Why is my Web output so small?

Dec 19, 2012

"Honey, I shrunk the course!" Why is the Web output of my course so small? See attached example. Also, the audio is extremely muted compared to the actual course. Otherwise, the course and navigation function fine . . . it's just . . . small. This is the first time I've published to the Web. I've only ever dealt with publishing to an LMS. I'm sure it's just a rookie mistake. Please tell me where I've gone astray. Thanks!

16 Replies
Christine Hendrickson

Hi Kevin. Welcome to E-Learning Heroes!

At first, I thought you were talking about the size of the files. However, after looking at the attached image I can see that the display for the presentation is tiny.

What browser are you using to view this? Are you able to share a link to the published content?

Thanks!

Christine

Ashley W

As for the audio, I had fun finally discovering why that was happening today. 

When you go to publish, in the dialogue box, there is a button that says: Quality: Custom Optimization. 

If you click on Custom Optimization, you will see a slider bar with Audio like...all the way down.  You can adjust it to where you'd like to improve the audio quality

Seriously, what a headache that fixed today.

Kevin Pierce

Thanks for your quick replies!

Christine,

I tested it in both Chrome and Explorer and it looked exactly the same. Unfortunately, my IT person took down the link because it looked so bad.

Ashley,

I think what you suggest may be the source of my rookie mistake. I was publishing a "CD" version for stakeholders to review and a "Web" version for my IT person to test. Unfortunately, I didn't change the presentation option for the IT person. Could this be the reason the course displays so small as well as so quiet? If so, what "Quality" and "Publish" settings do you recommend? Should I stick with the default "Optimize for Web Delivery" or should I do custom settings?

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Kevin,

You mentioned earlier that you used to publish presentations for an LMS, but this last time you used the CD option. I assume you're wanting to use the presentation on a web server, from the post about your IT person removing the content. 

If you're intending to host the content on a web server, make sure you're publishing for the web. If it's published for CD that will cause some issues Do you have access to a server for testing that wouldn't require your IT team to upload and remove the content? If not, you could try using Articulate Online. If you don't already have access to it, you could take advantage of our 30 day free trial. That should be more than enough time to test the presentation to see if it scales correctly, then have your IT department upload it to your server. 

Let me know how it turns out.

Thanks!

Kevin Pierce

Hi Christine,

Unfortunately, I'm back. I revisted this with my IT guy. Results are still the same when launched to the web: the course player is embedded in the web page, so of course, it looks small, with gray space on either side of the player (see .jpg above)

He asked me: "Is there any way that you can adjust the output to remove all the gray outside of the actual course?"

Am I missing something here . . . or is he? Is he perhaps making the mistake of trying to shoe-horn the course player onto the page when he should have it launch in a separate window?

I've only had experience with an LMS, and that's exactly what it does: launches the course player in a separate window instead of cramming it onto the web page.

I think it's him (not me) but I want to point him in the right direction, if I can. Thanks!

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Kevin,

I don't really want to sound like I'm "blaming" the IT person you're working with, but I agree with you. It would be better if it were directly linked to. If it needs to be inserted into a webpage, it could easily be launched in a new window. It's been a long time since I've played with HTML code and there's no way for me to know exactly how he's setting this up. But I'm sure he'd be able to do something to just place a link on the page and have it launch when clicked, or have it launch in a new window from the original page. 

Is it absolutely necessary to have him place the course online for you? I know you mentioned you've used an LMS before, just wondering if the change was due to a client/company request. Have you tried publishing it and uploading it to Articulate Online like I mentioned earlier? If you can get it working properly there, maybe you can show the tech how it displays there to give him a better idea.

Just some suggestions, though! I hope everything works out. Let us know

Thanks!

Ashley W

Kevin Pierce said:

Ashley,

What can I (nicely) tell my IT guy . . . since he's never dealt with e-learning courses? He wants me to solve it in Articulate, but I think the problem is with him.

At the very least, just say something like, "Hey, you don't have this embedded inside of a frame, do you?" or the like.  We have our presentations hosted on our website and there's no problem with them opening in the same window, so I can't think that's the problem.

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