How to request a SL enhancement?
May 16, 2013
This has been brought up before but I'm not sure how to make sure it gets in the enhancement request pile 
It would be great if we could disable the prev & next buttons on layers. I've attached a sample of my situation. I don't want to use forced visited states to allow the user to go to the next slide because it boxes the learner in, but I do want them only to be able to have the option of the prev/next controls from the base slide, not any of the slide layers.
In the attached file, I only want the prev/next buttons to appear on the base slide of Slide 1 (Lifecycle Nutrition) and Slide 2 (Older Adult). On the layers of Slide 2 (Older Adult), I want the user to use the buttons placed on the layer to navigate and not have the option of clicking prev/next (for example, on the first layer "Energy Requirements" I want the "Back to topic buttons" and "Go to activity" to be the only options available to the user).
In my full project file I can (and I guess will) get around it by using a variable that adds "1" each time a layer is shown and then showing an "Are You Sure?" layer if the user hits the "next" button and the variable is less than the number of layers shown, but it seems to be a loooooong way around just simply allowing these controls to be turned on/off at both the base slide and for individual layers. And, I have several places that I will need to do this which is a big time waste.
Thanks for any additional guidance/suggestions.
3 Replies
Hi Laura,
I think the main reason that this option isn't available is because the layer is displayed over the main slide. So, you're not really leaving the slide when you view a layer. I do think that an option to disable the buttons from a layer would be a great option, though - there's a lot of customization options I'd like to see for these buttons, as well :)
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Thanks very much, Laura!
Hey Christine - thanks. I understand what you're saying about not leaving the original slide. And I will use the form you provided.
I guess I was wondering if this is just an example of us course designers (since it seems to be more than me!) trying to use layers in a way that was not intended? Should I be making these other topic areas their own slide? It seemed like then I would start having a lot of slides to keep up with - but maybe I'm just being lazy
Also, what does the number of layers do to total file size versus the number of slides?
Hi Laura,
I believe so, but in the same breath, I think it's something that would be pretty handy.
Personally? Yes, I think that would actually be a good idea. I was going to suggest something similar earlier, but wasn't quite sure how you'd feel about that. If you want to disable the use of those buttons, you could certainly have the user go to a new slide, lightbox it so that it's not quite so confusing for the users, or even create custom buttons.
I honestly think that custom buttons may be your best and quickest option. Simply because you can use the buttons throughout your slides, control how and when they appear, and continue working with layers.
I think that the slide/layer file size is going to be pretty similar. The content you use will be the same and take up the same space, it'll just be displayed in a different portion of the course. I believe, though, if you add many, many more slides it may contribute a little more than layers. This is simply because the course is having to split into different sections. Again, though, this is just my understanding of it. I'm sure if someone else sees this and knows otherwise, they'll share :)
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