Storyline does not have an automatic closed caption feature, but you can make one fairly easily. Just designate a space on the slide (usually the bottom). Create separate text boxes for each "chunk" of captions, and then time them to appear/disappear with the narration. If you want to make it a feature you can turn on and off, try putting the captions on a layer and adding a button that shows and hides the layer.
A couple of other ideas is to just use the notes section and then display the notes in the side panel. You can retitle the panel to read caption. Or use the scrolling panel to add some text. Of course, you don't get the animation, but you get the text. Here's a quick video where I show the two ideas I mentioned and the one Diane shared.
I think your work arounds are workable, but the problem with the text layers is that learners would have to click the CC button on every slide (no?). Is there a way, using variable, that the layers could display based on previous CC button clicks? For example, I hit CC on slide 1, so slide 2 through 10 automatically display the CC layer?
Great question! There's several different ways to do this. Here's a quick screencast that I put together for you that uses variables to check whether CC should be on or off:
I'd like to make clickable transcripts that give my users control over a video - so when a user clicks somewhere in the transcript, the video moves to and plays from that point. I'm thinking of transcripts similar to this.
Or, if you have Camtasia, you can caption the actual video, then add it to story line; you can set up a slide that asks whether the user wants captioned on non-captioned; one choice would activate the captioned layer w that video, the other choice the captioned layer w video...
Just a question regarding using the notes panel for closed captions. It appears the notes panel is on a slide by slide basis, not a layer by layer basis. Is this correct?
Thanks Brian! I was able to add CC to all my slides but the one with tabs and layers of info. Any tips on doing that? My head is spinning copying and pasting variables and button triggers. I am finding that when I am on Tab 1 and I set the trigger to hide the CC layer for Tab 1 what the users sees is my base layer not Tab 1 without cc. Any help is appreciated!
Just a question regarding using the notes panel for closed captions. It appears the notes panel is on a slide by slide basis, not a layer by layer basis. Is this correct?
Hi Sean,
That's correct. Notes are for the slide itself and can't be applied individually to each layer. If you'd like to see support added for that in a future release, submit a feature request to us by using the link below:
Thanks Brian! I was able to add CC to all my slides but the one with tabs and layers of info. Any tips on doing that? My head is spinning copying and pasting variables and button triggers. I am finding that when I am on Tab 1 and I set the trigger to hide the CC layer for Tab 1 what the users sees is my base layer not Tab 1 without cc. Any help is appreciated!
Hi Lisa & welcome to Heroes,
Have you tried playing with the Slide Layer Properties? Go into a slide & select the gear icon next to your slide layers. You'll have a window popup that looks like this:
Uncheck the "Hide other slide layers" option & see if that gets you the results you're looking for.
I am trying to do something similar but I have a problem with the button I need to press to close it. It is not available in the trigger pane as it resides on the main slide. I am trying to play with variables but I am a bit rusty... somehow I cannot get it to work
I figure doing it like this should work keeping it up or down across the entire project...
I've figured it out, it's very much like Brians example. I just had to create an additional transparent button over my CC button to assign a trigger to it in the CC layer as I wasn't able to assign a trigger to my original CC button on the base layer... Is that a bug or a feature? Seems odd that I cannot assign triggers to buttons on the base layer from within a layer.
is there a variable that I can reference to automatically pull the text from the "Notes" tab and populate a CC field or do we still have to wait for the infamous SDK to be released? =)
My issue is similar to Jeff, but with a slight variation that I can't get past:
I am creating a guided image tour with narration where each slide is its own image. Thee are 10 images and 10 buttons on the first slide that allow users to navigate freely. The users need to be able to see where they've visited, so I am using states on my home slide, which are triggered by a T/F variable. I need to be able to toggle captions on and off from a checkbox on the Home Page slide and not have a CC button on every slide. My problem is, if I change the Slide Properties "When revisiting" field to "reset to initial state", it resets everything on my slide, so users aren't able to track where they've been.
Attached is a simple mockup of my problem. Thanks in advance for any help the community can provide!
Hello Jonathan - Some thoughts/questions/suggestions....
You may reconsider not having a CC button on every slide, just for better user experience. I may turn on CC at the beginning of the module but decide I want to turn it off at some point. It could be a pain to not have an option to do so without returning to the home screen.
On setting your home screen slide properties, I'm not sure if there would be a need to change this from the default based on your description of what you're trying to do. If a user selects the CC button on the home screen, when they return to the home screen I would still want the button to be selected. I probably wouldn't force it to "reset to initial state" due to this...
Finally, if you're using T/F variables to determine the state of your home screen buttons, it *seems* like forcing your home screen slide to reset to initial state wouldn't have an impact on this as your T/F variables are not slide dependent and wouldn't be reset.
