HelpXplain's user interface is quite similar to regular graphics programs that you are probably familiar with. The main difference is the canvas workspace, in which you can edit both single images and multiple "slides" for animated screencasts and infographics.
The HelpXplain Workspace
Understanding the workspace
In a normal graphics program or a presentation program like PowerPoint you only work on one image or slide at a time. When you create an Xplain in HelpXplain you place all the slides in the workspace. You can also use the same principle to work on multiple images at the same time.
Selecting the Overview slide at the top shows all the slides on the current grid and their layout. This screenshot shows the slides from the Xplain at the top of this page on the canvas workspace in HelpXplain.
All the slides are placed on the same canvas in a single screen, and they are all edited there. When you export your project as an HTML-based infographic it is also a single HTML page containing all the slides. When the Xplain is "played" in a web browser each slide fills the browser window when it is displayed. Slide transitions are created by moving the canvas behind a window called the "viewport". This can be instant, or with animation effects, including zooming in and out and panning across the page.
The tools
The tools you use to work on images and animations are arranged in toolbars and tabs at the top of the screen. Some tools insert images or elements. With others, you select an image or element, then you select the tool to use it on the selected element – for example to manipulate the element or to animate it.
Keyboard and mouse
Most of the keyboard and mouse operations are obvious intuitive. Even so, it's a good idea to check the reference because many of them will make your work with HelpXplain much easier and more efficient.
