Skins are really popular, but you're going to need to know Flash ActionScript fairly well to create them. I don't know if we have enough users who know about that type of coding. From our community, James Kingsley is probably one of the best guys you could talk to.
One challenge with the skins right now is that they're only supported in Flash browsers. They won't work in the Articulate Mobile Player and HTML5 environments.
Those are good points David. I thought that maybe there was a simple way to customize the skin through the player tab, but it sounds like its a bit more complicated than that.
Can you recommend any forum posts on here that relate to customizing the skin with ActionScript? I've never used ActionScript before but it sounds interesting!
I think one of the common complaints I've heard is that out of the box Storyline isn't that great. You are constantly having to find work arounds or tricks in order to get what you need out of Storyline. It is troubling to me that software this expensive does not have more options as far as skins for the player. The user should have the option of hiding the menu or perhaps having it pop up when necessary automatically. Yes, you can build your own custom menu.. but it is not the same as having this available as a normal option. The skins available for a fee through eLearning Brothers is an example of what should be available. It is disappointing that custom skins will only work in Flash Browsers. The mobile device app is not that great. I feel like with a lot of extra work I can get the results I need out of Storyline (mostly learning the workarounds and not so much time executing them). The one big work around that I cannot do is create custom skins. Even if I were able to it looks like they would only work in Flash browsers.
I absolutely agree with Brent's post above. Some days, I'm really amazed at what Articulate Storyline is able to do. The fact that someone, like me, who has no knowledge of programming can use SL to create really fancy eLearning courses with branching and interactions, is truly amazing.
Other days, I'm equally astounded that SL will not allow me to do something as simple as turning off the Volume Control on a per slide basis. To date, the common response to the volume control topic are "great idea", "submit a feature request", etc. More than three years later, and a "major" upgrade from SL1 to SL2, the volume control is still lacking. I wonder how many requests must be submitted before Articulate will add a new feature.
Sorry for the gripe above, it's been on my mind for a long time. The issue of Player Skin has finally pushed me to put my thoughts on the forum.
Regarding using eLearning Brothers' custom player skin; I have found that they do not support tab control function. In other words, if your course has to be Section 508 compliant, and you want to enable users to control your course with only keyboard controls, the eLearning Brothers custom Player Skin will not work in this manner. If anyone has found a way around this, please share this information.
Have you looked at adding it to a slide master and then using that throughout your course? You could also then disable all elements of the player and make a "chromeless" player.
Hope that helps and you're also always welcome to share your thoughts in the form of a feature request here!
9 Replies
Hi Brent,
I haven't seen any recently, but you're welcome to check out our Downloads section or I'd also suggest looking in the Building Better Courses forum.
Has there been a challenge for this yet? Making custom skins / players could be a good eLearning challenge!
Good point Jackson - I'll send it along to David!
Skins are really popular, but you're going to need to know Flash ActionScript fairly well to create them. I don't know if we have enough users who know about that type of coding. From our community, James Kingsley is probably one of the best guys you could talk to.
One challenge with the skins right now is that they're only supported in Flash browsers. They won't work in the Articulate Mobile Player and HTML5 environments.
Those are good points David. I thought that maybe there was a simple way to customize the skin through the player tab, but it sounds like its a bit more complicated than that.
Can you recommend any forum posts on here that relate to customizing the skin with ActionScript? I've never used ActionScript before but it sounds interesting!
I think one of the common complaints I've heard is that out of the box Storyline isn't that great. You are constantly having to find work arounds or tricks in order to get what you need out of Storyline. It is troubling to me that software this expensive does not have more options as far as skins for the player. The user should have the option of hiding the menu or perhaps having it pop up when necessary automatically. Yes, you can build your own custom menu.. but it is not the same as having this available as a normal option. The skins available for a fee through eLearning Brothers is an example of what should be available. It is disappointing that custom skins will only work in Flash Browsers. The mobile device app is not that great. I feel like with a lot of extra work I can get the results I need out of Storyline (mostly learning the workarounds and not so much time executing them). The one big work around that I cannot do is create custom skins. Even if I were able to it looks like they would only work in Flash browsers.
I absolutely agree with Brent's post above. Some days, I'm really amazed at what Articulate Storyline is able to do. The fact that someone, like me, who has no knowledge of programming can use SL to create really fancy eLearning courses with branching and interactions, is truly amazing.
Other days, I'm equally astounded that SL will not allow me to do something as simple as turning off the Volume Control on a per slide basis. To date, the common response to the volume control topic are "great idea", "submit a feature request", etc. More than three years later, and a "major" upgrade from SL1 to SL2, the volume control is still lacking. I wonder how many requests must be submitted before Articulate will add a new feature.
Sorry for the gripe above, it's been on my mind for a long time. The issue of Player Skin has finally pushed me to put my thoughts on the forum.
Regarding using eLearning Brothers' custom player skin; I have found that they do not support tab control function. In other words, if your course has to be Section 508 compliant, and you want to enable users to control your course with only keyboard controls, the eLearning Brothers custom Player Skin will not work in this manner. If anyone has found a way around this, please share this information.
Frustrated SL2 user,
I wish Articulate would let us customize the bottom portion of the skin with a copyright footer or logo insert.
Hi Lisa,
Have you looked at adding it to a slide master and then using that throughout your course? You could also then disable all elements of the player and make a "chromeless" player.
Hope that helps and you're also always welcome to share your thoughts in the form of a feature request here!
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