ANY control over font choices when using variable reference?
Jul 18, 2013
Hi there,
I know custom fonts can't be used with variable references in Storyline.
http://www.articulate.com/support/kb_article.php?product=st1&id=yrry5u4lka7r
However it states:
"variable references will be displayed using the default fonts of the system or device on which the content is being viewed."
So I checked what fonts are installed by default for iPad, iOS5.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4980
"Marker Felt" is one of them.
I made a sample SL file with Marker Felt.
A text box was created with a variable reference.
What I was expecting to see was the text with the variable reference rendered with Marker Felt font.
However, I still see the entire text with the variable reference is rendered with a generic Sans-Serif font.
Can i just conclude custom fonts can't be used with variable reference at all?
If so, is there any reference out there as to what default font replaces the desired font for particular OS/Hardware? Any information available on font cascading that happens?
From design perspective, this is actually a big issue when you do not have any control over what font to use.
Thank you,
4 Replies
Hi Hide and Welcome to E-Learning Heroes! Your reference is correct about the variable references being displayed in the default fonts, and they keywords there are 'of the system or device', for HTML5 output and the iPad app. This is not a limitation by Articulate, but by Apple in this case as they do not allow you to change the default font of their OS.
Lesley, this is the case in flash output and PC baed html5, articulate does not embed fonts for variables for this reason if you want to use references then you should use websafe fonts.
Ah, thanks Phil. I was just thinking about 'Apple' apparently
Thanks for the information and it should make more sense to Hide when they pop back in.
Hi guys,
Thank you very much for your reply.
I guess I should have clarified I am outputting my SL project only in HTML5 format.
Leslie:
I know iOS does not allow users to install new fonts. Market Felt font comes with iOS5 and later. I wanted to see if SL can really use fonts installed on the devices used to view the project.
Phil:
Thanks for the tip. I tested with web safe fonts with variable reference and it does not seem to work the way you said.
List of web safe fonts:
http://www.3cstudios.com/WebsafeFonts.aspx
I used "Impact" and everybody's favorite "Comic Sans" in the same testing file since my project needs something rather playful.
Both of the text box still shows the entire text in a generic Sans-Serif, i think it's Arial or Helvetica.
Then I used Georgia to see if SL can AT LEAST distinguish Serif vs Sans-Serif.
Georgia is rendered the same way above - with Arial or Helvetica which is not even Serif.
This is a big limitation of Storyline from the design point of view.
If anybody has any feedback or comments, I would like to hear.
Tested in:
iOS5x with Safari, Chrome
OSX, Chrome and Firefox
Win 7, IE 10
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