re mostly window dressing. Without the actual links, however, there would be no menu. So let’s get down to business and add some content. If you started this project using the wizard, you probably already have some content in here. If not, we’ll remedy that in short order. This tab has three basic sections: the toolbars, the content list, and the file fields. Let’s tackle these each in turn.

At the top of the tab, you’ll notice two toolbars: the Main toolbar and the Formatting toolbar. The Main toolbar looks like this:

image from book

The first four tools are all about adding items. If you followed the wizard, you already have some experience with the first tool, Add files. Clicking it will open a dialog allowing you to browse to pretty much any file you’ve got. Select your file(s), click OK, and it appears in your content list. But files aren’t the only kind of menu item that MenuMaker can handle. The next three tools will let you add other elements:

  • Add web address. This will allow you to enter a web URL. When browsing your menu, a click on one of these links will open the person’s default web browser and navigate to the page you’ve chosen.

  • Add static text. This lets you create a menu item that is there for informational purposes only. It is not clickable.

  • Add submenu. Sometimes you’ll have so many menu items that sticking them on a single menu page becomes infeasible. Clicking this button will create a brand-new menu that is linked to the current one. Upon clicking, you’re prompted for a submenu name, and the link on your current menu (as well as the submenu itself) is created. We’ll talk more about submenus later in this chapter.

The next two tools in your arsenal pertain to the removal of items you’ve added. The first, Delete Selected Items, gets rid of any menu items selected in the content list. Note that you can select multiple items using all the standard Windows conventions for multiple selection (e.g., click and drag, Ctrl-click, etc.). If you want to chuck everything and start all over from scratch, then use Delete All Items, which does exactly what it says. Snip, gone. At least it gives you a warning to make sure you really meant to do it.

Now that you’ve added some items (as well as trimmed any fat), you may be wondering just how one can change the order of these items. Clicking and dragging won’t work; that just selects multiple files. This is where our next two tools come in. Just like in the wizard, the Move Up and Move Down tools take whatever files you selected and can shift them upward (or downward) line by line. And yes, multiple files can be moved at once. Of course, if you have a great many items, you might just want to sort them and be done with it. You’ve got two options here. Sort Items Alphabetically puts all your menu items in alphabetical order, while Sort Items by Type first sorts your items by file type, and then places the individual items in alphabetical order within each type. If you clicked one of these two buttons, any new items added will be sorted automatically.

Caution 

If you do not specify a sort order, then MenuMaker (for some unknown reason that defies all logic) places the new item just above your current position on the list. So, if you already know the order in which you want to place your items, it’s best to add them from the bottom up, at least if you don’t want to get very well-acquainted with the menu item Move buttons.

Finally, we come to the Edit Parameters tool, which lets you add command line parameters to the file in question (some applications call these parameters switches). These parameters are little codes that tell the application exactly how you want the file opened. Every application has different parameters that they support, so if you don’t know exactly what application the end user will employ to open your file, it’s generally best to leave this button alone. For our purposes, however, it’s a great tool to use in conjunction with Camtasia Player, since we can instruct MenuMaker to package Camtasia Player with our menu, and to use only that program when playing back our AVI files. To take advantage of parameters, simply click the Edit Parameters tool and then type your parameters into the text field that appears.

Now, we can globally set most of Camtasia Player’s parameters in our Project Properties dialog (more on that later). But if you don’t want all your files to open exactly the same way (e.g., you want one file to repeat over and over until closed, another file to play in full- screen mode, etc.), then you can set those parameters here. For a full list of Camtasia Player’s available command line parameters, please see the section on the Camtasia Player in Chapter 15, “Other Output Options.”

Next, let’s talk about our Formatting toolbar. These options affect how the text is displayed in the List Box, and each menu item can be formatted individually (or as a group, if doing a multiple selection).

These tools are designed to help you custom-tailor the formatting of single items, as they override the default settings chosen in the Project Properties dialog (for font, font style, and font size) and in the List tab of the Main Menu Properties dialog (for alignment). After changing some settings on the Formatting toolbar, if you decide to add a new item, that item will still adhere to the project and menu defaults. So, here’s a look at our Formatting toolbar:

image from book

  • Font. This drop-down list allows you to select from all fonts on your system. Keep in mind that fonts aren’t packaged or otherwise rendered in Camtasia MenuMaker, so you may wish to stick with the more standard fonts to avoid problems on the viewer’s end.

  • Font size. This determines the point size of your text. Click to select one of the standard sizes from the drop-down list, or type in any whole number for a custom size.

  • Font style. Three buttons control the font style: bold, italic, and underline. These are toggle buttons; clicking the button again will turn the effect off. Note that these styles can be combined.

  • Alignment. Left, center, or right justify your text. This trumps the default setting for text alignment on the List tab.

