How to pick the right template

Sep 21, 2016

Hello, I'd like to pick your brains a bit. We're going to be using pre-built templates (Storyline 2) a lot more to reduce development time and need to get our team up to speed on how to do it. Sometimes sorting through the hundreds of templates available for download can take a lot of time. Do any of you have any tips on how to choose the right template to meet the needs of each project? What do you look for in a template?

1 Reply
Trina Rimmer

Hi Sarah. Great question. I confess, I'm mostly a template creator rather than a user these days, but I have been in your shoes so thought I'd add my two cents here. 

The biggest challenge with using free templates isn't the actual customizing of the colors and fonts. It's about looking past the subject matter and styling for the essence of the interaction. For instance, do you need to break up a lot of information? Perhaps a few simple tabs templates and some click & reveal interactions will do the trick?  Or maybe you want learners to explore a process, step-by-step? A slider template can be a great fit for that.

In short, I think it's helpful to start with the content treatment you're going for/the problem you're solving/the work you'd like to streamline and then look for templates that have taken a similar approach—even if the look & feel are entirely different than what you need.

I've written a series of articles (many with video demos) called 10-minute Template Transformations that might be helpful to you. You may also want to check out the amazing community-created examples of template transformations found here and here.

Hope I've helped!

 

 

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.