Published Course "hangs itself up/freezes"
Jun 07, 2017
Hey everybody,
I've got some serious problems with my two last published courses in Storyline 2.
The issue is that it just "hangs itself up" ( I hope you understand what I mean, I just don't know a better way to describe it". After I published the course in our LMS many employees are complaining that they can't finish their exercises because the course just stops and they can't get forwards or backwards either.
Normally I would say some of my settings in Storyline must be wrong - but before I published the course for everybody I tried it myself on different devices. I tried it on my smartphone (Samsung A5), on my private laptop (Microsoft), on my PC at work (Microsoft) and on one of the iPads that we provide to our employees so that everybody has the same opportunity to finish the courses. And it worked just fine.
But now there are these problems and the strange thing is that they even occur on the iPad which I used to test the course.
I thougt that somehow the issues might be connected to the user profiles in our LMS, but if I use on of the user accounts which had problems with the course and try to do it on one of my devices it works just fine.
So I'm really really confused and don't know what to do anymore. We have about 450 employees and I already know from 25 employees that they have these problems - than on the other side I know that more than 200 employees had not these issues and finished the courses without any problem.
I already contacted our LMS adminstrator but he couldn't deliver a solution so far.
So I'm glad for any ideas and tipps of you.
Thank you guys!
Best wishes,
Ramona
12 Replies
Hi Ramona
We have an issue with random freezes that I'm still working on.
One thing that definitely helped is using Google Chrome, the problem is much worse for us in Internet explorer.
I'm currently looking at a combination of our network performance and the slow processors in the laptops used by the majority of learners.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
thank you for your reply.
I know from one user that he had the same Problems with Google Chrome, but maybe that was the exception. I will advise the other users to try it with Chrome.
I think the majority of them uses Safari.
I really hope the problem can be fixed soon.
Ramona
Hi Ramona,
Do you know if it's the HTML5 or Flash output that the one user saw in Chrome? Also what version of Storyline are you using?
For Jeremy's thought here: I'm currently looking at a combination of our network performance and the slow processors in the laptops used by the majority of learners.
Have you looked to see if it happens every time those users access the course, or if they have any other programs or items running in the background that could be slowing their connection?
Hi Ashley,
thank you for you reply. I'm afraid that the user does not know if it was Flash or HTML5. Most of our users aren't that deep in technology, so I'm already glad when they are able to finish a course without Problems.
I am using the latest version of Storyline. I guess it's 12. At least there aren't any updates available.
Hi Ramona,
An easy way to differentiate Flash vs. HTML5 content is the end of the url. Flash would appear as story.html and HTML5 would appear as story_html5.html.
Also, you could have the user check if they have flash installed in the browser - visiting the Adobe site is a good option. I also did a quick web search about "do I have flash in my browser" and that recognized that I was viewing in Chrome to direct me here: https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/enabling-flash-player-chrome.html
Let us know if other users are running into it or you figure out any more info on they're set up!
Hi Ashley,
I talked to the user - the output that she saw was Flash.
It seems that Google Chrome really works fine for most users, but it's a bit complicated to explain them why they should use this browser instead of Safari on their iPads because this is what they usually do.
On an iPad you should absolutely feel free to use Safari! Safari and iPads will default to showing the HTML5 output if you included it. If you didn't choose that as an option when publishing than those users wouldn't be able to see the courses on their mobile devices.
Hi Ramona,
Safari is a support browser on iPad--Safari in Apple iOS 7 and later for Storyline 2, and Safari in Apple iOS 8 and later for Storyline 360. Of the users who have reported freezing in Safari, do you know what iOS version they are using?
Hi Ashley,
I used to use Safari on iPads and for me it always worked fine, that's why I didn't understand why others had problems with it. I included the HTML5 Output.
Hi Alyssa,
the users used version iOS 9 or upwards. So it should work without problems, but unfortunately thats not the case. The funny thing is that some of the employees which share an iPad can do the course without problems while it freezes when other users try to do the course.
Regards,
Ramona
Hi Ramona,
Hm, so some users are accessing it on the same iPad and it'll freeze for some and not others? What version of the iPad are you using? There are some inherent limitations of mobile safari, especially on older iPads and you'll see that described a bit more here.
For those users who experience the course "freezing" are they able to force close out of the course and other running/open applications? That should free up some of the iPad memory and help with playback.
I am having the same issues with the courses seemingly 'freezing up'. I am commenting on this thread because I have a specific question on Ashley's feedback above. I am telling users to run the course in Chrome (Storyline 360 html5 file), is it a requirement that they have flash installed? Also, will the course potentially 'freeze up' if other applications are running? I am having the same issues with a course running our LMS, a course being viewed in Review 360 and running a html5 link in Chrome. Any help is most appreciated.
Hi Kelli!
If you're publishing with HTML5 only, no need to have Flash installed in the Chrome browsers! Are you viewing all these courses on your desktop or on a mobile device?
Also, it sounds like this one course is freezing - not all your courses? Does it freeze in the same spot consistently? There may be something on that one slide which is causing difficulty loading. If you are able to include the Review 360 Share link here I'm happy to give it a test.
I'd also suggest checking that you'd published this course with our latest update, Storyline 360, build 3.29.19305.0.
Keep me posted on that and if you're able to share a copy here with us!
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