Forum Discussion
Audio sometimes plays at timeline start
I've run into an issue where on some slides, audio will start when the timeline starts, but others it will not. All the slides in question have a button that will pause the audio (Pause Media on click) when a text block is closed and another button that "resumes" (Play Media on click) when they reopen the text block.
What's baffling is that on one slide, there's no issue with the audio starting at the beginning of the timeline, but some others refuse to play the audio at timeline start unless I delete the "Play Media" trigger from the button to reopen the text.
The only difference between the two slides is that one has other buttons that show layers while the other does not. I've tried deleting and readding the "Play Media" trigger and even tried adding a blank layer to the one that does not work. Duplicating the slide had the same result.
Here's a link to the course in Review 360 and if needed, I can add the source file for review. For reference, the slide "Case View" works, but the slide "My Caseload" does not (as do several other slides similar to "My Caseload")
I'm baffled and really don't want to put a slide trigger to play the audio on any slide it's not working, as that feels like a bandaid on a broken leg :)
https://360.articulate.com/review/content/577bb7dd-fe02-490f-b5bf-3575a5e502a7/review
9 Replies
Hey Jason,
Would love to see the source if you do not mind. We cannot download from Review since we are not on the same Team.
Hello JasonDalrymple Of course, I don't understand why it doesn't work...
Looking at the Review, I thought that the blue text block AND the audio were on a layer, which appears at the beginning of the timeline, then disappears if you click on the red cross, then reappears when you click on “Show description.” (However, I couldn't find the “Play media” button????) But reading the description of the problem, it doesn't seem like that's the solution you chose: (which I didn't quite understand).😁
Wouldn't it be simpler to put everything on one layer with text + audio, with the functionality described above? This layer appears automatically at the beginning of the timeline; it can be hidden with the cross, and reappear with the “Show...” button . No “Play media...” or “Stop media...” triggers (which seem to cause problems). Have you tried this?
NB: I've already encountered a small bug that could ruin this attempt. Pay attention to the order of the triggers and/or you may need to make the layer appear “When the timeline reaches 0.1s.”
Let us know if this helps.
Ha - Timing :) I was replying to Ron at the same time as you were responding - I did get it to work with a layer and a "Show layer on timeline start", then using "Show/Hide Layer" on each of the buttons.
Hi Ron - Thanks for the help! I've attached the file here, and I've been playing with a couple of what I would consider workarounds:
- Moving the text block and audio to layer and having the buttons toggle the layer visibility. (My Caseload)
- Using JavaScript to toggle the play/pause on the buttons (Other's Caseload)
Right now, you can still use "Case View" for a slide where it works as I would expect it to, but look at "Workgroup Main Search" for a slide where it's "broken".
To be fair, this could be an issue with following "best practices" if it is best practice to use layers for text blocks that need to be "toggled", a hold over from my days in another not-to-be-named tool. That said, I don't see why it shouldn't work to have the audio start regardless of whether there's a "Play Media" trigger somewhere or not.
Like you, JasonDalrymple I like to understand, but we probably don't have enough time to dissect a bug that only the brains on the development team can identify and resolve. Glad to “hear” that it's working the way you want it to now.
ThierryEMMANUEL I "see" what you did there...I wish it was working the way it SHOULD. I'm hopefully getting our support connection to take a look at it, too, as it is definitely off when something works one way on one slide but completely differently on another. I'm holding on making any updates until I hear more, and will report back once I have an answer!
RonPrice and ThierryEMMANUEL - I've received my "solution", though it's not necessarily what I would have liked to hear :)
When you add a "Play media" trigger, it "detaches" it from the timeline, hence will not start automatically on the slide ("detach" was the term used by support when we got the final resolution as to why the audio wasn't starting). So, what I've done is add a "Play media when the timeline starts on this slide" trigger to "work around" the trigger on one of the buttons.
I thought about moving the audio, text box, and button to close the text block to that layer to their own layer with a "Play media when timeline starts on this layer." Then, change the buttons to close or display the text block would just have triggers to show or hide the layer.
I'm on the fence as to what best practice would be - my thought is that if there's only one text box, solution 1 is best, but if there's more than one layer, solution 2 is preferred. I'm wide open to input on that as well, being still newish to the machinations of Storyline.
Hello JasonDalrymple
Thanks for keeping us informed. I always appreciate learning something new.
Okay, I finally figured it out by doing a little test. If an audio file is managed by “Pause media” and “Play media (= continue playing media)” triggers, it needs a first trigger “Play media = start playing media” otherwise it will never start. On the other hand, if the media is on a layer and you manage the layer's timeline with triggers (pause timeline, resume timeline), you control the audio playback without changing its waveform. This is simpler (to manage, visually and in the long term, in my opinion).
I just finished a module with a kind of notebook where you can view written and audio notes. I didn't think twice about it: one layer for each audio file with its written transcription. On the base layer, one button per layer to make them appear (or appear automatically in your case?). One button on the layer to close it (and thus stop the audio). One layer closes the other layers (in Layer Settings). And then duplicate, duplicate, duplicate the layers. Done. Here's my recommendation. Keep it simple.
