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VERDICT: Improved media handling, notably Flash video support, and improved interactivity see Captivate extend into rich new areas of computer-based training.

The most obvious strength of Adobe Captivate is that it outputs its computer-based training in the web-friendly Flash SWF format which can immediately be viewed by just about every computer user...

However the real secret of the program’s success is its intelligent screen capture which, wherever possible, avoids full motion capture in favour of static captures automatically overlaid with mouse movements and local background changes such as keystrokes. This slide-based approach is more bandwidth efficient for final delivery and also makes for easier ongoing editing – especially as Captivate automatically adds in text captions and highlight boxes to start you off.
New editing improvements in this latest release include the ability to partially gray-out the area surrounding a highlight box and to create a zoom effect to grab the viewer’s attention. When adding objects, you can also now explicitly specify size and position and choose to apply changed properties to the current object, slide or project. You can also quickly toggle the display and lock status of all elements in each slide’s Timeline. The biggest productivity improvement is the addition of a new Library panel which lists all sound and image files in use in the current project. The Library comes into its own when you want to re-use items, especially as you can open libraries from other project files, and you can also use it to open your files into your preferred application and then save back the edited version.

The new Library and Flash video support greatly enhance Captivate 2’s media handling

Another major media handling enhancement is the new support for Flash Video (FLV). Using the simple Insert dialog you can browse to the FLV file that you want to link to, set the desired width and height and then select from a range of preset playback skins. The default FLV format supported is Progressive Download which is simple to set up and can also include alpha channels so that you can produce striking effects with transparent video overlays. Captivate also supports FLV hosting on streaming servers if you need improved handling or live video.