Practice 2
Add help windows to a text activity

- Open the EDUCA1.TXA activity that you created in the previous exercise. To open an activity you have to go to the File - Open menu, click on the appropriate activity type button on the left (in this case, the text activities button, "aeiou"), look for the folder that where it is saved, select the file and accept.

- Edit the activity with CTRL+E.

- Place the cursor within the word "illiterate" and click on the create and edit targets button:
 

 

- Click on the Pop-up information window box and write:

Person that does not know how to read or write

- Change the size of the information window to 180 x 60, activate Centre text and click on the Pop up in errors option.

- Accept everything and check what happens when an incorrect answer is written in the first target.

To reinforce the apparition of the help window, we could include a warning sound to get the student's attention:

- Edit the activity again, place the cursor within "illiterate" and click on the targets button.

- Add the text "{error.wav}" to the end of the message. It should look like this:

Person that does not know how to read or write{error.wav}

- Check what happens now when a wrong answer is written in this target.

- Edit the activity, place the cursor in the target "poverty" and activate a pop-up information window with the same size and behaviour as the last one. The text could be:

Lack of or great shortage of what is needed to live{error.wav}

- Do the same with the targets "wage" and "survive". The help texts could be:

Money received in exchange for work{error.wav}
Continue living{error.wav}

We could make a few changes to the activity's appearance to finish off:

- Edit the activity, click on the Fonts button, activate the Help Windows area and change the text colour to red.

- Go to Activity options and make the following changes:

· In the Game window area click on the Solid colour button and change it to white (this will reduce the grey flash visual effect when the help windows are activated).

· For the Main window click on Image, drop the list and select the bground.gif file.

· Unmark the Shaded frames box.

· Select Small buttons 2.

- Check the activity and save it through the File - Save menu.