'next' button only appears after a slide has been viewed.
Jun 06, 2012
I might be shooting for the moon here, but it just occured to me that it woud be handy if a person doing a training module could only see the 'next' buton once they had already viewed the content.
To put that in context - I don't want the learner to progress/skip over content using the next button. I want them to be stuck listening to, and viewing the content as I intended. However should they need to come back and view the content over (perhaps they failed the quiz and want to check a key point) I would like the next button to be there to help them skip to the point they need to listen to/view over.
Any ideas?? My only one is to have 2 versions of the module (in the one module), One without a next button and one with the next button and a variable saying if they have viewed the non-next version then show them the version that has a next button instead. Of course that would double the size of the module and that is far from ideal.
Thanks
49 Replies
You could use custom on slide navigagtion buttons, it would then be possible to hide/show when reqiured
Hi Phil,
I had considered that but I was hoping to keep the navigation on the player so it matches up with the progress bar. I was hoping somehow a variable o something could be set up to hide the 'next' button but I guess variables can only effect what is in the slide. can anyone confirm this?
No the player cannot be affected in this way, its a good feature request though
How do you make feature requests again?
Also is there anyway to make a status bar in the slide? Or even elect whatthe status bars progression refers to rather than having it reset for every slide (I'd rather every scene).
Hi James - While you can't hide the built-in Next button, you can disable it and provide a warning message to learners. Check out this demo:
David beat me to it!
LOL well, you did all the heavy lifting.
Thanks David - this looks good... although are you calling me heavy? LOL
A few questions however. When a learner revists the slide I assume having the slide set to 'initial state' will mean they have to reselect/finish media over again in order to select next. If it is set to not initial (I forget the seting name) they will be able to press next immediately right?
Also if i do this with 'media completes' on the master slide will it apply properly to all slides with media or do I have to do it to each individual slide? I hope not because my last few module had over 100 slides and a fair few had layers.
Hi James,
I think you can use a single variable to do everything. Here's an example that uses a single variable (Complete) that's set to False when the timeline begins.
This works because the variable "Complete" is reset to False each time a new slide's timeline begins.
Demo
Source
I missed your question re: resetting the states.
So, if you use Dave's method and include a unique variable for each slide, then you can use whatever player settings you like.
If you go with a single value like I did and you want to retain previous states, you'll need to add an additional condition that states:
ACTION: Set complete equal to true
WHEN: Timeline starts
CONDITION:
Demo
Source
(I updated the links above, too)
Thanks David,
I can get this to work with a slide that has a hotspot/click box - but no matter what I try I can't get it to work on a slide that progresses when media completes. The main problem is that the media doesn't change state - I did atempt to have the media relate to a click-box/picture that changes state when the media finishes but when you return to the slide the click box/shape returns to its original state and the next button causes the warning to appear. This is regardless of what the slide is set to do when revisting.
I assume this would be the same problem with text entry to progress a slide.
I would love if someone could figure out how to fix this because I have been trying for ages. It really seems odd that you can't relate a trigger condition to media - I can't figure out why it wouldn't be an option, to me it just seems like an oversite in the programming.
This all seems overly complicated but I have figured this out in a round about way.
I have fixed the problem where media can't be used as a trigger condition by inserting a shape that appears for the same length of time as the media and when this shape's timeline ends the shape changes state. This then can be related to the variable as a trigger condition.
I have also set the media to pause when the 'warning layer' appears (pause at start of timeline) and have it resuming when the learner closes down the warning layer.
The only problem is the shape I inserted to be used in the trigger condition is for a set amount of time which can't be paused so a learner could still jump ahead if they press 'next' a second time. This would suggest that you make the inserted shape's timeline go for as long as the slide to try limit this problem.
The end result is that the slide can progress when the media ends and the user can revisit the slide and use the next button even if the media is not completed. The important bit is not to relate the inserted shape to the media playing as media seems to reset everytime a slide starts and will then reset the variable to false.
I hope this helps.
What would be great is if we could 'pause timeline' like we can 'pause media'.
