Course playback from a server when viewed in Safari on a Mac desktop defaults to HTML5 version
Nov 03, 2016
I discovered an issue for courses viewed on a Mac OS X desktop using the current Safari browser. It seems that the browser automatically loads the HTML5 version of the course and ignores the Flash Player version. The browser does not first display the screen asking if you want to use Flash for this URL; it just loads the HTML5 course. I tested desktop browsers on the Mac and on Win and this only occurs on Mac OSX/Safari.
This affects text display both in the Menu and Notes tabs. The text looks to revert to a system font, and all paragraph returns in the Notes tab are removed, and the menu text becomes bold and there is no spacing between menu items.
As long as the user has the Articulate Player app loaded, the iPad will display the course correctly. If the course is published without checking the Player app option, the resulting HTML5 course displays with the same text issues as on the Safari desktop version.
Has anyone else noticed this, and is there any way, outside of deselecting "Include HTML5 output" to force Safari to load the Flash Player files? I'd think removing HTML5 from the course would potentially cause issues, and reduce the whole idea of what Storyline is supposed to be about.
Thank you.
8 Replies
Hi Richard! Do you have a .story file we could take a look at to investigate the viewing differences you are reporting here?
I've found the answer to this issue. Mac users with the latest version of Safari will have this issue.
"On websites that offer both Flash and HTML5 implementations of content, Safari users will now always experience the modern HTML5 implementation. Apple's new policy means that Safari, essentially, lies to websites about which plugins are installed. It no longer passes on information about the availability of Flash, Java, Silverlight, and QuickTime, encouraging the browser to switch to HTML5. If this is not possible, users will be given the option of enabling Flash on a one-off basis, or every time they visit the site in question.”
Ah, that is certainly good to know Richard. Thanks for sharing :)
Have you tested removing the HTML5 option to see if Safari will launch the course as expected? Just curious based on your statement above.
Yes Leslie, unselecting that option does result in Safari loading the swf-driven version of the published course.
I appreciate you testing that for me Richard :) Mental notes as this will come up again I'm sure. Sharing with the team as well.
I think we are seeing the final shifting away from the Flash Player; other browsers will no doubt be following suit in the near future. We are hoping that Articulate has plans to make Storyline 100% HTML5 in the next release. Keeping one foot in the Flash world has no real future.
Agreed Richard. We know the answer is to devote our resources to an HTML5-first/HTML5-only world, and our focus is on that very thing as we speak.
I'm very glad to hear that :)
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