Having troubles with variables for a lightbox glossary
Nov 30, 2013
By
Katie Venit
I set up a glossary in a lightbox. Client wants to access the glossary when terms are clicked on from the slide, but also have glossary available whenever from the player menu.
I think I'm running into problems based on the order of the variables. It seems that whichever variable is listed first is the one that will be defaulted to. Check out the attached file. CESA is listed first in my variables, and then DPI. From the slide (not the glossary) if you click on DPI first, you can get to that term, but if you click on CESA first, you'll always go to CESA.
I set the base layer for my glossary to reset to initial state when revisiting, and I thought that should work but it doesn't seem to be... What else can I try?
6 Replies
I didn't want to change your structure too much (personally, I would just use one variable "GlossaryTerm" and populate that with "CESA", "DPI" etc., but that's beside the point). So, I added a trigger at the beginning of each layer's timeline to reset the related variable back to False.
Michael, could you explain what you mean by "personally, I would just use one variable "GlossaryTerm" and populate that with "CESA", "DPI" etc.,"? I would love to simplify this. I'm going to have a lot of terms.
Hi Katie, I wasn't suggesting there is anything wrong with your approach and 'easier' always depends on one's workflow and preference. See attached my version. I use one variable. When I click a term, this variable is populated with, let's say "CESA" and then the glossary is lightboxed. The triggers at the start of the glossary slide's timeline shows layers, based on the value of the variable. To me, using a single variable to make all the decisions about glossary term layers seems easier; but as always in Storyline there are many ways to reach the same goal
Thanks Michael! No worries, I wasn't thinking you said there was something wrong with my approach. I just really appreciate hearing how other people do things. As you say, with storyline there are many paths to the same goal. Having said that, though, I REALLY like your approach, that would eliminate a step of setting up a variable for all of my two dozen terms, all of which introduces two dozen opportunities to mess something up. Thanks for the example, and for the troubleshooting!
Glad my suggestion works for you. Good luck with your project!
Thanks Michael for helping Katie out here and providing another example for how to set it up!
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