mp3 audio Closed Captions &Translations

krashnicki

I am developing a course that will be localized into 13 languages. This course will contain mp3 audio files and I would like to include captions. It appears that Lecotra only allows captions on flv video and not mp3 audio.



My plan is to sync events with the audio, and these events will change the content of a text box. I was hoping that I could use the translation feature built into Lectora to export/import the captions with the translated text. However the translate feature doe not detect the text entered into a change content action.



Is there a better way to insert closed captions in a mp3 audio file that would be more conducive to translations? Can this be done via xml somehow?



Thank you.

ssneg

I think "native" Lectora way would be to:

1) create textboxes for all captions; set first one as visible, others as hidden;

2) add "Show/Hide" events to the mp3 (e.g. at 00:01.00, 00:07.00, 00:13.00...) that hide all captions and show the one required caption



Then these captions will get exported to RTF for translation alright. Also works with flv and/or mp3 media just fine.

krashnicki

I know that I did not mention this in my first post but would I be able to allow users to toggle the captions on/off? If I am using a single text box this is obviously easy. How would I do this if I am using multiple text boxes?



@ssneg 53935 wrote:

I think "native" Lectora way would be to:

1) create textboxes for all captions; set first one as visible, others as hidden;

2) add "Show/Hide" events to the mp3 (e.g. at 00:01.00, 00:07.00, 00:13.00...) that hide all captions and show the one required caption



Then these captions will get exported to RTF for translation alright. Also works with flv and/or mp3 media just fine.

ssneg

Sure. But things become more complex. Keep adding functionality and you'll be better off coding a standalone video player or moving to YouTube



1. Create a variable called SubState. Default to OFF. Or ON.

2. Add a toggle subs button. Add two conditional actions to it:

- If SubState is ON, set SubState to OFF. Else set SubState to ON.

- If SubState is OFF, hide all subtitle boxes.

3. Add a condition to all your Show subtitle actions: show only if SubState is ON.



This way when a CC button is pressed, all captions are hidden and are not shown again. If CC is pressed again, current subtitle is not shown (because CC button does not know which subtitle to show, right?) but the next one is shown. This can be perceived as a "delay" by the user, and they might react weirdly to it. For instance, they can click the CC button multiple times. But this is Lectora way, right? )



There is a potential workaround for that -- on enabling subtitles, show a "rotating delay icon" on top of it, so it won't be pressed again and the users will think the subtitles are "loading" (air quotes here ). To each "Subtitle show" action add another action "hide the loading icon", so it disappears as soon as the next subtitle appears.



But then again, you're quickly approaching the level of complexity where embedding Lectora-independent video player becomes a cheaper solution.



Cheers,

Sergey

krashnicki

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree with you that an independent play may be the way to go at some point.



I am trying to avoid video due to a slow network. I was hoping that I could still integrate some simple animations/transitions and synced it with audio via Lectora's built in functionality.



I think I should be able to come up with a workable solution from your suggestions but it is going to be a lot of manual work:( At this point it may be just as time consuming as using a "change content" action and manually paste in the different captions.





@ssneg 53940 wrote:

Sure. But things become more complex. Keep adding functionality and you'll be better off coding a standalone video player or moving to YouTube



1. Create a variable called SubState. Default to OFF. Or ON.

2. Add a toggle subs button. Add two conditional actions to it:

- If SubState is ON, set SubState to OFF. Else set SubState to ON.

- If SubState is OFF, hide all subtitle boxes.

3. Add a condition to all your Show subtitle actions: show only if SubState is ON.



This way when a CC button is pressed, all captions are hidden and are not shown again. If CC is pressed again, current subtitle is not shown (because CC button does not know which subtitle to show, right?) but the next one is shown. This can be perceived as a "delay" by the user, and they might react weirdly to it. For instance, they can click the CC button multiple times. But this is Lectora way, right? )



There is a potential workaround for that -- on enabling subtitles, show a "rotating delay icon" on top of it, so it won't be pressed again and the users will think the subtitles are "loading" (air quotes here ). To each "Subtitle show" action add another action "hide the loading icon", so it disappears as soon as the next subtitle appears.



But then again, you're quickly approaching the level of complexity where embedding Lectora-independent video player becomes a cheaper solution.



Cheers,

Sergey