Restricting the Slider so it only moves one spot at a time
Jun 30, 2023
Does anyone know if it is possible to restrict how far the learner can drag a slider as they go through each layer? I have a slide set up with a slider that controls multiple layers. I have already disabled the slider during the narration of each layer by adding a disabled transparent shape over it, but during user testing, we discovered that it’s possible to drag the slider all the way to the end from the start, skipping all of the layers.
I added clear directions on where to stop the slider, but my concern is that because I have variables and triggers set up to disable the navigation until the learner has seen the entire slide, the Next button won’t work if they drag the slider all the way over from the start and skip the layers. The only thing I can think of to do is completely disable the slider and use triggers to move it automatically, which is an idea I severely dislike as it goes against the entire reason I designed it to be interactive in the first place. But I just don’t know if it’s possible to force the slider to stop in one place for one layer, then another place on another layer, and so on.
I found this post here in the community (Advanced Slider Properties? - Articulate Storyline Discussions - E-Learning Heroes) and followed the suggestion to duplicate the slider on each layer and set each slider to use the same variable so that all the sliders have their thumb at the same spot. But I am still able to force the slider over beyond the first spot even with this setup. I tried changing the setting to update the variable after the learner stops dragging, but it actually worked a little better when set to “while the slider is dragged,” as there seems to be a bit more resistance to moving to the next spot on the slider.
The attached file is a stripped-down version of the one from my course, and it is based on a slider template I found here in the community. Please help!
2 Replies
This is about the easiest way I can think of to do it. But I recommend you take a look at the other option. Accessibility is not always good with sliders, and everybody can struggle with them on touch screens.
Besides, it took three or four times as long to change the original as it did to create the new option.
Thank you, Walt. I really appreciate you taking the time to help find a solution. I continued to work on it after writing this post, and I am 99.9% sure that I found a workaround that keeps the original visual design.
I mentioned in my post that I created an individual slider for each layer to try a method I read about here, but even using different sliders per layer still allowed the learner to skip layers if they kept dragging it. What I did was shorten each slider to make the total length equal to the length the thumb of the slider moves on each layer. Since my original version had a transparent track for the slider and used shapes below it to simulate the track, it wasn't difficult to line them up on each layer to give the appearance of it being one slider.
After adjusting the triggers for moving through the layers to that of the new shortened slider for each layer, as well as adjusting the value of the slider for when the trigger shows the next layer, I finally got it to work!
Granted, this was way more work than I planned, so this isn't normally the method I would consider using, but since the course is otherwise completed and already sent out for extra-departmental review, it was less hassle to do what it takes to make it look the same in this situation.
In case anyone else finds this workaround to be of value to them, I put together a few screenshots that show what I did with the slide.
Restrict Slider Workaround