I am getting some really odd feedback for one of our Storyline 360 courses (published for HTML5 with Flash backup). Has anyone encountered this / knows what is going on? Unfortunately I haven't been able to replicate the issue. Here are some of the comments the course is getting:
"Why are all the t's and f's missing?"
"Most all T's and F's are missing"
When opened in Explorer there were missing letter so it was very hard to read.
"Some of the slides had letters missing"
"All the missing letters were very odd. Was there a point?"
"The content was difficult to read mostly because of there were letters missing throughout the slides. It seemed mainly all the "t's" and "f's"
Why are all the t's and f's missing? That was very strange and might be very hard for people with visual difficulties.
Articulate Support is also working with me on this one so I will keep folks updated if learn anything. I can report that my users are on IE 11 that are having the issue. Folks on Chrome have no problems but we can not use Chrome in our retail locations. We do have security settings in place as these are retail locations but even retail associates need training. ;)
A small step Articulate maybe could take is to make the font-download fail more gracefully, i.e. if it fails, default to a pre-installed safe font that includes ligatures instead of one that does not, (which I think is now Times New Roman?). But that means you do have to determine if there is a common pre-installed font that already includes ligatures.
No it's a specific state client. Even if we figured out what the issue was I highly suspect we wouldn't be able to have IT change settings. On a rare occasion I was actually able to reproduce it in chrome but it was never consistent as well.
A smoking gun for why the ligatures do not show when the font reverts to Times New Roman: "The Microsoft/Monotype digitisation of Times New Roman omits automatic ligature insertion (although as of v. 6.96 it is selectable), which the version of Times installed with macOS has. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_New_Roman
John, that's probably your best option until a solution is found. I suspect many with this issue don't have the option of running the Flash version though
A smoking gun for why the ligatures do not show when the font reverts to Times New Roman: "The Microsoft/Monotype digitisation of Times New Roman omits automatic ligature insertion (although as of v. 6.96 it is selectable), which the version of Times installed with macOS has. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_New_Roman
This also explains why no letters go missing if you use TNR in your project to begin with, Storyline probably doesn't assign any ligatures when that font is used.
So maybe one workaround if you want a font other than TNR in your HTML5 file (who wants TNR?!), is to design the module using TNR everywhere, and then change the font typeface in the css of the produced storyline HTML files. That way if it can't download the font, it won't have ligatures in it. Not for the faint of heart though, emphasis on kludge!
That might work if you use only one font throughout your course, as I don't know how you would change the font for different divs, which you probably won't know the name of. Also, a substituted font might not fit like the original.
Thanks for continuing to share your ideas and troubleshooting here. I know it's frustrating to have to go through all these steps, and with the issue being specific to IE11 and not easily replicated by members of our team it can be harder for us to track down.
The comment Michael made about how we map characters and the use of ligatures is one that struck me, as I know there have been issues with font kerning in the past (which is based on the position to which we map characters) and our team is actively looking and testing items around that. I'll reach out and make sure they are aware of this discussion too in case they are truly connected!
I'll be in touch here if I have any additional questions or information to share.
Ashley, I'm not sure if the cause of the problem is the same for everyone in this thread, that could be why you are having trouble replicating it. I saw the issue immediately when I disabled IE's Font Download option, as shown in a screenshot here a few pages back. I published a similar project in Storyline 2 with the same IE setting disabled and the font appeared fine. I'm still looking in to the way Storyline 2 incorporated fonts with the Font.js file, as that could lead to a possible workaround for Storyline 3/360 users. I don't know if that same workaround would help people with the "Data URI" (Data URL?) issue though. Thanks for your continued help on this.
You can check for yourself at the links below. I created the project in Storyline 2, published it, upgraded the project to Storyline 3, published it to a new folder.
You can check for yourself at the links below. I created the project in Storyline 2, published it, upgraded the project to Storyline 3, published it to a new folder.
I haven't tried Chrome at all, didn't know it was affecting that browser too. Do you know which security setting was causing the issue for you? I was specifically testing by disabling font download in IE. The second link should have some letters missing in the first line.
Interesting I have this problem of disappearing T's and F's only when I put the course into our LMS. It works fine in Chrome and IE11 if not access through the LMS. Similarly I've used the exact same template, including fonts, when building in SL2 and it works perfectly in Chrome, IE11 and our LMS. The only thing I can think of is that our LMS needs an upgrade, could it be, in my case, that 360 isn't compatible with an aging LMS?
Thanks Min for that update - our team has continued to look into this, and hasn't narrowed it down further than the issues with using IE11 in compatibility mode or an LMS blocking access to particular font files. We'll continue to keep you posted here if we find anything else, bud I'd also encourage you to work with your LMS, and if using the Arial font is an option - proceed with that!
I am also seeing this issue with changing fonts and missing F's in IE11 with Articulate Presenter 360. If there will be an update to correct this, please be sure to have it in place across all the tools in the 360 suite. I see it not only in our LMS, but also when I post to 360 Review and view in IE11.
I'd imagine that a large number of organizations face this issue as the IT groups have these IE policies/settings in place and lock them down so individual users cannot undo.
I'm optimistic that Articulate will find a solution.
It was reported to our team specifically for Storyline 3 and 360 to see if there are any settings we can look at modifying, but since it's a browser and user specific setting I'd still recommend using either of the settings mentioned earlier to:
Enable "Font download" option in Internet Explorer when viewing HTML5 output.
Add your website to the “Trusted Sites” in Internet Explorer. Go to Internet options > Security tab > Trusted sites.
