Creating a glossary by storing glossary terms in variables

Sep 27, 2013

I'm pretty new to Storyline, and I'm trying to create a glossary that will present a definition in context (when the term is hovered over or clicked) rather than having to search through the built-in glossary (which, from what I can tell, does not actually have a 'search' function? That would be nice!).

I'd like to be able to store the definitions in variables so that if for some reason the definition needs to be updated at a later point, I would only need to update the variable once and I would not need to update it on each slide the term is used.

To do this, I created a feedback layer called 'Glossary' and placed a text box with a text variable %GlossEntry% on it. I also created variables for each term (only a few to test it out.) When the user clicks the term in context, I want to adjust the GlossEntry variable == the term variable.

So, the user clicks the hyperlinked text, the Glossary layer is shown, and GlossEntry== the term definition.

I'm able to get the Glossary layer to appear using hyperlinked text. However, when I copy the trigger and change it to adjust the GlossEntry variable, it doesn't do it (GlossEntry==""). Are there limits to what triggers respond to hyperlinked text?

As a work around, I created hotspots and placed them on top of the linked terms. I then added triggers to the hotspots to adjust GlossEntry and reveal the Glossary layer. This works. However, I don't get the automatic formatting (color-change and underline) that comes with hyperlinking a section of text. Nor do I get the automatic state change when you hover over it. Also, if I would need to re-size the text for any reason in the future, I will have to manually move the hotspots to make sure they still line up with the terms.

I have something that works, but I'd like to hear ideas on best practices to make this as easy to apply and update as possible. 

  1. What are the triggers that you can call from hyperlinked text? They all appear in the dropdown menu, but it appears that not all of them respond when used.
  2. Is there a limit to the number of variables you create? I'm not sure how many terms I will have by the end of this project, but I can see in some projects creating a variable for each term could get unwieldy.

I've attached a very basic example of what I'm trying to do. The first slide is what I want to work (but doesn't). The second slide shows the work-around with hotspots.

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