Scrolling panel - scroll bar format

Dec 05, 2023

Brendt Waters
By Brendt Waters

The scroll bar in a scrolling panel looks "classic" (the way that scroll bars have looked for decades) in the StoryLine file -- a wide bar and up/down arrows at the top/bottom to further indicate "scroll here" (see attached insl.jpg).

But when I preview or publish it, the scroll bar morphs into this skinny thing with no up/down arrows at the top/bottom (see attached prepub.jpg).

It's not a classic template vs modern template thing. And in fact, the previewed/published version used to look the same (this may have been in SL3 rather than SL360). This seems like it's just a violation of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

A large chunk of my student base is elderly, technophobic, or both. Is there a way to format the scroll bar to the "classic" way that is (1) more familiar to them and (2) easier to manipulate?

11 Replies
Eric Santos
5 months ago12/06/23 at 1:39 pm (UTC)

Hello Brendt,

Thanks for reaching out, and I appreciate you providing a detailed description of your request! I understand you need your Scrolling Panel scroll bar to look like the one in your project's preview and published output.

Unfortunately, we don't currently offer this feature where you can change how the scroll bars look in the project's preview and published output. However, we are tracking a feature request for the same scroll bar style from the edit mode to the preview or published output. I added your vote to it, and we'll reach out to you as soon as this feature is added to Storyline 360.

Renee Y
5 months ago12/08/23 at 1:22 pm (UTC)

Adding my vote! I don't want to 'customize' it - I just want the option to use a standard-looking, universally-recognizable one.

The 'modern' scrollbar might be fine for a cute little activity, but it is not universally user-friendly enough to use with important must-see content or compliance training.

When viewing content in a browser, users expect a scrollbar that matches a standard browser scrollbar. I'd rather learners spend their cognitive energy on the contents of the scrolling panel, than on trying to figure out how to use it. Or worse, not see all the content because they didn't realize it scrolled. A basic UI component like a scrollbar shouldn't require instructions. 

The narrow width is also a dexterity issue for users who don't use a scrollwheel or use a pen. 

We've been using web objects as a workaround, but those are time consuming and aren't 508-friendly. 

Brendt Waters
5 months ago12/08/23 at 6:28 pm (UTC)

Every last word of what Renee said. We don't want customization at all -- not even the customization that this skinny version is. This was a major violation of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

The fact that even the Preview changes it means that someone had to intentionally code that at some point (it can't be blamed on the browsers).

Caren Price
5 months ago12/08/23 at 7:08 pm (UTC)

Yes Renee put it well.  I agree we need something that looks like a typical scroll bar, and I don't necessarily need to customize, but maybe it could be a few options?  Maybe a light option and a dark option, maybe one a bit wider or a "modern" version.  The ONLY option now is way to thin and unobtrusive, so unobtrusive that users don't realize it's a scroll bar. And like Brendt mentioned, does not look like the preview. 

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