I'll also let the team know that you've run into the same font display with Presenter 360 and IE11.
Doesn't Presenter use the same player component as Storyline now? It seems like any time there is an issue in one, it should be assumed that it will need to be fixed in the other.
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John, were you able to pin down which security setting was causing the problem in your case?
Articulate Support is also working with me on this one so I will keep folks updated if learn anything. I can report that my users are on IE 11 that are having the issue. Folks on Chrome have no problems but we can not use Chrome in our retail locations. We do have security settings in place as these are retail locations but even retail associates need training. ;)
A small step Articulate maybe could take is to make the font-download fail more gracefully, i.e. if it fails, default to a pre-installed safe font that includes ligatures instead of one that does not, (which I think is now Times New Roman?). But that means you do have to determine if there is a common pre-installed font that already includes ligatures.
No it's a specific state client. Even if we figured out what the issue was I highly suspect we wouldn't be able to have IT change settings. On a rare occasion I was actually able to reproduce it in chrome but it was never consistent as well.
In the meantime we created a new module for moodle that serves IE the flash version and all other browsers the HTML5 version.
A smoking gun for why the ligatures do not show when the font reverts to Times New Roman: "The Microsoft/Monotype digitisation of Times New Roman omits automatic ligature insertion (although as of v. 6.96 it is selectable), which the version of Times installed with macOS has. " - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_New_Roman
John, that's probably your best option until a solution is found. I suspect many with this issue don't have the option of running the Flash version though
This also explains why no letters go missing if you use TNR in your project to begin with, Storyline probably doesn't assign any ligatures when that font is used.
So maybe one workaround if you want a font other than TNR in your HTML5 file (who wants TNR?!), is to design the module using TNR everywhere, and then change the font typeface in the css of the produced storyline HTML files. That way if it can't download the font, it won't have ligatures in it. Not for the faint of heart though, emphasis on kludge!
That might work if you use only one font throughout your course, as I don't know how you would change the font for different divs, which you probably won't know the name of. Also, a substituted font might not fit like the original.
Hi all,
Thanks for continuing to share your ideas and troubleshooting here. I know it's frustrating to have to go through all these steps, and with the issue being specific to IE11 and not easily replicated by members of our team it can be harder for us to track down.
The comment Michael made about how we map characters and the use of ligatures is one that struck me, as I know there have been issues with font kerning in the past (which is based on the position to which we map characters) and our team is actively looking and testing items around that. I'll reach out and make sure they are aware of this discussion too in case they are truly connected!
I'll be in touch here if I have any additional questions or information to share.
Ashley, I'm not sure if the cause of the problem is the same for everyone in this thread, that could be why you are having trouble replicating it. I saw the issue immediately when I disabled IE's Font Download option, as shown in a screenshot here a few pages back. I published a similar project in Storyline 2 with the same IE setting disabled and the font appeared fine. I'm still looking in to the way Storyline 2 incorporated fonts with the Font.js file, as that could lead to a possible workaround for Storyline 3/360 users. I don't know if that same workaround would help people with the "Data URI" (Data URL?) issue though. Thanks for your continued help on this.
Does it also appear fine if you clear the cache first?
You can check for yourself at the links below. I created the project in Storyline 2, published it, upgraded the project to Storyline 3, published it to a new folder.
Storyline 2: http://andersonelearning.com/temp/IEfontissueSL2/story_html5.html
Storyline 3: http://andersonelearning.com/temp/IEfontissueSL3/story_html5.html
I have IE and Chrome, both links display the fs properly in both browsers.
I haven't tried Chrome at all, didn't know it was affecting that browser too. Do you know which security setting was causing the issue for you? I was specifically testing by disabling font download in IE. The second link should have some letters missing in the first line.
I have had customers using IE 11 send screenshots. I haven't seen the issue on my workstation.
Interesting I have this problem of disappearing T's and F's only when I put the course into our LMS. It works fine in Chrome and IE11 if not access through the LMS. Similarly I've used the exact same template, including fonts, when building in SL2 and it works perfectly in Chrome, IE11 and our LMS. The only thing I can think of is that our LMS needs an upgrade, could it be, in my case, that 360 isn't compatible with an aging LMS?
Thanks
Perhaps your LMS is blocking the download of the fonts files? I think they are woff files. Ask your LMS support to look into that.
Or it may be that the LMS is telling Internet Explorer to operate in compatibility mode.
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Letter "f" is missing by using Font "Open Sans".
Font "Arial" works!
Thanks Min for that update - our team has continued to look into this, and hasn't narrowed it down further than the issues with using IE11 in compatibility mode or an LMS blocking access to particular font files. We'll continue to keep you posted here if we find anything else, bud I'd also encourage you to work with your LMS, and if using the Arial font is an option - proceed with that!
I am also seeing this issue with changing fonts and missing F's in IE11 with Articulate Presenter 360. If there will be an update to correct this, please be sure to have it in place across all the tools in the 360 suite. I see it not only in our LMS, but also when I post to 360 Review and view in IE11.
I'd imagine that a large number of organizations face this issue as the IT groups have these IE policies/settings in place and lock them down so individual users cannot undo.
I'm optimistic that Articulate will find a solution.
Hi Jeffrey,
It was reported to our team specifically for Storyline 3 and 360 to see if there are any settings we can look at modifying, but since it's a browser and user specific setting I'd still recommend using either of the settings mentioned earlier to:
I'll also let the team know that you've run into the same font display with Presenter 360 and IE11.
Doesn't Presenter use the same player component as Storyline now? It seems like any time there is an issue in one, it should be assumed that it will need to be fixed in the other.