HTML5 iPad playback white flashes

Oct 18, 2012

Not sure what's going on but when viewing my HTML5 published file from the mobile Safari browser on my iPad, I see very noticeable/distracting white flashes between some layer loads and some transitions. Sometimes the screen will flash 2-3 times in a row.

I'm wondering if this is happening when things are moving while downloading? Is there a pre-load/pre-load option/adjustment?

Is this a problem anyone else is having?

BTW the same content looks fine running on my Mac laptop.

-Bart

20 Replies
James Grafe

On iPad in Safari, running the course from the LMS, I find that quiz questions blink, or flash, after hitting the Submit button. I hit Submit, the feedback dialog appears, the question and feedback disappear then reappear.

It's pretty fast, but kind of distracting and annoying. A speedy learner may anticipate the feedback screen/ Continue button and be concerned when the question/feedback dialog blinks.

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Katie!

The latest update has "improved HTML5 output to reduce redrawing the canvas in some browsers". Meaning, it's been reduced, but we haven't been able to eliminate it completely. 

We are still working on smoothing this out and we'll provide some additional information as soon as it's available.

You can download the newest update here. Hopefully installing the update will improve the performance of our course.

Thanks!

Garry Nordenstam

Katie Mohamed said:

OK. That's what I'm running. Is there anything else you can do for these flashes? I'm working off of an iPad 2 with the latest iOS version 6.1.13.

It's the display/hide of layers that causes the flash. Somebody else posted a while ago that they switched from using layers to using states to display/hide information all on the base layer and avoid the screen redrawing.
Katie Mohamed

Thanks Guys,

My course is originally 27 slides with 3 slides of video. Right now, I'm using a sample size of 10 slides. All slides have 1 layer and no states. This must be played in Safari and not the app.

The flashing seems to occur at different times throughout each test. Right now, it just flashed when the 2nd rectangle of the first Overview slide dropped. On other tests, it has never flashed there. A lot of times, the course flashes when nothing major is going on.

I have the user advancing the slides, as I read that could be a part of it in different chat.

If you take a look at this, please take it with a grain of salt. This has been spliced, diced and turned inside out for testing purposes. Click the next button when you see the three buttons with objectives.

iPad link: http://s3.amazonaws.com/tempshare-stage.storyline.articulate.com/stp17svhamnlp3u5ouru7bh1mdn1/story.html

Dave Robertson

James Grafe said:

On iPad in Safari, running the course from the LMS, I find that quiz questions blink, or flash, after hitting the Submit button. I hit Submit, the feedback dialog appears, the question and feedback disappear then reappear.

It's pretty fast, but kind of distracting and annoying. A speedy learner may anticipate the feedback screen/ Continue button and be concerned when the question/feedback dialog blinks.


I see the same thing.  I have a quiz with several questions and it flickers/blinks after touching the SUBMIT button when using an iPad.  It is distracting since as you said, you start to anticipate the feedback box and go to click Continue when it blinks.  I hope they can continue to make it better.  I'm on the latest update and it still happens :(

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Dave,

Our team is aware of some flicker issues with HTML5 that are described here:

You may see an intermittent flicker when viewing HTML5 content on an iPad. Due to mobile Safari browser limitations, we must redraw the canvas for certain events to occur, such as displaying slide layers. When this happens, you may see a brief flicker.

We're working to improve peformance in a future update. In the meantime, make sure you're using the latest version of iOS to take advantage of mobile Safari updates. For the best results, we recommend publishing for the Articulate Mobile Player app.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Gareth and welcome to Heroes!

Update 5 of Storyline was released at the end of January, and included some fixes to reduce intermittent flickering. To take advantage of the new features and fixes, download and install the latest version from the link in your product confirmation email, or get it here. Then republish your project.

Katie Riggio

So sorry you're at this roadblock, Austin.

This discussion is a bit older, so I want to make sure you get the most up-to-date support. A few clarifying questions!

  • Could you share more detail on the Storyline version and iPad iOS you're using?
  • Is the course hosted on a web server or a learning management system?

Also, we're happy to have a closer look at your project to troubleshoot in a similar enironment. If you're able to share the .story file, please use this private upload link!

Austin Hill

I found a workaround to the problem, it just means more work.  I'm hosting the published files on my own Amazon web server for basic testing.

Not using an iPad but using iPhone.  iPhone 7, Safari.  Verified on another person's iPhone.  

Here's what I realized is happening:

My goal is to have various mp4s on their own slides that are played as the learner progresses.  This is where the flash happens, when you click to advance to the next slide with the next mp4.  This "white flash" isn't really some random white flash it's the default bottom layer of the project.  I learned this by making a random colored shape at bottom layer and that would be the flash rather than white.  Thus, my fix is to export the last frame of the mp4 and make that the bottom layer.  So, when there is a click you just get an extra frame of the mp4.  You can slightly detect this transition but it's acceptable.

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.