Storyline 2 for Digital Publishing?
Sep 17, 2015
Hey, everyone,
I've typically used Storyline (like most) to develop eLearning course content, but my company is looking for something and they want to know if I can develop it with SL. Of course I can deliver their wish lists of functionality, but I want to make sure I'm using the right tool. (The fav. isn't always the best to use.)
I'm wondering if anyone has any insight or experience using Storyline for digital publishing. Imagine I want to create an encyclopedia of eight volumes. Imagine a cover page, then a table of contents, and then a section for each letter of the alphabet like good ol' World Book. For the 21st century, I want to be able to link from one place to another within the content, or to a URL. I want hot spots and shadow boxes and embedded audio/video...and I want a bunch of folks to be able to access this from an iPad. In fact, I really want to know who has accessed the various pieces of this set. Who watched this video? Who launched this audio?
My LMS is the only place where all of my end users have an account and password already so I have built-in protection for my proprietary content. (Other than its design coolness) that's what makes SL so tempting as a solution.
1. Is SL a practical tool for this?
2. Do I need Tin Can API for my LMS?
3. Will the Mobile app be able to manage this digital content (i.e. space, rendering correctly)?
4. Will my content be secure (i.e. no one can get the file downloaded to my iPad and share it with others)?
Caveat: this project is proprietary so the encyclopedia concept is just a tool to communicate my needs for the project. ;)
10 Replies
Hi, Kathryn -- Thanks for your questions, and hopefully fellow members of the community are able to chime in with their thoughts and input! I also wanted to mention that you are welcome to post over in the Building Better Courses forum as well. Best of luck with your project! :)
Thanks, Christie. I have one piece to add. I'm leaning toward putting this project in Storyline but I'm wondering about offline viewing of the content. Down the road, I'm hoping for Tin Can/Experience API to give me analytics like who watched this video, who launched this audio. However, I'm also wanting users to be able to view the content offline if they don't have WiFi at a given time. I'm wondering if the "course" will send this data when WiFi is restored - that would be ideal. The best of both words, you know.
Hi Kathryn,
You can let learners download Articulate Storyline courses for offline viewing in the Articulate Mobile Player app. However, the Available Offline switch won't work for Tin Can API content. The Articulate Mobile Player app requires an Internet connection to track Tin Can API content in a learning management system (LMS).
Without a lot of direction or input here, I decided to just dive in and see what I can do. Well I didn't make it far without hitting a snag that leaves me fearing this might not be the tool for the job. Alas! There are so many reasons why Storyline would be amazing to publish my content, but I can't seem to figure out a way to connect text boxes to flow across one another like in desktop publishing software. So DTP software can't handle the interactivity I want and Storyline [appears to not] handle the text I want to publish.
Does anyone have any input on using Storyline 2 for desktop publishing?
Ugh. Then there's an even bigger hurdle. It doesn't seem like I can print a page. Am I trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Crashing and burning with this idea...
Hi Kathryn,
In regards to your textbox element do you mean continuing the text from one slide to the next? There isn't a way to set that up, as it'll be dependent on the text boxes you place on the slide itself. Have you looked instead at using a scrolling panel to display a large amount of text on one slide?
As for printing, if you need to print a screen capture or particular slide, you'll need to set this up using Javascript which although it's not something i can offer support for, you can begin by reviewing the directions and best practices here for using Javascript.
No, it's like putting copy in a course. Imagine two columns, one linked to the next. Then the right column is linked to the left column on the next page. If I add something in the middle of the left text box on the first page, it pushes the text through to fit.
What I'm trying to figure out is how to do digital publishing with interaction and (hopefully) tracking of user access that can be housed on our LMS to which our learners have access. Software like InDesign gives the copy functionality but can't be tracked through an LMS; Storyline can provide everything...except that copy functionality (including printing. :/
This conundrum reminds me of how people use PowerPoint for more than presentations. They can create documents as well so they get the best of both worlds, so to speak. Does that make sense?
Hi Kathryn,
Ah, thanks for clarifying. There isn't a set up in Storyline to have the text flow from slide to slide as it's specific to each individual slide and text box.
Maybe this will give you some ideas, as it's set up as a digital magazine and there was an E-Learning Challenge some time ago that also touched on this type of set up.
That was really, REALLY helpful, Ashley! I'm exploring other options for this particular project, but it gave me a great visual to explain to others in case they want to shift the paradigm of what we're doing. Thank you.
Glad that'll help Kathryn!
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