Narration and non-narration options

Hi Chris,

In Storyline, just have two paths, one with v/o, one without.

Choose which one you want from a menu.

Bruce

I suppose you could use a variable or variables from the start. Have the userchoose what they want on the first slide and set a Sound variable.

If Sound = True  then set the state for written narration to hidden on any given slide when the timeline starts.

If Sound = False then set the state for written narration to be visible on any given slide when the timeline starts.

This would give you just one version of the slides and make updates a little easier.

Thanks Bruce and Owen - that has given me something to think about.

Much appreciated.

Chris.

Hello again, Bruce and Owen (or anyone else).

Can you point me to any published examples of Storyline courses with a narrated and non-narrated option?

Regards,

Chris.

I was thinking in Storyline you use  a simple variable like Owen said.

Another option is to create an audio layer. Then put an audio icon on the slide. This can be triggered automatically for each slide. So by default it plays no audio. And if you want it, you press the audio button which plays the audio.

I prefer the variable option myself

Arthur's suggestion is a good one. The other option is to point folks to the volume control. If the audio is the only difference, people are pretty adept at adjusting controls to their liking. Provided they know what the controls are.

Hi all.

Still trying to get my head around this audio/non-audio stuff. Can anyone share an example of a finished storyline course with audio/non-audio options?

Thanks!

Chris.

Chris,

Sometimes the simple solution is the easiest. 

When you publish the final course publish it twice.

1. with audio

2. go back and mute all the audio and re publish

at the course selection point the user can choose with or without audio.

no triggers, no variables.

just a thought.

I used a small portion of a larger course I am working on to give you an example. I didn't have any audio handy, so i just made some quick "text to speech" files for this example. Hope this helps.

Hi Owen,

The only reason I can think of to go through the trouble of a separate option or version is if there is a visual difference between the 2. For example, if the narrated version limits text to key words or phrases while the version without audio is text-based.

If the intent is to have 2 identical versions with one including narrator reading the text on the screen and one without, you could probably just let the user know they have the option and direct them to their own audio controls to mute if they don't want to hear it. 

I went down this thought process pretty recently and came to the conclusion that if it didn't make a difference if the learner muted the audio, then there wasn't enough value to spend the time and money adding it in the the first place. That may be a different conversation altogether though.

I agree. I was only providing an example as requested. The question was could it be done and how... not should it be done.

Also, note that my audio is the same as the text only because I was developing a quick example, not a final client product.

Natalia, that's exactly what I was thinking!  I've had this conversation with a few clients, and their idea is usually "Some people like audio and some don't, and we want to accommodate all preferences."  I try to explain that if that's truly what we're aiming for, we need two versions, because I would structure and write a course/slide with audio narration in a completely different way than a course/slide without audio narration.

Thanks eveyone, all of your comments/suggestions are very helpful and much appreciated. Ultimately I would like to offer two different versions of the same course with, as Sheila suggested, the narrated version designed in a completely different way to the text-only version. In the meantime, I will point the learner to the audio controls and they can decide.

Regards,

Chris.