Storyline 3 Issues

Hi Victor! 

I'm so sorry to hear your experience with Storyline 3 has been so far less than stellar. Let's tackle each of these roadblocks one by one. 

1. Wipe animation: As Crystal mentioned here, the CD/local output will always use Internet Explorer to play the content. This means that "wipe" animations won't work in your Storyline 3 CD output, which relies on HTML5. This issue did not exist in Storyline 2 because the CD output relied on Flash.
2. Missing fonts warning: Does this only happen when you open older Storyline projects, or does it also happen on projects you newly created? Our Support Team would be happy to take a look at one of the affected files if you don't mind sharing it in a case here.
3. Javascript Certificate: We have a bug in Storyline 3 where the JavaScript function postScore() and getCertificate() is no longer working. Did you use one of those functions in your Javascript code?
4. Display is blurred: I see you also shared this issue in another discussion, and you're using 125% for the display setting. We generally recommend using 100% to prevent blurriness.
5. "Learn more about XXX" error: Do you remember what feature you were looking at when this happened? I clicked the "Learn More" link at the bottom of the publishing window, and it correctly opened the Storyline 3 publishing user guide, as shown below.
   
6. The "Copy Layer" button was removed: You can still copy a layer by right-clicking the layer and selecting Copy. Then, you can paste the layer on another slide. 
   

Let me know if you have any more questions about those items!

Alyssa, I am always glad to see your replies on my discussions.  In this reply, you have pointed out answers to all of my issues.  Note, I did not say solutions!   Thanks to you and all who have replied to my discussions on these items.  I think I will just have to learn to deal with these issues and find work-arounds for those that have not been resolved.

I spent another full day trying to develop a CBT lesson in SL3 that will have the same look, feel and operability in IE as those produced in SL2.  I failed to achieve successful results.  My 3 major clients use Internet Explorer as their corporate browser - that will not change any time in the foreseeable future.  All three clients have run my CBT courses on stand-alone computers in their training rooms and are reluctant to use their unpopular LMS.  Therefore, they have installed my "published for CD" courses from SL2 with no issues. 

I am at a point where I am going to ask for a refund of my SL3 purchase or just put in on the shelf for future use.  SL2 has served me well and I am going to revert back to it as my CBT development tool unless I can find definitive help in producing CBT with SL3 that will run on IE machines. 

To be specific, items 1, 2, 3 and 4 in my list of issues are those that must be resolved in order for me to use SL3.  Sorry, but your answers do not constitute resolution of these items.

Alyssa, let's address these one at a time as you suggested:

1. Wipe animations:  Cannot be produced in SL3 to run as stand-alone in IE.

2. Missing Fonts:  For increased productivity, I used SL2 story files as templates - upgraded SL2 story files to SL3.  I think this is why I get the missing fonts prompt.  I could spend the time to start over and develop a template from scratch.  Bummer

3. Certificates:  My clients love the end of course certificates produced in SL2.  The trainers and trainees print them out as a record of completion of training.  There are numerous discussions on printing certificates but I did not find any that worked well in IE that were produced in SL3.

4. Display Blurred:  I have dual monitors and run ALL of my software at 125%.  I ran SL2 on one monitor and SL3 on the other and the same time.  There is a distinctive difference in the clarity of the display with SL2 crisp and SL3 slightly blurred.  Reducing to 100% results in very small text and a minimal gain in clarity. The reduction in clarity is hard to work with for long periods of time.

That's how I stand on the SL2 vs SL3 issues.  The bottom line is that I cannot produce CBT modules, for my major clients that use IE, using SL3 with the same results as I can with SL2.

Hi Victor, 

I'm sorry to hear the snags continue, and if you do decide that Storyline 3 isn't the right fit for you, please reach out to our Customer Care team here. Let's break down the additional pieces that are crucial for you: 

1. Wipe animations are something that IE and Edge don't support within the HTML5 output, so ultimately you'd need to look at using different animation types. If we hear of any changes within those browsers, we'll let folks know! 

2. For the missing fonts, I don't see any known issues with the templates removing fonts - but as Alyssa mentioned it would help to take a look at those files in question. What fonts are you using? If they're installed on the computer, Storyline 3 should be able to access them the same as Storyline 2. Early on in Storyline 3, that error message would appear but the fonts would still be rendered correctly, that was resolved and our latest build is Storyline 3, 3.5.16548.0.

3. Were you using the Javascript options to create the certificates? Our team is also investigating an issue where the Print results feature (using the report.html file) isn't working in IE's HTML5 output, so I can keep you posted on that bug too in case that would help.

4. With Storyline 2, our UI wasn't hi-dpi aware, and using a setting other than 100% could create a very tiny interface for authors or elements to be misplaced. It was something we heard a lot of customer feedback on, so with Storyline 3 and Storyline 360 the team redesigned it to allow for different display settings, but with that folks could see a difference in clarity. It's an area our team is keeping an eye on and continuing to look for ways to refine it. 

My larger concern with you returning to an exclusive use of Storyline 2, is that Flash support by the major browsers will be ending in 2020 and Internet Explorer will be removing Flash. Storyline 2's HTML5 output isn't supported in IE11 or Edge. So that would leave you stuck again in a short time. That may be a larger discussion with your clients, walking them through options to prepare for a Flash-free future. 

Let me know if I can help with anything else! 

I commend you and Alyssa on your quest to provide help for my situation.  You have both explained the incompatibility errors associated with running local versions of SL3 published CBT in Internet Explorer.  I think my options are:

1. Look at alternative methods to achieve the "wipe" annimation effects.  I have no easy alternatives in mind at this time.  What are your suggestions?
2. Some methods have been posted in the community forum that may work to print a certificate from an LMS in IE.  So, I could publish the CBT lessons for LMS using SL3 and convince my clients to install the CBT  on their corporate servers.  This will avoid the potential Flash-free errors in the future.
3. Continue to publish for CD using SL2 and let the chips fall where they may when Flash is abandoned by IE.

Options 1 and 2 will require additional work for me and the client.  Option 3 will maintain the status quo until Flash is abandoned (maybe 1-2 years).  Do you (or anyone else) have any other options for producing CBT with SL3 for clients using IE?

Thank you for your time. I appreciate your efforts very much.

-Vic

Missing Fonts Issue Resolved:

Upon checking the fonts on every slide in the story files that I upgraded from SL2 to SL3, I found there were several slides that had the "missing fonts" (hevetica).  I changed the font to Arial which is nearly identical.  I no longer get the missing fonts prompt when opening the story file with SL3. Yeh!

Is there a way to search a file for a specific font?

Hi, Victor! 

You asked for suggested alternatives for the Wipe animation. As long as you shy away from using the animations listed in this article, you're free to select any others. 

I'm so glad to hear you were able to resolve the missing fonts mystery! While there isn't a way to search a file for a specific font, you can use the Replace Fonts feature.

FANTASTIC!  Alyssa, that works great to find and replace missing fonts!  As for the other major issues, I have found solutions to nearly all of them with a lot of help from you and the folks here on the forum.  Many thanks to you all.  I think I will keep the purchased version of SL3 and continue to learn how to use its new features.