Story size question

Hi Ivor,

Welcome to Heroes, thanks so much for reaching out here! If you haven't stumbled across this already, I would first recommend checking out this article on how to determine the optimal slide size for mobile devices. With aspect ratios, the most common are 4:3 which is fullscreen and 16:9 which is widescreen. As you'll see in that article, we do recommend a 4:3 ratio for best possible viewing on iPads. 1920x1080 is in the 16:9 ratio, so it will fill the screen on an iPhone but may not be the optimal size for viewing on an iPad.

I hope that helps to clarify a bit, please let me know if you have further questions! :)

I think Ivor's question (though initially 'simple') also relates to a more significant concept. How does the story size resolution affect the user experience? This is less about the aspect ratio of different devices than about the actual pixel resolution used.

For example the default resolution for 16:9 in Storyline is 720x405. So what difference does increasing the resolution have on the end user experience for example if I make it 1280x720 (the so called 720p) or even 1920x1080 (1080p full HD)?

One thing you will notice is that Markers are much bigger at lower resolution story sizes and also you need to use smaller fonts. But when published and converted to HTML5 the differences appear negligible.

Any advice on why and when to use higher resolutions? Do images look better if higher resolutions are used for example?

Also does the story size resolution affect output file sizes....in other words can you speed things up by using lower resolutions.

Hi John,

Thanks for reaching out, and excellent questions on story size! Looking back at my response in the other discussion you tagged me in, I do believe that the larger the story size (and pixels), the more bandwidth will be required to load. 

A few takeaways that come to mind on this topic:

1. High-quality course elements: We often recommended using images and videos that don't need to be resized, as shrinking or stretching can cause degradation or blurriness. I'm sure many developers take this into account and often use a larger story size to be able to incorporate high-quality images.
   • Storyline 360: Best Practices for High Quality Images and Videos 
2. Intended Audience: I also think it's important to focus on your target audience and what kind of environment they'll be taking their course in. While I don't have as much experience in this area, our community members can help shed some light.
   • Recommended Story/player size
   • What is The Best Screen Size for e-Learning today?

I appreciate the insight from your perspective and hope these resources provide more detail on how story size is decided!

Thanks Ren...that helped a little.

I have tended to use 16:9 resolutions as the majority of screens are 16:9 these days (apart from the iPad which has always stayed at 4:3). This means that Storyline output makes the most of the screen real estate. 16:9 also has the advantage of allowing for more horizontal space and therefore improved layout options. I normally use 960x540 or 1024x576 as most PCs appear to use either 1366x768 or 1920x1080 (full HD). I also turn scaling ON in the player.

However I have been experimenting with lower resolutions recently, mainly with simpler items such as quizzes or microlearning assets...hence the question.

List of widescreen resolutions here: https://pacoup.com/2011/06/12/list-of-true-169-resolutions/

This site is also good for identifying what screens/devices people have: https://gs.statcounter.com/screen-resolution-stats/desktop/worldwide