HTML5 Output Compatibility with Google Chrome 44

Jul 24, 2015

On July 22, 2015, Google released Chrome 44 for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This unfortunately introduced an issue with the HTML5 output of Articulate Storyline 1, Storyline 2, and Studio ’13. While the large majority of courses utilize the Flash output when running in Chrome, we recognize that the HTML5 option is critical and have updated our software to rectify the issue. Please download and install this free update to your software as soon as possible so that the HTML5 output for all the courses you create going forward functions properly in Google Chrome.

Here are the links to download the updated versions:

Please note, if you have the “Check for updates” option enabled in your Articulate software, it will automatically notify you that the new version is available.

Please use the update utility for existing courses that require HTML5 output for Chrome. The utility will automatically update your courses so you won’t have to republish each course individually. For step-by-step instructions, please view the appropriate Chrome 44 Updater support article (Storyline 1, Storyline 2).

 

We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced, and please let us know if you have any additional questions.

38 Replies
steve cc

David, Ashley, or any other staff that can action or reply...

> is it just me or is this déjà vu? And it is unacceptable.

> the last panic you created was when there was a flash update.

> people wondered then if Articulate was a wise choice given how vulnerable it is to 3rd party software developers.

> here we are again wondering the same thing.

please, can someone car to explain? And maybe alleviate this MAJOR issue?

Can someone at Articulate share an explanation that might make a customer feel ok when they are told they need to do a complete LMS scan and patch of their published content?

 

feel free to email me directly if you prefer.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Jhon,

Were you also able to connect with our Support team? I can see from the message you're receiving that it says no updates are available but the file you shared opened successfully for me and I was able to import the two template slides into a new file. Since it's a new file for me and I've already installed the update I won't be able to see an issue with it not working correctly in HTML5 in Chrome - but if you are still running into difficulty with that I think working with our Support team will be a better way to check files and get a sense of what you're seeing. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Bea,

Thanks for reaching out here and sorry for the difficulty you've encountered. In regards to how they weren't playing in IE8 or IE11, were you viewing the published output within the intended environment as described here? 

Storyline's most recent update (update 6 available here) was to deal with an issue with the HTML5 output not appearing when viewing in Chrome 44. It was only the HTML5 output so if you had disabled flash or pointed directly to the story_html5.html file than you may have run into it. 

The Articulate Updater allowed you to update any previously published courses that were experiencing this issue in Chrome without having to go in and republish every individual course - so it was an issue of how Storyline and the lastest update of Chrome worked together.  The steps you'll need to go through are outlined here. 

As far as the ETA - both of these updates and the updater are live - so you should be able to use them as is right now. If you're running into an issue with them, please feel free to let us know and you're also welcome to connect directly with our Support team here. 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Steve, 

The updates that came out for Storyline 1, 2 and Studio '13 and the updater all were released to deal with a change in Chrome that was out of our control. As such our Quality Assurance and Engineering teams took swift action once the issue was spotted to release the updates and the Articulate Updater tool that would allow folks to update previously published courses that were no longer displaying as expected in Chrome 44 using HTML5 content only. Our team continues to monitor these type of changes and will continue to do so in the future. 

If you've run into any issues going through the updates, I'd also invite you to work directly with our Support engineers so that they can take a look at specific files and hosting set ups. 

Janet Johnson

Can you give us the source code for the updater, so that we can see what changes it is making to the .js files, and then just do it ourselves? Or, alternatively, add support for SFTP or FTPS to the updater? Presently my host adamantly refuses to turn on FTP, since it sends login info (including passwords) over the network in plaintext and is therefore terribly insecure.

If I knew exactly what changes needed to be made, I could do it myself, or if the updater supported SFTP (or, really, anything more secure than vanilla FTP), that would work as well.

Ravindra Gardi

Hi Janet,

We need to follow below steps to solve the issue of Chrome 44 with Articulate storyline Output:


Go to the folder that contains your published output and open the mobile folder.


Open player_compiled.js in a text editor, such as Notepad.


Find this text:
this.renderTimer.style.opacity="1"


And replace it with this text:
this.renderTimer.style.opacity=((this.renderTimer.style.opacity == "1") ? ".9" : "1")


Save and close player_compiled.js, then upload your published output to a server for testing.

 

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Janet,

I don't have any information to share in regards to the source code, and as Ravindra mentioned it is looking to update the player_compiled.js file that is found in any courses needing an update. 

If you would like to share your thoughts on support for SFTP or similar, can you share your thoughts with our product development team here in the form of a feature request. 

Ben Kennedy

Hi All, what Ashley and the other Articulate staff are trying to say is that Articulate needs flash objects regardless. There is a reason IE and HTML5 is not supported by Articulate, or Firefox and HTML are not supported. While IE is a little behind in the HTML5 it is not significant.

The problem is that chrome has embedded Flash in the browser, so you would need to verify if Articulate really produces only HTML5 objects. Articulate through all their comments and website do a good job at avoiding this piece of information.

I would suggest you specifically turn of flash in the Chrome browser and block flash objects at your network edge.  If then your articulate materials no longer work in google chrome then you have your answer on this. 

As Flash has quite a few vulnerabilities and the Global IT industry is moving to remove flash from all enterprise applications and in general, I would expect Articulate to keep relevant to move away from this. You can see this in their direction for the mobile platform (ie iOS apple dumped flash for a reason) 

 

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Ben, 

You can view the HTML5 output directly in Chrome by pointing to the story_html5.html link vs. the story.html link or by turning off Flash within the Chrome browser. Also the HTML5 output is accessible in tablets using Mobile Safari on an iPad and Chrome on an Android.  You can see this in our system requirements here. 

Our team continues to investigate the changes in the market and is constantly looking at ways to improve. I personally like using a site such as HTML5test.com to compare how different browsers behave and handle HTML5 output. 

If there is anything else we can assist with please feel free to let us know. 

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