I have the latest version of Storyline 360. I published multiple e-learning modules in HTML 5 for my client. The text (Open Sans font) is not rendering correctly, and multiple letters are missing. I can't duplicate the problem on my end, but the client is seeing the issue on multiple machines. The only difference is a slight variation in the IE version number. The client is using IE version 11.576.14393.0. I am using IE version 11.540.15063.0.
The attached PowerPoint file includes some screen shots showing the issues.
1st issue here but with Studio 360 (Presenter and Quizmaker). All text displays in font that appears to be Times New Roman. Very ugly looking content and very angry customer. Changing font to Arial doesn't help. Can't switch browser (corporative standard), can't use Flash (corporative standard because of security issues). Font downloads already enabled. Any solution yet? It's been a while...
I appreciate you reaching out here! Really sorry you're running into this snag with your font. Since you also reached out in this thread, let's keep the conversation going there!
It may be worthwhile holding some form of webinar regarding the phase out of Flash. Just something to help eLearning development people be prepared for this transition.
I just discovered this thread we have the same issue.....no matter what font we use it comes out Times Roman with spacing issues. We are on government standard image and cannot use anything but IE 11 (Edge won't handle certificates} I have tried it on IE 11 where I can enable upload fonts and it works. We have spent a lot to move to SL3 because we have to get rid of the FLASH before it goes away. This doesn't happen in SL2 you can go into the manifest on a SCO and point it to the HTML5 page and courses will play in HTML5.....so why does it work in SL2 but not in SL3?
Need to know if Articulate intends to fix this as we have a lot of components that are going to purchase SL3 and I will need to advise them to hold off as this is totally useless as is.
Hi there, Philip. I hate for you to feel like your Storyline output is useless because of the font issue. So that I'm clear, you mentioned that you "can enable upload fonts and it works." Are you referring to the solutions in this article?
We are still working through what changes we can make as an alternative to having the "font download" option enabled in IE. This issue is a high priority for our team. I don't have an ETA for the fix yet, but we'll keep you updated!
I enabled fonts download on a computer that was offline of our network and I had the ability to do so and was able to open a course on our LMS thru an outside internet connection. This would not be a solution for the majority of our users. We are not allowed to change these settings on a standard image machine for security reasons so it is not an option. neither is using a different browser. It works okay in SL2 so if you can give us a switch to use SL2 font rendering that may fix it.
Understood. That certainly presents a difficulty for you. 😕
We rebuilt our HTML5 engine in Storyline 3 and 360, so there are some performance differences between Storyline 2 and the latest versions. We'll keep you updated with changes to the font rendering mechanism in future releases.
Hi there I'm having the same issues: font displaying in Times New Roman with missing f's in IE 11. Angry client, no way to change browsers. Just outputting for Flash is a terrible idea since it's getting phased out, but I'm going to try it to see if it works.
When can we get a real fix for this issue? Going back to Storyline 2 is not possible, as we need as many accessibility features we can get, as 508 needed to be accomplished on this course.
I had this issue, in an organisation with over 25K employees. Our IT department wouldn't allow download of fonts in IE. But they concluded, that this error is solved in Edge.
So the solution for us is now, that the URLs where we distribute our storyline projects automaticly switches from IE11 to Edge - for everyone in the organisation.
Maybee someone can use this solution in other organisations as well, so I just wanted to let you know.
One thing I noticed is the "woff" font type (which is not compatible with everything), then the svg wrapper, so it's really hard to tell exactly what is going on with the SL font rendering engine. My course is using Open Sans.
Is there a reason is can't be written to the page in regular css (I also develop websites). I'm in a really tight spot! Any updates on this? Menu is fine, course is doing exactly the same thing as shown in the PPT in this thread.
It sounds like you've already reviewed the solutions in this article? Our team is still in the process of additional testing and investigation into this, so I don't have further to share yet, but we'll keep that article and the E-Learning community updated as we have more to share.
Our organization is having this issue as well. It seems to only happen when users are on our VPN. If they are launching the course while on a campus network, we don't see the issue. Not sure if this information helps the engineers fix the problem.
I've seen a few threads about this issue and they all seem to be a year old with no official resolution. I'm having the same issue here and am working as well in a position where i cant ask IT to change policy or push out changes. I've been having the issue with kearning and dropped letters and ligatures. I've tried the modern font checkbox and have witnesses this with multiple fonts.
Is there any hope of a resolution or are we all just waiting until IE dies and everyone if forced to Edge?
Not sure if this will help anyone, I had a similar issue awhile back with t's and f's missing and it was because I had a corrupted font on my system. If you preview your font on your computer and it comes up blank it is corrupt and needs to be installed.
We investigated the issue and confirmed that it's caused when font downloads are disabled in Internet Explorer, typically by a system administrator. This security setting prevents the player from downloading the fonts it needs to display the course accurately.
Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 use web fonts (WOFF files) and require font downloads to display content just how you've designed it. These articles cover our system requirements and how to enable font downloads in every browser:
Katie, thank you but you've just repeated what we already know. My client sells courses to the public, so there is no way to control their IIE settings. Two years ago, in this thread, Crystal Horn (an Articulate staff member) said Articulate was pursuing "...what changes we can make as an alternative to having the "font download" option enabled in IE. This issue is a high priority for our team. I don't have an ETA for the fix yet, but we'll keep you updated!"
We are simply asking for the fix that has been promised. Are you saying no fix is forthcoming?
We’ve determined that the best way to serve the needs of our customers is to continue to require font downloading, just like we require having JavaScript and other browser features enabled. We’ve revised our documentation to make this clear. As a prerequisite, learners using Internet Explorer (or their IT departments) should enable font downloads to allow the course to display as intended.
To share a bit of history:
Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 require font downloads in order to precisely display content just the way that you’ve designed it. Our customers are super passionate about making sure their content looks right—and font downloads let us deliver on that expectation.
We explored addressing this concern by adding an option to turn ligatures on or off. A ligature occurs where two or more letters are joined as a single symbol, such as the fi in first, or the fl in flower. We released the feature to our beta testing group and asked for feedback from other affected folks.
After months of feedback and careful analysis, we decided not to move forward with this idea. Here’s why:
Customers told us that this didn’t solve the core issue because it required disabling ligatures for all learners, not just those affected by the IE security setting.
It created concern amongst the majority of authors who felt they would now have to make an additional publishing decision based largely on guesswork.
Overriding the text rendering engine in this way is complex and raised quality concerns because it’s impossible to ensure the feature will work as intended with different fonts and languages.
We also conducted a detailed analysis to measure the impact of this issue. Here’s what we found:
Blocked font downloads affect less than 1% of all learners.
We’ve found no evidence that font downloads are a viable attack vector for malware authors. Chrome, Firefox, and Edge (widely considered the most secure browsers) do not expose a security setting to disable font downloads. In addition, Microsoft explicitly recommends against blocking web fonts.
We know that this may be disappointing news, and we’re sorry. We’ve worked hard to come to a decision that allows us to deliver on customer expectations and focus development resources on the features and fixes that will have the greatest impact.
I replied to you in this discussion. It sounds like you've tried all of our current suggestions, so the next step is to bring in our Support Engineers for additional help. You can connect with our Support Engineers using this link.
Is there a way to search for/determine what fonts will not give my learners this issue?
(I know that Century Gothic as well as Gotham Bold give me issues in IE. If I can find a font that doesn't give me the issue, I can switch fonts within my story.)
75 Replies
1st issue here but with Studio 360 (Presenter and Quizmaker). All text displays in font that appears to be Times New Roman. Very ugly looking content and very angry customer. Changing font to Arial doesn't help. Can't switch browser (corporative standard), can't use Flash (corporative standard because of security issues). Font downloads already enabled. Any solution yet? It's been a while...
Hey Zoran,
I appreciate you reaching out here! Really sorry you're running into this snag with your font. Since you also reached out in this thread, let's keep the conversation going there!
It may be worthwhile holding some form of webinar regarding the phase out of Flash. Just something to help eLearning development people be prepared for this transition.
I just discovered this thread we have the same issue.....no matter what font we use it comes out Times Roman with spacing issues. We are on government standard image and cannot use anything but IE 11 (Edge won't handle certificates} I have tried it on IE 11 where I can enable upload fonts and it works. We have spent a lot to move to SL3 because we have to get rid of the FLASH before it goes away. This doesn't happen in SL2 you can go into the manifest on a SCO and point it to the HTML5 page and courses will play in HTML5.....so why does it work in SL2 but not in SL3?
Need to know if Articulate intends to fix this as we have a lot of components that are going to purchase SL3 and I will need to advise them to hold off as this is totally useless as is.
Hi there, Derek! Check out this article we shared about how Articulate is preparing for the end of Flash Player support.
Of course, if you have any concerns, please let us know here, or in a support case. We're happy to help!
Hi there, Philip. I hate for you to feel like your Storyline output is useless because of the font issue. So that I'm clear, you mentioned that you "can enable upload fonts and it works." Are you referring to the solutions in this article?
We are still working through what changes we can make as an alternative to having the "font download" option enabled in IE. This issue is a high priority for our team. I don't have an ETA for the fix yet, but we'll keep you updated!
I enabled fonts download on a computer that was offline of our network and I had the ability to do so and was able to open a course on our LMS thru an outside internet connection. This would not be a solution for the majority of our users. We are not allowed to change these settings on a standard image machine for security reasons so it is not an option. neither is using a different browser. It works okay in SL2 so if you can give us a switch to use SL2 font rendering that may fix it.
Understood. That certainly presents a difficulty for you. 😕
We rebuilt our HTML5 engine in Storyline 3 and 360, so there are some performance differences between Storyline 2 and the latest versions. We'll keep you updated with changes to the font rendering mechanism in future releases.
Hi there I'm having the same issues: font displaying in Times New Roman with missing f's in IE 11. Angry client, no way to change browsers. Just outputting for Flash is a terrible idea since it's getting phased out, but I'm going to try it to see if it works.