Below these toolbars, we of course see the content list, which displays all the files, web links, static text, and submenus we’ve added. There are three additional fields that appear below the content list that bear mentioning. Every menu item has the following two fields:

  • Name. This is the name of the menu item. File menu items pull this information from the file name, web links from the URL, static text from itself, and submenus from the name you typed in. In all cases, this name is fully editable. Simply select the errant text in this field and type a replacement.

  • Tooltip. This is the text that will appear in a little yellow box when the user hovers the mouse cursor over a particular menu item. This text can be anything you wish. By default, your videos are assigned the tooltip “Watch this movie.” Of course, the default tooltip is contextual for each kind of menu item, even among files (“View this document,” “Listen to this audio file,” etc.).

Depending on the kind of menu item you’re working with, you may also see one of these fields:

  • File name (files only). This is the path of the file you’re including in the menu. Unfortunately, this path is not editable; you cannot simply point to another file by typing in the path. This means that if your MenuMaker project file is somewhat older and the files it references have been moved or renamed since you last opened it, you’ll have to remove the menu item and create a new one in its place.

  • Web address (web links only). This field defines the URL of the web page you want to link to. It is fully editable, so if the page gets moved, you can type a new address in the field.

And don’t forget: You have an Approximate disk space… readout at the bottom of this dialog, which can help you determine if your file space requirements are going to exceed the capacity of your media. Always check it before executing the Create Menu… command.

Button Properties Tab

At last we’ve come to the fifth and final tab in the Main Menu Properties dialog, Button. What’s that you say? You don’t have a fifth tab? Well, friends, that’s because this tab is specific to submenus, so we actually have to be in a submenu in order to see it.

image from book

No worries, though. Here’s how to navigate to one of your submenus:

  1. If you haven’t already done so, create a submenu on the Content tab of your Main Menu Properties dialog. Click OK to return to the main screen.

  2. Ctrl-click on the menu item for your submenu.

    or

    Click the Toggle Map View button (image from book ) to enter Map view. Double-click one of your submenus.

  3. Open your Submenu Properties dialog.

  4. Click the Button tab.

image from book

The Button tab is split into two nearly identical sections, with the same settings for each of two optional (but recommended) navigation buttons. You have the Back button, which will take the user back to the current submenu’s parent menu (one level up), and the Home button, which takes the user all the way back to the main menu. These two buttons, combined with the submenu-type menu items, comprise MenuMaker’s navigation structure. Each of the two sections on this tab contains the following elements:

  • Show Back (or Home) Button. These check boxes determine whether the buttons for Back or Home are displayed.

  • Button. This drop-down list displays several graphics you can use for your button. In addition to five “back” buttons and five “home” buttons, MenuMaker also includes five “up” buttons, in case you’d rather use that metaphor to signify a return to the parent menu.

  • Tooltip. A brief phrase that indicates what the button does. This text will appear in a small yellow tooltip box when the user hovers over one of your buttons for a second or two. The default values here are completely editable.

  • Left position and Top position. These two values govern the placement of your button, and are measured in pixels away from the top and left edges. For example, a top position of 400 means that you want the top of the button to be 400 pixels down from the upper edge of your menu. While it’s usually easier to simply click and drag these buttons around on the main screen to place them, assigning numerical values is often useful for lining these two buttons up on a vertical or horizontal axis.

  • Preview. A full-size image of what the button would look like at the current settings. It updates in real time.

  • Colorize button. When checked, this option allows you to color your button.

  • Color 1 and Color 2. A drop-down palette of colors for your button. Color 1 stipulates the border color, while Color 2 determines the fill color.

These settings not only affect the current submenu, but also set the default for any subsequent submenus that branch off from it, which you can then alter to your heart’s content, if you want it to be different. And then any submenus created from that submenu would inherit its settings, and so on.

image from book

For all the options in the Main Menu Properties dialog, you can view the changes made on all tabs without having to exit the dialog. Just follow these easy steps:

  1. If you have adequate space on the desktop, drag your Main Menu Properties dialog out of the way so that you can see as much of your main menu screen as possible.

  2. Make whatever changes to the menu properties you wish.

  3. Click the Apply button at the bottom of the dialog. Your changes will automatically update on the main menu screen. Note that not all changes (e.g., custom cursors, among others) will be visible without first testing the menu. We’ll discuss menu testing later in this chapter.

image from book

So, in this section you’ve learned all about how to manipulate the look, feel, and content of your menu using the Main Menu Properties dialog, including how to adjust the buttons of your submenus. In the next section, we’ll talk more about submenus, including how to organize them using the Map view.




Camtasia Studio 4. The Definitive Guide
Camtasia Studio 4: The Definitive Guide (Wordware Applications Library)
ISBN: 1598220373
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 146
Authors: Daniel Park

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