When you have finished building your publication you will want to create a copy of the program that runs independently of the Opus Editor environment. This is called Publishing.
The publishing process itself is done using the Publish Wizard and is relatively straightforward. However, there are things you may want to consider about your publication before you run the Publish wizard, these can be split into three categories:
these are basically ways of Optimizing your publication so that it runs as smoothly and efficiently as possible for the different types of publications you can produce.
you have choice of publishing as a Standalone publication (i.e. an EXE file); a Web publication using either the Opus Plexus Plug-in (i.e. an HTML file) or Opus Flex (i.e. a Adobe Flash SWF file); a Screensaver publication (i.e. a SCR file).
these are how to distribute the publication to your users, Opus provides a variety of wizards that can help you to create: a Windows Setup program using the Distribution Wizard; an Upload Wizard to add your files to a Server; a CD-R Wizard to burn a copy of your disk onto a CD-ROM.
When you create your publication, you probably already know what type of publication you want to create, for example, a computer based training publication, an information guide, an interactive kiosk, an e-Learning package, a cool screensaver! You should also consider how you are going to deliver it is it going to be on a CD-ROM, a network or over the web? If you know this, you can design appropriately.
If you create a Standalone publication, that is, a Program that will run on a users machine or on a network or off a CD-ROM see Optimizing your Publication for more information.
If your publication is to be delivered via the web decide if you want to use the Opus Plexus Plug-in or Opus Flex. see Publishing to the Internet for more information.
There are a number of things you need to consider if you wish to guarantee the timing and synchronisation of activities in your publication see Timing the Activity in your Publication for more information.
If you are using video in your publication it is automatically embedded, which means it is part of the file created by the Publish wizard, this is useful if you have copyrighted videos because the user cannot access it. However, you may not want to use this option see Embedded Video for more information.
There are default settings for the resources when they are published these are held in the Publish Settings dialog that can only be accessed via the third page of the Publish wizard by pressing the Settings button. You may want to check the Settings before you click on the Next button to start the publishing process see Overview of Publish Settings dialog for more information.
You can set selected resources to different settings than those in the Publish Settings dialog using the Resource Manager window see Overview of the Resource Manager for more information.
The Publish Settings includes an option to turn off compression of the Opus player. This allows you to apply third party security systems and to use high-quality icons. However, it also increases the size of your finished publication by about 10Mb. If you are comparing the size of previous publications it is worth bearing this in mind.
You can set selected resources to different settings than those in the Publish Settings dialog using the Resource Manager window see Overview of the Resource Manager for more information.
Standalone You can publish to a single Standalone publication which the user would run from the hard disk of your computer, a network, or to copy onto a CD-ROM to run from there. The publish process will create an EXE file.
Plexus Plug-in You can choose to create the publication in a version suitable for use on the internet. Unlike HTML editors, Opus offers full-blown multimedia on the internet through the Plexus Plug-in so your publication will appear on the internet exactly as it appears on your machine. The publish process will create an HTML file.
Opus Flex if you select the Opus Flex type from the Type tab of the Publication Properties dialog you can create a Adobe Flash SWF file that can play inside the Adobe Flash Player or in browsers. Opus Flex means you can now create an Opus publication that can run on a Macintosh computer see Opus Flex for more information. The publish process will create a Adobe Flash SWF file.
Video DVD you can choose to create your publication as a non-interactive video or a DVD-video for playback on domestic DVD players. The only interaction available are menus of buttons though you can use these creatively to produce some interesting interactivity. Note that when creating video you can set specific pages as chapter points which are the scene selections you can make on DVD video.
Screensaver you can choose to create your publication as a screensaver. This can be particularly useful for creating motivational or information material that automatically comes up on the recipients computer whenever they leave it inactive for a period of time. The publish process will create a SCR file.
The Run Last Published option on the Publication menu of the Opus Editor allows you to run the last published version of the current publication. This is particularly useful for testing purposes.
Note:
This is different from previewing your publication by pressing the F4 or F5 function keys. Any changes made since you last published will not appear in this version.
If you have created a publication for the web, you will need to upload it to a Server see Upload Wizard for more information.
If you create a Standalone or Screensaver publication, you may want the user to be able to use a Windows Setup program (i.e. an installation program) that will install the publication on their machine. Furthermore, you may want to distribute additional files with your publication see Distribution Wizard for more information.
If you create a Standalone or Screensaver publication, you may also want to distribute it on a CD-ROM see CD-R Wizard for more information.
Note:
You should always save your publication before you start to publish.