Need the Previous Button on a layer to go to another layer and not a slide

Mar 11, 2020

Hi everyone, 

Hoping someone can help with this. Working on a project that has several layers built on a slide. When the learner is on certain layers, we'd like him to go to another layer rather than the previous slide. I've been reading a lot of articles and haven't found what I needed - although I did see information on using variables to accomplish this. I don't know how to use variables for something like this. Anyone have any suggestions? 

Thank you!! 

Laurie 

4 Replies
Laurie Mascaro

Sorry for the delay in responding - I appreciate your help with this! 

I've attached the slide we're working on, but for some reason the images didn't save. I think it's still enough to get the point of what we're trying to do. I'll try to walk through it in a way that will make sense:

  • There are 3 sets of 3 window types - click the right arrow to get to the next set
  • From the second set, click on one of the window types 
  • It's here that we wanted the 'Prev' button to go back to the set of 3 Window Types they just came from rather than a previous slide. 

We ended up adding a button, 'Back to Window Types', that appears after the interaction when viewing a window type. It works well enough but if the learner hits the 'Prev' button, they'll go back to the previous slide. Not a huge deal but cumbersome for the learner. We were hoping there was a different way. 

Thanks again for your help! 

Judy Nollet

Hi, Laurie,

From a usability standpoint, I think your separate "Back to Window Types" button is better than using the PREV button. For a consistent user experience, PREV and NEXT should only be used to move between slides, not within slides.

In a related note, I found the arrow buttons a bit confusing. When viewing the window types, the arrows are used to access the different types. But after selecting a type, the same right-pointing arrow is used to reveal more content about that type (while I expected it to advance to the next type). Then the left-pointing arrow hides the layer, but at that point, I expected it to return to the initial content about the window type.

Since there are only 9 types, consider putting all nine on the base, so the user can immediately see all the options. Then use the arrow buttons only for changing content within a given type/layer. And use the Back to Window Types to hide layers.  (IMHO)

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