Hi, I am wondering if anyone can shed some light on Storyline 2 layers in regards to their stacking order? It seems that whenever I show a layer that is hidden it always jumps to the top of the order regardless of what order I put my layers in. Is it possible to send them above or below? or (the best option) to just be made to be shown in the stacking order they are placed in in the slide layers view?
Thanks for the link. Although I have to say that this way of controlling the stack order with triggers is a mess. Especially if you have a lot of layers to work with. It may just be easier to work within the base layer revealing new information via the timeline using cue points to pause for user interaction. In my opinion there's nothing worse than having to sift through a bazillion triggers just to control stacking order. But of course it all depends on what it is you're trying to make. Thanks again.
I think the intention of a layer is to show new material on a temporary basis, then disappear. That is why a new layer defaults to hiding other layers. Choose the one you want to show, and don't worry about the stacking order.
If you want several objects to stack up on a slide then objects that appear on the timeline is designed for that.
The really cool thing is that when it gets into the hands of a user, it all looks the same, and the user can't tell the difference between layers and objects, so we can use whichever tool best suits us. The order of layers really is just a development aid.
I understand what you're saying and after working on a big project in Captivate 7 for a year I can say that Storyline 2 is such a breath of fresh air! They have made development for e-learning so much easier (since HTML5 has been slowly becoming the new norm)! I'm back to creating interactions as opposed to being limited and trying to figure out why screens arent working.
But with that aside, I still look at something like layers as a staple concept to developing in a visual interface. Having to add extra triggers for something that I would think would be an obvious feature from early development is frustrating. Of course it's not going to affect everything I make but it's definitely going to eat into my development time with most advanced interaction ideas I come up with.
And yes, to the user it does look the same. But the road to getting there shouldn't have to be one filled with so many repetitive triggers. Hopefully the next version will address this issue.
Testing a little bit today, I found out that changing the states of objects on layers doesn't affect their stacking order. That is if the layers are already showing.
The attached image has 4 colored shapes on different layers with different color states. Clicking the numbered buttons shows you how states change colors but do not change the stacking order. And I didn't have to use additional triggers to control the stacking.
The only downside is that you can't do animation on states. So you will still need to use multiple triggers if you don't want an animation to appear above another layer or layers.
Hi, Daniel -- Many thanks for sharing an update, and I wanted to let you know that if you would like to share your thoughts or suggestions with our Product Development team, you are welcome to do so using this form.
I built my own UI on the top most layer, and unfortunately discovered the lack of z-ordering. So my fix to keep my UI always on top was to add these 2 triggers to any loading layer. Hope that helps someone.
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Maybe this discussion will help you.
Thanks for the link. Although I have to say that this way of controlling the stack order with triggers is a mess. Especially if you have a lot of layers to work with. It may just be easier to work within the base layer revealing new information via the timeline using cue points to pause for user interaction. In my opinion there's nothing worse than having to sift through a bazillion triggers just to control stacking order. But of course it all depends on what it is you're trying to make. Thanks again.
I think the intention of a layer is to show new material on a temporary basis, then disappear. That is why a new layer defaults to hiding other layers. Choose the one you want to show, and don't worry about the stacking order.
If you want several objects to stack up on a slide then objects that appear on the timeline is designed for that.
The really cool thing is that when it gets into the hands of a user, it all looks the same, and the user can't tell the difference between layers and objects, so we can use whichever tool best suits us. The order of layers really is just a development aid.
Just my opinion, and your mileage may vary :)
I understand what you're saying and after working on a big project in Captivate 7 for a year I can say that Storyline 2 is such a breath of fresh air! They have made development for e-learning so much easier (since HTML5 has been slowly becoming the new norm)! I'm back to creating interactions as opposed to being limited and trying to figure out why screens arent working.
But with that aside, I still look at something like layers as a staple concept to developing in a visual interface. Having to add extra triggers for something that I would think would be an obvious feature from early development is frustrating. Of course it's not going to affect everything I make but it's definitely going to eat into my development time with most advanced interaction ideas I come up with.
And yes, to the user it does look the same. But the road to getting there shouldn't have to be one filled with so many repetitive triggers. Hopefully the next version will address this issue.
Testing a little bit today, I found out that changing the states of objects on layers doesn't affect their stacking order. That is if the layers are already showing.
The attached image has 4 colored shapes on different layers with different color states. Clicking the numbered buttons shows you how states change colors but do not change the stacking order. And I didn't have to use additional triggers to control the stacking.
The only downside is that you can't do animation on states. So you will still need to use multiple triggers if you don't want an animation to appear above another layer or layers.
Hi, Daniel -- Many thanks for sharing an update, and I wanted to let you know that if you would like to share your thoughts or suggestions with our Product Development team, you are welcome to do so using this form.
Thanks, Christie. I actually have been and shall continue to do so.
Many thanks, Daniel -- your input is important to us!
I built my own UI on the top most layer, and unfortunately discovered the lack of z-ordering. So my fix to keep my UI always on top was to add these 2 triggers to any loading layer. Hope that helps someone.
Hide layer UI When the timeilne starts
Show layer UI When time timeline starts
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