I have created a course in Storyline that I need to send to a vendor to play on the corporate site within tablet and mobile platforms. I have a few questions:
1. Will the Articulate Mobile Player work for this and if so, what files do I need to send for them to load?
2. Are there any issues? Seems like I saw some issues in the past and wasn't sure of the success rate for this.
3. Which tablets and phones does the player work within?
As you've read, mobile playback is what everybody wants now, but at this still-early stage in mobile deployment, there's no one solution that suits all devices. My first suggestion to you would be that when planning a course, get the precise details on the delivery method(s) desired, and plan your course's functionality to ensure success for that method (or those methods, if more than one). That way you are far less likely to face unpleasant surprises, and rework, if you ask that question only after your course is already built.
If this is the first course you're publishing from Storyline, when you publish for Web, you will notice that you have a couple of check box options to consider: HTM5, and Mobile Player for iPad. To ensure maximum compatibility, you will likely want to check both of those boxes. You can read more about publishing for HTML5 and iPad here in Articulate's Tutorials section: http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/publishing-a-project-for-ipad-or-html5.aspx
The Mobile Player is designed only for iPad. To play Storyline content on any other mobile device, you will want your course playing in either Flash (not supported on iPad, hence the Player's existence) or HTML5. But not all types of interactions and features work properly in HTML5, because HTML5 as a language is still being hammered out.
As far as what you would send a client, you are sending them the entire set of published Storyline files (usually as a zip file), and they will want to unzip the file folder and point to the story.html file to launch the course. Then when the learner opens the course, the course package will detect the learner's browser, etc., and open the version of the course most likely to play smoothly (Flash, HTML5, or Player--if it's installed on their iPad).
Another thing to consider, of course, is that a tablet and a smartphone have very different screen sizes. The current version of Storyline doesn't offer responsive design. So unless you have planned your content with extreme care and cleverness, a course you designed for pc, or pc and tablet, is probably not going to look good on a tiny smartphone screen. That's all part of the project planning and instructional design, as well. We are all holding our breath that v2 of Storyline will offer responsive design, to match what Adobe's Captivate 8 now offers. But we'll have to wait and see; there has been no announcement of new version of features for Storyline since the initial release of the software.
Bottom line: planning ahead for your mobile project will save you a lot of hassles later. There is no substitute for doing the homework up front, and arming yourself with a clear understanding of where mobile delivery is at currently, both in the industry, and within Storyline. That will help you ensure that you don't promise your client something impossible to deliver, and that what you do deliver is exactly what you promised, and what they need.
If this answer solves your problem, please mark this entry as the Verified Answer so that others will know this question has been resolved.
1 Reply
Hello, Jennifer!
As you've read, mobile playback is what everybody wants now, but at this still-early stage in mobile deployment, there's no one solution that suits all devices. My first suggestion to you would be that when planning a course, get the precise details on the delivery method(s) desired, and plan your course's functionality to ensure success for that method (or those methods, if more than one). That way you are far less likely to face unpleasant surprises, and rework, if you ask that question only after your course is already built.
If this is the first course you're publishing from Storyline, when you publish for Web, you will notice that you have a couple of check box options to consider: HTM5, and Mobile Player for iPad. To ensure maximum compatibility, you will likely want to check both of those boxes. You can read more about publishing for HTML5 and iPad here in Articulate's Tutorials section: http://community.articulate.com/tutorials/products/publishing-a-project-for-ipad-or-html5.aspx
The Mobile Player is designed only for iPad. To play Storyline content on any other mobile device, you will want your course playing in either Flash (not supported on iPad, hence the Player's existence) or HTML5. But not all types of interactions and features work properly in HTML5, because HTML5 as a language is still being hammered out.
As far as what you would send a client, you are sending them the entire set of published Storyline files (usually as a zip file), and they will want to unzip the file folder and point to the story.html file to launch the course. Then when the learner opens the course, the course package will detect the learner's browser, etc., and open the version of the course most likely to play smoothly (Flash, HTML5, or Player--if it's installed on their iPad).
Another thing to consider, of course, is that a tablet and a smartphone have very different screen sizes. The current version of Storyline doesn't offer responsive design. So unless you have planned your content with extreme care and cleverness, a course you designed for pc, or pc and tablet, is probably not going to look good on a tiny smartphone screen. That's all part of the project planning and instructional design, as well. We are all holding our breath that v2 of Storyline will offer responsive design, to match what Adobe's Captivate 8 now offers. But we'll have to wait and see; there has been no announcement of new version of features for Storyline since the initial release of the software.
With regard to publishing for different mobile options, if you didn't consult Articulate's chart on feature availability when building your course, then you should definitely review it carefully now to make sure all the features of your course will work for your client's desired delivery method: http://www.articulate.com/support/storyline/comparing-storylines-flash-html5-and-articulate-mobile-player-output
Bottom line: planning ahead for your mobile project will save you a lot of hassles later. There is no substitute for doing the homework up front, and arming yourself with a clear understanding of where mobile delivery is at currently, both in the industry, and within Storyline. That will help you ensure that you don't promise your client something impossible to deliver, and that what you do deliver is exactly what you promised, and what they need.
If this answer solves your problem, please mark this entry as the Verified Answer so that others will know this question has been resolved.
Hope this helps!
Andrew
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.