Slides vs. Layers

I can't jump to another slide's layer

I”ll challenge this Dave with a little creative triggering you could 

Ooh!
Like set a variable? And have the other slide watch for it to be set? I need to try this! Thanks! ...or am I chasing ghosts?

dave

No ghost - very rough sample attached

Nicely done! huh! Easy to remember too, now that I've seen it.
I should know better than to use the word "can't" when talking about Articulate!

Oh, another thing I learned today: if you answer an Articulate-based email on your phone, all your signature shows up in here as well. Good to know (lol). I went back and re-read the email - Articulate states that will happen.

thanks, Wendy!

I wonder if this conversation is relevant to my query about the use of layers vs. Scene slides - I want to have learner jump to a slide in another scene. Is this a good use of a scene? How do I hide the scene from the player? 

Hi Kira

You can delete the scene in the menu and it doesn't affect the scene in the story file it just means the user won't see the scene slides to click on them - is that what you mean?

Here is a KB article about working with the menu

YES! That's exactly what I wondered! So any opinion as to whether or not slides vs. layers is better??

Slides will show in the menu - layers will not.

Here, here and here are a few older posts where people discuss which to use when - it's really personal preference and what you are trying to achieve.

If you have a mockup of a file and want some advice you can share it here and people can help you.

Hi Kira
Slides are better when rework is looming on the horizon.
I am finding that, for editing purposes, if I have a lot of topics and subtopics to impart, and there are audio tracks and notes for each, it is easier to locate and see the topics covered, if I go minimal on Layers. The Scene titles and corresponding slide names act like an outline for me in Story View. I don't "see" layers when I am rolling around on the Story View page. Also, like they clarified above, the slide notes are the same for all layers of the slide - no separate notes page for each layer in the slide. I use the notes as a visual for the user, to augment the audio track. Can't easily have different notes for each layer. but... there are always workarounds with Articulate.

Layers are better for...
That being said, layers are super great for temp popups on the slide, with markers for the trigger to show them. I also use a layer with 50(?) % transparency to gray out the background and focus attention on the popup. I use layers to place an unconnected hotspot on objects so "can't touch that" temporarily. And I can have very descriptive layer names that are visible within the slide when editing. Dozens and dozens of layers on a single slide don't appear to phase the operation of runtime at all. Each has strengths.

While I'm talking rework, I am amazed at the beating Articulate will take and still bounce back functional, where I have deleted, moved, copied, pasted, shuffled, renamed (and even accidentally duplicated names - typically a big bad) the layers, slides and scenes without issues. A lessor program would grind to a halt in sorting things, or worse, flat out crash.

Thanks so much for the responses! 

I am having a terrible time with layers and slides.  Why don't my layers appear on my workspace?

Do you mean in the editor Cynthia? Layers are part of a slide so you will only see the slide in Storyview. When editing you will only see the layers once you access them from the slide.