Storyline 3 and HTML5 publishing issues in IE11
Aug 01, 2018
My company has requested that we start updating all our outputs to HTML5, but still uses IE11, and I have been plagued with a plethora of recurring issues, especially on software simulations, that cause IE11 crashes and other dysfunction. Here are a few of the most invasive issues, that I haven't seen too much in other posts and occur in a dozen or more of my files, and I wonder if anyone has also had them or have any viable solutions.
- My BIGGEST problem is that the buttons on slides or layers with audio break every time I edit the file (some need monthly updates) causing an IE11 crash and requiring me to recreate one from scratch and then copy and paste it and reprogram and time it into every occurrence of buttons in the course (some have been replaced 4 times). I have several software simulations that have mocked drop-downs and this can mean that 100s of buttons, sometimes in scrolling panels, need replacement.
- Hotspots completely randomly crash IE11 with no means to identify issues before publishing and QCing the published files.
- All state changes blink significantly and don't transition smoothly. I really don't want to replace state changes with additional images, that's the POINT of state changes.
- Markers that are initially hidden don't function properly. Randomly the fly-outs don't appear on hover, in flash output I solved this by making a 'fake hide' state that had the marker deleted, but in HTML5 output this doesn't work as the underlying animations (pulse/swirl) show.
- Initially I thought that advanced triggers weren't working at all in HTML5 but after much troubleshooting I found that HTML5 is just a horrific multi-tasker. What I ended up having to do to make them function is create delays (i.e. some triggers happening at .25, some at .5 etc.) and/or intermediary processing layers. I also found that any button that went to a slide, that had a trigger at the beginning of the slide, had to have that trigger delayed to .25 to avoid crashes.
These issues are hugely time consuming and making Storyline look like a time and money waster to my company which is pushing harder for use of other development tools to deal with the flash end of life issue.
8 Replies
Hi there, Jenn. First, let me acknowledge how frustrating it sounds like your job has become. I'm sorry you're in such a difficult position. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to give you a hand where we can.
At first glance, two of the issues you listed are on our radar. We are investigating objects that flicker with a state change, as well as markers that don't work when revisiting the slide if the initial state is hidden (both in HTML5 output, but not specific to IE). I'm going to add your discussion to those reports immediately so you'll get notified about those issues. ✅
The buttons issue, your biggest problem, sounds like the worst time sink. When you save your projects, are they stored directly onto your C: drive? If so, do you have a file to share that we could test? When you do, please provide the steps you take to cause the problem to occur (as best as you can).
You mentioned IE not handling slides with complex triggers in the HTML5 output. This is another great situation that we would love to test. I recommend sharing a separate file with us that demonstrates the type of 'advanced trigger' setup that is causing IE to crash. We know that IE isn't the most highly rated when it comes to handling HTML5 output, but we still expect what you build with our tools to work. We're happy to take a closer look at what's happening!
This file was chock full of proprietary information so I had to delete every image and audio piece (I think the audio can be responsible for the button crashes sometimes though) but I think I removed everything while still maintaining the button, hotspot, and marker errors. This course (series of 14) is the most problematic for me.
Since there isn't audio to tell you, on the scrolling page you'll need to click each marker (on the initially hidden ones you'll notice randomly missing flyouts) then you'll go to the practice which randomly can crash on any page and during any task in HTML5, there really hasn't been any rhyme or reason to it, which has made it very problematic to troubleshoot.
Hi Jenn,
Thanks for sharing your file. I published it using Storyline 3 Update 4, and you can view that here. After going through it a few times in Chrome and IE11, I couldn't get it to crash. Can you give my version a try and let me know how it behaves for you?
Seems to be working for me too. I did a fresh install of Storyline a few weeks ago when these problems started, so it isn't more than a month old, should I reinstall again? Do you think it may be related to custom fonts? Or any other ideas?
Hi Jenn,
Could it have been the audio that you removed? If you'd like to share a copy of that with us privately, you can always upload and share with our Support team here.
I didn't notice any custom fonts in your previous file, but I also wouldn't think that they'd crash Storyline repeatedly. You could try repairing it if you feel like there may have been other things installed that could have impacted Storyline's install.
Also, some other general best practices for working on Storyline files are detailed here, so I'd be sure to follow along with those.
Hey Jenn. Just a quick update...I'm excited to let you know that we just released update 5 for Storyline 3! It includes new features and fixes - check them all out here.
One of the fixes addresses an issue where objects were flickering when changing state in the HTML5 output.
Here’s where you can download and install the latest version of Storyline 3. Let me know how that impacts the flickering, or if you're finding other issues resolved as well!
Ashley - I had tested publish of this story on my own PC before I sent it and it still had all the crashing issues, so I knew it must have been related to something that was still in the file. Although most of my issues are solved, I am still having some. It seems like the storyline install was fast, is it referencing a history file or anything that I can delete to do a completely clean install?
I still had the random button and hotspot crashes despite a new install and upgrade, and I troubleshot it for some time and finally noticed that in each instance where it crashed the NEXT slide had a caption that faded in at the start of the timeline. I simply moved these to start at .25 rather than the start and the crashing stopped.
Hi Jenn,
You could search your computer for the Storyline.exe file (that's the installation file) and delete it. Once you've deleted it you could download a new copy by visiting the Downloads page and logging in with your Articulate ID.
That would be the best way to ensure you have a clean, new, up to date installation of Storyline.
Interesting find on the caption fade. It sounds like you've got a method that'll work for you but if you need us to take a look feel free to share a copy of that .story file with us here!
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