Revealing hidden button only after two web objects are clicked

Andrew,

Quick Ideas/Thoughts:

1. Use the custom continue course button that is initially hidden.  Add two buttons that each launch one of the PDFs in the new window.  Clicking on both changes state of continue course button to normal.

2. You could have the PDFs embedded on two slides.  So learner reaches the end of the course and there is a PDF embedded on slide 1.  Slide 1 doesn't have a next button, but rather, an "accept" button with a message next to it that says "by clicking this button you acknowledge your receipt and viewing and acceptance and sign your life to us...."  clicking the button takes you to slide 2 where PDF 2 is embedded with a similar button that then takes you to the final slide.  (embed PDF)

Hope this gives you some food for thought.

Mike

Hey, Mike--Thanks for the reply.  Since you're staff, I'm going to assume given your response that I'm correct in my discovery that Web Objects cannot be used as triggers.  Shall I put that in as a feature request, or is it something not physically possible?  I think that functionality could be very useful.

Having realized that limitation on using Web Objects, I already built my client sample last night with the two PDFs linked to buttons on one slide; I don't want to make learners slog through two slides to read both documents--a subtle psychological difference, I know, but I think it will feel less onerous to get it all out of the way on one slide.  And yes, I suggested some acknowledgment/certification language, but interestingly, the client felt that was too much. So the way I have it built, they click the two buttons, then the Complete This Course button appears, and they can reach the last page of the course, which sends the Completed status back to their LMS.  I'll be testing a dummy file in this format with the client's Success Factors LMS to make sure the extra window launches don't cause any problems.

In speaking with the client today, my SME showed me that for another course, another vendor (building in Flash, not using Storyline) allowed them to have learners scroll through entire (sigh) multi-page documents within the course frame, and print from a button on the custom menu.  I demonstrated that while Storyline offers the options of both Scrolling Panels and Web Objects for embedding text on a slide, the print functionality was not available this way.  I pointed out that these days, most clients don't encourage the wastefulness of printing and steered them to the Resources tab as a supplemental way to offer the documents (and print if necessary) from their network. I also noted that while offering the document in that way may satisfy their auditors, realistically very, very few learners will be interested in stopping to read an eight page document at the tail end of something advertised as brief eLearning.  So telling them where the document lives on their own site is going to be more meaningful to them.  

Andrew,

That is correct regarding the web object.  I think it would be difficult to use it as a piece of a trigger given that it's really just a window to show something (a web site, a PDF file, etc.).  The question would be, how do you incorporate it into a trigger?  For example, a button can be clicked to fire a trigger, but what is the mechanism of action in relation to the web object?  Does the learner click inside it?

I think this behavioral action would be the piece to add into a feature request.  And I'd love to hear what you're thinking on the mechanism of action...

Mike

Hi again!  Yes, since the Web Object properties offer the option of launching either Automatically or When Clicked, I originally assumed that if one chose to click on the Object to load it, then the Object should also be usable as a trigger, like any other clickable object.

Andrew...

I see.  So a feature request to target the web object "when clicked"...

However, wouldn't my first suggestion of using a button to launch the URLs still work in a similar manner?  If you're looking to launch the web objects in new windows, I'm trying to understand the difference between the learner clicking, say a screenshot of the PDF, or a button with the PDF name versus the web object in launch when clicked mode?

Mike

Hi, Mike!  Thanks for your follow-up.  Yes, in my first note, I indicated that I already knew that I could launch from buttons or hyperlinks.    I was just surprised to find that the Web Object widget wouldn't offer the same trigger option, that's all; this was my first chance to try the Web Object widget.  I figured it would behave the way the other slide objects did, but now I know that's not the case.

I learned today that the client doesn't love the launching in a new window approach in any form, as historically some of their learners have also accidentally close themselves out of the course itself when closing the pop-up windows.  So today I built them a sample with the Web Object embedded, and they like that.  In the test I did today on my own server, I saw the floating Acrobat Reader menu with Save and Print on the Object, which the client will love.  So, this approach will avoid the pop-up window issue and will allow the learner to scroll through the 8(!) page document as much (or little) as they want.  Then I put an Acknowledge button on the next slide (actually a Hotspot quiz question where the button is the correct answer) that will pass back completion status to their LMS.  As you noted, it's ended up getting spread over more than one slide, but they've decided they'd rather do that than risk pop-up windows.

I do still think that if a developer wants to put a Web Object on a page, it should be possible that launching it by clicking could trigger another action on the slide, that's all.  Not a showstopper, obviously, but I can still see that being worthwhile as an option.

By the way--I also noted in playing with the Web Object function that if you switch from "When Clicked" to "Automatically" as the loading instruction, the function of the Object doesn't necessarily update, even after saving the file; mine continued to insist on launching in a separate window even after I changed the instruction and saved.  I had to delete the Object, insert a new one, and specify Automatically before it would stay within my slide.  I don't know if anyone else has run across that, but it happened on both of my test slides.

Thanks again for your replies!