Applying Block Template to Entire Course

Jun 18, 2019

Matthew Mosman
By Matthew Mosman

Hi, all~ 

I am about as new to Articulate as you can get, so forgive me if this question is one that has a super obvious answer. I have viewed a number of webinars and online training videos for new users that discuss creating your own templates. However, none of them specifically mention the approach I hope to use (and in fact seem to hint that such an approach does not yet exist as a feature in Rise/Storyline). I would like to avoid creating a complete course structure to save as a template, since it would not likely have the same set of blocks I might need for a different course. I would also like to avoid creating a collection of templates with my chosen font and color settings, one for each block type. 

Is there any way to apply given font/shading/color choices across an entire course? And to save THAT as a template? This would allow greater freedom in block choices while still saving quite a few clicks on the templating side. 

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! 

6 Replies
Crystal Horn
almost 5 years ago06/21/19 at 3:36 pm (UTC)

Hi Matthew! We're happy to have you here!

At the course level, you can personalize your fonts and accent color. If those will be consistent from course to course, create a course with a single placeholder lesson, and use the Duplicate option to create new courses with those settings.

If you are looking to set more specific formatting for blocks, block templates with placeholder content will be the way to go!

Matthew Mosman
almost 5 years ago06/21/19 at 4:42 pm (UTC)

Hi, Crystal~

Thanks for the reply! It really means a lot to someone so new to Articulate that the company and the community are so responsive, and that there are so many resources to help soften the learning curve!

I do understand the ability to personalize fonts and accents colors, as well as the use of my own placeholder templates for future duplication, and I remain convinced that those solutions are a less elegant approach than what I am requesting.

Given my imperfect knowledge of the ins and outs of Rise/Storyline, please correct me on anything below that is in error:

The issue (as I understand it) is that when a user imports their placeholder template into a new course, the resulting block matches the block type of the template. Any subsequent blocks added to that same course do not include the personalized choices from the template.

On the flip side, if a user saves an entire course as their template, any future courses created from the template are exact copies of the same set of blocks. While changes can certainly be made post-import, the new blocks do not include the personalized choices from the template.

Under the current build of Rise 360, a user would need separate placeholder templates for every block type-and even then that collection of templates would only work if the course being designed were an exact match to the template in terms of font/shading/color/etc. If a user wanted to have slightly different templating for courses targeting different branches of the company (one color/font scheme for HR, one for marketing, one for customer service, etc.), they would need hundreds of templates, since each one would only work for a specific match of customization choices with block type.

The ability to lock in font, shading, accent colors, etc. independent of any particular block type, and to then apply those choices to an entire course, would save the user the headache of needing such an enormous collection of templates while also safeguarding complete freedom in course design.

If you have made it this far, I appreciate you hearing me out on this! I understand if what I am asking is a programming impossibility, but at least wanted to make sure that my request was fully understood before an answer was given.

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