Controlling Slide Progression

Apr 13, 2011

Derek Allen
By Derek Allen

Our presentations contain no audio or animation. We would like to control the slide progression and find ourselves limited by the options in Articulate.

We would like the user to only be able to proceed to the next slide, without a timing effect controlling this progression. We would like it to be controlled by the user. We would also like to allow the user to view previous slides if they wish.

The only options we have found is to restrict slide progression to current and previous slides, but their progression is controlled by a timer, since we have no audio or animation. We don't want to set an arbitrary time that may be too long or too short for the user. The other option is to disable the restrictions and allow the user to freely navigate through out the presentation. The presentation has a quiz at the end, and we want to ensure that the user has to view each slide in the lesson before they reach this quiz.

We want the users to learn at their own pace. We also have no desire to introduce an audio voice over to control this progression. To adhere to the guidelines of good design, the user should have control over their progression through out the lesson.

Any insight on how to allow the user control their progression, without being controlled by an arbitrary time or audio clip, while still requiring the user to view each slide in order would be greatly appreciated.

5 Replies
Paul Kornman
13 years ago04/13/11 at 10:53 am (UTC)

I was intrigued by your question and ran a test that might help....(but you'd need Flash and Actionscripting):

You can replace the logo in the upper-right corner of the presenter screen with your own customized logo.

(You set this in the "Publish" dialog box).

You can use a graphic or (specifically for this problem) a Flash SWF file.

This "logo-swf" can keep track of which slides the user has visited using the Articulate API.

(A fancy version might have a visual display to indicate which slides have been seen - such as a box/circle for each slide with a number in it. Once that slide has been seen, the box/circle lights up or changes color or gets a check mark, etc.)

Tricky part #1: I created a "_global" array variable in this logo-swf file that keeps track of the information.

Tricky part #2: You have a concluding slide called something like "quiz" but it doesn't really hold the quiz.  Let's say you have 15 slides in your presentation. On Slide 16 (labelled "Quiz" in the navigation panel), you have a separate Flash Swf that looks at the "_global" used in tricky part #1 (_globals can be shared between SWFs in the same presentation). Slide 17 is hidden and actually holds the slide.

If all the slides have been visited, this "Quiz-Swf" presents a message like "Now that you've seen all the slides, click the "Start Quiz" button to begin." The "Start Quiz" button is in the Quiz-Swf and tells Articulate to go to the next (actual Quiz on the hidden) slide.

If all the slides have not been visited, the "Quiz-Swf" presents a message like "You haven't covered all the material yet. You need to visit slides 3, 7, and 9 before you can take the quiz." (and no "Start Quiz" button will appear).

This way, the user can click on any slide at any time, but cannot get through to the quiz until the "Quiz-Swf" gatekeeper determines that all the previous slides have been visited.

Caveat: This information would disappear if the user leaves the course before completion. To get around that, you'd have to use cookies or something similar.

Also Note: If you attach a SWF to a slide and publish, the publisher takes the latest version of the "swf" even if you don't re-attach it. For this logo technique, you have to delete and replace the logo-swf in the "publish" dialog any  time you make a change.

Hope this wasn't too technical and good luck.

Derek Allen
13 years ago04/13/11 at 2:05 pm (UTC)

Thank you both for the replies.

@Paul

I was afraid of hacking up the presentation as being a solution. It does solve the problem, but it requires a bit a programming. I don't know any Flash/Actionscript, but it looks like I could implement a similar solution by having it include a PHP file that follows the same line of thought you have outlined.

@Gerry

I didn't even think of disabling that sidebar, which does solve the problem. Though I do like having that navigation bar for aesthetic and usability reasons. It lets the user know where they are in the presentation, what topics are coming up, and how long they have left. I could include some kind of outline sidebar in the actual presentation itself in Powerpoint that could accomplish the same thing. Though it wouldn't be as dynamic.

Charlene Dichter
over 8 years ago09/24/15 at 1:22 pm (UTC)

Hi,

I need assistance. I have a slide that has a display of arrows. When user clicks one of the arrows the state changes for that and related text box state changes so it displays and the audio plays.  Is there a way to set up so users have to process from one arrow to the next in order to avoid hiding all arrows, text, and stopping media for each item?

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