Storyline 360 users: What are your localization pain points?

Hi Alison, I am sure others will have loads to add for a start

• CCs are a real pain to export and reimport. 
• Repeated text strings in the text because of strings this costs money to translate
• Would be much better to have one file that user selects the language on
• Sometimes translations do not reimport
• XLIFF should work but many times does not so we resort to the Word file but most translation agencies are cheaper ion you use XLIFF which never reimports
• Variables and References can get translated
• Hyperlinks often break when you import a translation file
• Font sizes and colours change (not as often now but still happens)
• The import reports strings not translated but these should be highlighted some how, it is time consuming to check and never find them.
• I should be able to check a box to exclude notes from the translation

My company has the survey blocked.  

I'd like to have a pane that lists each element/item on the timeline showing the exact time of entrance and exit of animations. I hate working with cue points. If I know the exact times, I should be able to enter them. 

If we can't enter the exact times, then at least have the option of locking the audio at the top of a Storyline timeline.  This would make it so much easier when I'm syncing slides that have a lot of elements and animations.  I image it would be similar to locking a header row in a table or freezing a pane in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a former teammate who use to change his monitor from landscape to portrait; however, that isn't a solution for me. 

We have a lot of older courses that require maintenance. It's the syncing of audio that takes the most time. 

This is how you (Articulate) can best leverage AI. Look at what companies like "HeyGen" are already doing. I upload a video of myself talking in English (a "talking head" video) to their website (or, in Storyline, I'd want to be able to drop a video on a slide). 

Then I select what language I want (for example, Spanish).

That's it. That's all I have to do. HeyGen automatically:

• Creates an AI clone of my voice based on what it hears in the video I uploaded
• AI transcribes what I say in the video
• AI translates the English transcription into Spanish
• Reads the translated transcription using AI text-to-speech with my AI-cloned voice so it sounds like I am speaking the target language (Spanish, in this case)
• AI adjusts the lips in my video so that they now sync up with the Spanish-speaking AI voice clone, completing the illusion that I am speaking Spanish.

Add to this some other AI-powered processes to take the Spanish transcription and use it to create timed closed-caption files synced with the new Spanish audio.

While you're at it, have a different voice generate an audio description of whatever is happening in the video (this is for accessibility purposes).

In other words, nearly everything in the localization and accessibility workflows should be AI-powered and automatic. As soon as I put any media on a Storyline slide, closed captions, translations (if I so desire), audio descriptions of visuals, secondary audio tracks, etc. should all be generated automatically and in the background. For images, ALT tags should be auto-generated.

This would be a HUGE time saver. And I think most of the technology to do this already exists.

• Automatic all audio replacement would be a game changer. It takes a lot of time to replace each single recording in the course.

Please let me know if there is a solution that will allow me to replace all recordings with one click

I'd like to add another item. I'd love it if the photo library could include a filter for "find more pictures like this." Often the photographer will take a series of photos at the same location or using the same subjects. If the keywords are not the same for every photo they might not all come up in the search. I recently used a series of four photos using the same couple and what I am calling their insurance agent. It took a lot of effort to find them. But it made the project look more cohesive. 

I think one of my big pain points if not having the closed captions exported together with the rest of the text for translation. I often embed small videos made with Camtasia in my projects that contain audio. I use Storyline to show the captioning - it's actually easier to work with captions in Storyline than Camtasia, in my opinion - although Camtasia made some recent improvements with their captioning, that may cause me to change my mind...

Normally when producing multiple language courses, I have the "master" in English, and export the project for translation to Word. When I get the translation back, I make a copy of the original English language project and then import the translation. I will then create a new scene in the "master" with the translated slides, and from there make an interaction where the user will select their preferred language. Maybe there's an easier way, but this is how I'm working.

In addition, I love the idea of having the Storyline UI follow the selected language.

Thank You for a good news :)

Sure thing! I can help you craft a survey to gather insights on localization needs. for more insights, please click on Jazz Internet Packages What specific questions would you like to include in the survey?

• Multilanguage CC option that learners can choose their language of preference. 
• Looping Emphasizing animations on objects (how is this still not a thing).
  Set it once, and for example, it keeps blinking or pulsating until the end of the timeline of the object. 

The biggest pain point I have encountered was when I exported the xliff from 20 RIse courses, and then sent them away to be translated.

In the meantime I had created 6 copies of each course, one for each language variant, ready to update with the transalted xliff files.

Unfortunately, when I tried to import the xliff files back in to each course, it became evident that this wasn't possible. Instead I should have created my duplicate courses first, then exported each individual xliff file from them. So instead of generating 20 xliff files, that would have required me to generate 120, which seemed like unecessary work. 

The work around I had to use was a major headache, as I had to start with my English version, then import a new language xliff in to it, before creating a dupliacte course to save the updates. I then had to return to my English version for each and every module/language, which cost me an awful lot of time that I hadn't factored in to my costs.

On reflection, the documentation made clear the process I should have followed, but my original method seemed so logical to me that I didn't consider that it wouldn't work.

If I was to change one thing in that process, it would be to allow me to export a single xliff per course, then have it be compatible for import back in to copies of the original.