SL360 issue when opening via phone

Feb 14, 2017

Hi all,

Recently installed SL360, and published a course that had originally been built in SL2. The published output includes Articulate Player compatibility.

As a test, after publishing the course and posting to our Amazon S3 server, we created a web link to run the course. When accessed on a phone, the course does not open in the mobile browser, but instead directs the user to download the Articulate Player app to view the content.

This is unacceptable, as the phone version of the Player app has been completely unreliable, and we can't recommend this solution to our clients. I uninstalled the app from my phone a while ago, due to its problems.

So then...how do you publish SL360 content so it can be viewed in the mobile browser if desired (like on a phone), yet also have the ability to open/download in Articulate Player? For instance, if I'd prefer to view content via browser on my phone, but via the app on my tablet.

Any help/insight is appreciated!
Thanks,
Dave

9 Replies
Leslie McKerchie

Hey Dave - Well, I will admit I'm learning everyday and I'm not a big Android user :) With that being said, based on some colleague testing, it does appear that the Articulate Mobile Player does run on Android phones. Our documentation here mentions that it's optimized for tablets on Android devices, but it does install on phones I'm learning. The iPhone does not, which is what my initial test was on.

That being said, it does not assist in your initial question as you will not be able to designate with regards to Android devices (tablet vs phone) it seems. Would publishing just to HTML5 and viewing in a supported browser work for your tablet viewers as well?

Dave Chace

Unfortunately not. We need a solution that offers both options from a single link. Those with the app installed can open the content in the app if they choose, while others who don't have the app can either opt to install the app, or view the content in their browser.

One follow up note--I'm particularly concerned about steering the user towards the phone version of the Player app. The app has a record of horrible performance (which I've experienced personally--had to uninstall it from my phone); and in speaking directly with Articulate leadership about this, my understanding is that there are no real plans to improve this.

This creates a serious conundrum for us, whereby the only way our clients can view the mobile content we create with SL360 on their phones is by using an app that doesn't work. As you can imagine, this reflects poorly on us.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Dave,

Thank you for sharing that insight here with us, and I hope I can clear up a few things. The Articulate Mobile player app was something you could use on a tablet such as an iPad but it wasn't something that was available or supported for an iPhone and was optimized for Android tablets vs. the phone as Leslie mentioned. So although courses were opening in the Android phone within the mobile player, the experience wasn't what we had designed for.  

The new 360 responsive player was designed to ensure the mobile output would be well designed and consistent across devices and alot of that was driven based on feedback about our existing HTML5 output and the Articulate Mobile player. The new responsive player is our answer to ensure that mobile content works and plays as expected and that you wouldn't need to use a specialized player (unless you were including things such as an FLV file type, which won't work in HTML5). Now you mentioned needing to have users be able to access the HTML5 content and the Articulate Mobile player content - and I know with Storyline2 that was often the case based on a few known issues with published output/methods on particular devices - are you still seeing this as an issue in Storyline 360 if you did not include the option for the Articulate Mobile player? From our perspective there wouldn't be a need to include it, unless as mentioned it was particular video types - and if you have a situation we haven't thought of I'd love to discuss that with you further. Feel free to keep the discussion going here in the Community forums or I can reach out to you offline.

Dave Chace

Hi Ashley

I'm happy to discuss this in more detail offline. In short, we need both options because our client's audience is comprised of hundreds of independent business people; some of whom will view the content via their tablet, and others via their phone. 

For those with tablets, we've recommended they install the Player app, so the content works smoothly and can run locally from their device. However, for those who'll be using phones (which is a significant number - they simply don't use tablets on the job), we need the content to run smoothly in their phone's browser.

Creating two separate links (one for phones, the other for tablets) would create confusion and reflect poorly on our client, who is aiming to deliver a seamless solution to their network of users.

As I mentioned, I'm happy to discuss--please feel free to give me a call at your convenience. This is an issue that I would surmise is not specific to us, but other developers as well--particularly those who work outside the enterprise environment.

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