Let me know if you'd like to connect off line and chat...
17 Replies
Storyline does not have an automatic closed caption feature, but you can make one fairly easily. Just designate a space on the slide (usually the bottom). Create separate text boxes for each "chunk" of captions, and then time them to appear/disappear with the narration. If you want to make it a feature you can turn on and off, try putting the captions on a layer and adding a button that shows and hides the layer.
A couple of other ideas is to just use the notes section and then display the notes in the side panel. You can retitle the panel to read caption. Or use the scrolling panel to add some text. Of course, you don't get the animation, but you get the text. Here's a quick video where I show the two ideas I mentioned and the one Diane shared.
I think your work arounds are workable, but the problem with the text layers is that learners would have to click the CC button on every slide (no?). Is there a way, using variable, that the layers could display based on previous CC button clicks? For example, I hit CC on slide 1, so slide 2 through 10 automatically display the CC layer?
Hi Steve,
Great question! There's several different ways to do this. Here's a quick screencast that I put together for you that uses variables to check whether CC should be on or off:
https://player.vimeo.com/video/145578868
I've also attached a .story file for your reference.
That is awesome, thanks Brian!
Hi,
I'd like to make clickable transcripts that give my users control over a video - so when a user clicks somewhere in the transcript, the video moves to and plays from that point. I'm thinking of transcripts similar to this.
http://lab.pipwerks.com/video/easycaptions/TED/no-captions.html
Any suggestions?
Many thanks,
Vicki
thank you.
Or, if you have Camtasia, you can caption the actual video, then add it to story line; you can set up a slide that asks whether the user wants captioned on non-captioned; one choice would activate the captioned layer w that video, the other choice the captioned layer w video...
Just a question regarding using the notes panel for closed captions. It appears the notes panel is on a slide by slide basis, not a layer by layer basis. Is this correct?
Thanks Brian! I was able to add CC to all my slides but the one with tabs and layers of info. Any tips on doing that? My head is spinning copying and pasting variables and button triggers. I am finding that when I am on Tab 1 and I set the trigger to hide the CC layer for Tab 1 what the users sees is my base layer not Tab 1 without cc. Any help is appreciated!
Hi Sean,
That's correct. Notes are for the slide itself and can't be applied individually to each layer. If you'd like to see support added for that in a future release, submit a feature request to us by using the link below:
http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php?form=feature
Hi Lisa & welcome to Heroes,
Have you tried playing with the Slide Layer Properties? Go into a slide & select the gear icon next to your slide layers. You'll have a window popup that looks like this:
Uncheck the "Hide other slide layers" option & see if that gets you the results you're looking for.
Hi all,
I am trying to do something similar but I have a problem with the button I need to press to close it. It is not available in the trigger pane as it resides on the main slide. I am trying to play with variables but I am a bit rusty... somehow I cannot get it to work
I figure doing it like this should work keeping it up or down across the entire project...
I've figured it out, it's very much like Brians example. I just had to create an additional transparent button over my CC button to assign a trigger to it in the CC layer as I wasn't able to assign a trigger to my original CC button on the base layer... Is that a bug or a feature? Seems odd that I cannot assign triggers to buttons on the base layer from within a layer.
Well here's what it looks like now
is there a variable that I can reference to automatically pull the text from the "Notes" tab and populate a CC field or do we still have to wait for the infamous SDK to be released? =)
My issue is similar to Jeff, but with a slight variation that I can't get past:
I am creating a guided image tour with narration where each slide is its own image. Thee are 10 images and 10 buttons on the first slide that allow users to navigate freely. The users need to be able to see where they've visited, so I am using states on my home slide, which are triggered by a T/F variable. I need to be able to toggle captions on and off from a checkbox on the Home Page slide and not have a CC button on every slide. My problem is, if I change the Slide Properties "When revisiting" field to "reset to initial state", it resets everything on my slide, so users aren't able to track where they've been.
Attached is a simple mockup of my problem. Thanks in advance for any help the community can provide!
Hello Jonathan - Some thoughts/questions/suggestions....
You may reconsider not having a CC button on every slide, just for better user experience. I may turn on CC at the beginning of the module but decide I want to turn it off at some point. It could be a pain to not have an option to do so without returning to the home screen.
On setting your home screen slide properties, I'm not sure if there would be a need to change this from the default based on your description of what you're trying to do. If a user selects the CC button on the home screen, when they return to the home screen I would still want the button to be selected. I probably wouldn't force it to "reset to initial state" due to this...
Finally, if you're using T/F variables to determine the state of your home screen buttons, it *seems* like forcing your home screen slide to reset to initial state wouldn't have an impact on this as your T/F variables are not slide dependent and wouldn't be reset.
Let me know if you'd like to connect off line and chat...
Brian
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