When can we get a real fix for this issue? Going back to Storyline 2 is not possible, as we need as many accessibility features we can get, as 508 needed to be accomplished on this course.
It's a problem.
I had this issue, in an organisation with over 25K employees. Our IT department wouldn't allow download of fonts in IE. But they concluded, that this error is solved in Edge.
So the solution for us is now, that the URLs where we distribute our storyline projects automaticly switches from IE11 to Edge - for everyone in the organisation.
Maybee someone can use this solution in other organisations as well, so I just wanted to let you know.
I understand Rebecca. Thanks for chiming in to share.
We do show that this issue is specific to the HTML5 output and we have some solutions in this article as well.
Thanks so much for chiming in to share your solution, Michael. That could certainly help someone out.
I wanted to be sure to welcome you to E-Learning Heroes as well :)
I'm having the same issue and this is ridiculous.
One thing I noticed is the "woff" font type (which is not compatible with everything), then the svg wrapper, so it's really hard to tell exactly what is going on with the SL font rendering engine. My course is using Open Sans.
Is there a reason is can't be written to the page in regular css (I also develop websites). I'm in a really tight spot! Any updates on this? Menu is fine, course is doing exactly the same thing as shown in the PPT in this thread.
Hi Tamara,
It sounds like you've already reviewed the solutions in this article? Our team is still in the process of additional testing and investigation into this, so I don't have further to share yet, but we'll keep that article and the E-Learning community updated as we have more to share.
Our organization is having this issue as well. It seems to only happen when users are on our VPN. If they are launching the course while on a campus network, we don't see the issue. Not sure if this information helps the engineers fix the problem.
Thanks for sharing your findings with us, Dave.
The steps in this article are the current fixes and we do require the use of WOFF file types for our output.
I've seen a few threads about this issue and they all seem to be a year old with no official resolution. I'm having the same issue here and am working as well in a position where i cant ask IT to change policy or push out changes. I've been having the issue with kearning and dropped letters and ligatures. I've tried the modern font checkbox and have witnesses this with multiple fonts.
Is there any hope of a resolution or are we all just waiting until IE dies and everyone if forced to Edge?
Not sure if this will help anyone, I had a similar issue awhile back with t's and f's missing and it was because I had a corrupted font on my system. If you preview your font on your computer and it comes up blank it is corrupt and needs to be installed.
See article here:
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/apps_windows_10-msedge/edge-and-ie-displaying-times-new-roman-instad-of/c4e2c38e-f80a-4f0a-8270-555d8b376a3b
Hello. Is there an update to this issue, please?
Hello Shannon,
Thank you for checking in!
We investigated the issue and confirmed that it's caused when font downloads are disabled in Internet Explorer, typically by a system administrator. This security setting prevents the player from downloading the fonts it needs to display the course accurately.
Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 use web fonts (WOFF files) and require font downloads to display content just how you've designed it. These articles cover our system requirements and how to enable font downloads in every browser:
If you run into any trouble along the way, we're happy to connect with you directly to help keep your development running smoothly!
Katie, thank you but you've just repeated what we already know. My client sells courses to the public, so there is no way to control their IIE settings. Two years ago, in this thread, Crystal Horn (an Articulate staff member) said Articulate was pursuing "...what changes we can make as an alternative to having the "font download" option enabled in IE. This issue is a high priority for our team. I don't have an ETA for the fix yet, but we'll keep you updated!"
We are simply asking for the fix that has been promised. Are you saying no fix is forthcoming?
Hi Shannon,
We’ve determined that the best way to serve the needs of our customers is to continue to require font downloading, just like we require having JavaScript and other browser features enabled. We’ve revised our documentation to make this clear. As a prerequisite, learners using Internet Explorer (or their IT departments) should enable font downloads to allow the course to display as intended.
To share a bit of history:
Storyline 360 and Storyline 3 require font downloads in order to precisely display content just the way that you’ve designed it. Our customers are super passionate about making sure their content looks right—and font downloads let us deliver on that expectation.
We explored addressing this concern by adding an option to turn ligatures on or off. A ligature occurs where two or more letters are joined as a single symbol, such as the fi in first, or the fl in flower. We released the feature to our beta testing group and asked for feedback from other affected folks.
After months of feedback and careful analysis, we decided not to move forward with this idea. Here’s why:
We also conducted a detailed analysis to measure the impact of this issue. Here’s what we found:
We know that this may be disappointing news, and we’re sorry. We’ve worked hard to come to a decision that allows us to deliver on customer expectations and focus development resources on the features and fixes that will have the greatest impact.
We are allowing font downloads and are still having this issue. Do you have any other suggestions?
Hi Christa!
I replied to you in this discussion. It sounds like you've tried all of our current suggestions, so the next step is to bring in our Support Engineers for additional help. You can connect with our Support Engineers using this link.
Is there a way to search for/determine what fonts will not give my learners this issue?
(I know that Century Gothic as well as Gotham Bold give me issues in IE. If I can find a font that doesn't give me the issue, I can switch fonts within my story.)