Because I can see this being a problem when you have set annimations, zooms and highlighting based on the timeline but are only able to pause the sound/media. When you come back from the warning layer the media will have paused but all the zooms and highlighting won't have and I imagine things will be out of sync.
Can anyone comment on this please?
There are too many problems with this who set up when making a warning layer based on the next button for it to be workable.
You can't pause the timeline
You have to have the slide set to 'resumed saved state' for the variable triggersto work so the user is stuck looking at the end of the slide when they view it the second time. Of course you can set to replay themedia but not the interactions/zoom areas making the media pointless.
You can't properly set media as a trigger condition, if you set it to end of slide you can't re-virew the slide at all because the 'saved state' is the timeline ended.
You can't actually show/hide the 'next button' (or any other button - I'd love to show hide the seekbar) based on triggers within a slide.
Because of this I have abandoned this idea - we just aren't given proper control of the player controls (I mean why ca't we sepperate the pause/play buton and replay button from the seekbar??)
In the end taken the next button off all slides. I have made a layer called 'next button' that is a just a next button that appears directly above the previous button and shows when a variable being true.This variable is triggered to be true at the end of the scene. This means that a next button is present only when the user has already fully viewed the scene.
Obviously that's not ideal as i would rather a next buton to be there anytime a user goes back to view a slide but given the limitations this is the best available solution.
Hi James - I hear you and agree some options for pausing the timeline could be helpful.
You can pause the timeline by showing a new slide layer. Perhaps you could show an empty slide layer each time the user clicks a button and build your functionality around that?
Yes that's what I ended up going with. I didn't realise you could go to slide properties and select 'pause base layer'.
This really makes the process really simple and like you said a blank slide would suffice. Currently I am using a 10% white coloured layer with a play button in the middle of it.
This forum helped.
http://community.articulate.com/forums/t/13943.aspx
although I am still only making the 'next' button appear after the whole module has been viewed (and triggers a variable) due to the problems with 'set to initial state' on the slide properties which undoes the slide variable so the next button doesn't appear anyway. Then if you set it to 'saved state' the media and transitions all appear as finished. You can set the audio to play again but not the slide. I feel i could get around this but it would be a lot of triggers/variable for a feature a learner may or may not use.
I will upload my finished idea shortly but am waiting to find out why the 'jump to next slide' doesn't work when set on the master slide.
This was the perfect solution to my problem. I didn't want my users to advance to the next slide until my audio was finished. I set up my variable but it only works for the first slide, it seems to be disabled for my next slides. I tried it in a different scene and same thing, it works for the first slide but is disabled for my next slides.
I initially thought it was because I had copy pasted my trigger from one slide to another but the problem was still there even if I recreated my variable trigger...
Do I need to create a variable for each and every slide that needs to have the "next" button disabled until my audio finishes? I have 200 slides :(
Brigette, your issue is that variable is persistent across slides, I would add a trigger to each slide that on timeline start it resets the value of the variable.
You could have a variable for each slide, but this will save you having to track more than one
Phil
Awesome! Just tried it and it works. This is my first experimenting with the variables, reminds me of my math class which wasn't my forte I'll get a hang of it with time I suppose.
Thanks Phil!
Hi Bridgitte,
You'll be using variables everywhere soon - they are very handy. I would suggest putting the trigger to set your slide completed variable back to false on your masterslide. That way you only have to make it once rather than for every slide.
Also be aware that using this method, if a person views your content a second time (maybe they want to follow up a point) they will have to listen to it all again, all the way through. If you set a vaiable trigger at the end of your presentation say 'Scene 1 Complete' and relate that to your next button on each slide it will make the next button available from the start the second time your training is viewed.
Thank you!
Thank you for the help! I have a question related to the True/False trigger. Is there a way to create a single trigger that can be applied to multiple slides, instead of having to create a new trigger instance for each slide?
I love it. Just reviewed the video, and got it all working. I did have to make sure the state change was ordered before showing each layer, so you could not see the base layer. Brilliant! One success for the day.
Hi, with regards to the same thread, I have a question:
AFter setting all these triggers, everything works fine. However, when I revisit the slides and on clicking Next, it let me proceed without showing the Alert pop up. Please help!
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