Forum Discussion
Help menu item causing unexpected behavior
Here's a two-part issue concerning the Help tab ...
Issue 1
In our Assessments, we hide all of the Menu bar (top bar) tabs that we show on our content slides - Menu, Transcript, and Help. We do this of course by using the Player Features/Custom for the selected slides option for each question slide in the question bank.
However, I see now that the Help tab is visible on our Assessment slides. And the Help item is not included in the Custom for the selected slides option, so we can't turn it off. Has it always been that way? We have been using Storyline for 16 years now and I'm reasonably certain that we could (and did) turn off the Help tab on Assessment slides.
This wouldn't be a problem except...
Issue 2
With the Help tab visible on Assessment slides, we have found that when reviewing their Assessment, if the learner clicks the Help tab and then closes the Help popup to continue reviewing their assessment, weird things start happening. It affects how many questions are displayed in the review. After closing the Help tab and navigating to the next question, you see the 1st question again and need to review all your questions again.
Resolution
I don't see a workaround, but we resolved the issue for our situation. We decided that modern learners know how to navigate around an app, and so we simply removed the Help tab altogether. :) After 30 years of CBT / eLearning development, we are taking the bold step of not explaining what the Menu or the Next button is.
5 Replies
Issue 1
The Slide Properties only control built-in Player Features. It's never been possible to hide a custom Player tab on some slides. (That would be a great feature!)
Issue 2
Opening and closing a lightbox shouldn't impact how question slides work. I suggest you report that to the support team.
Resolution
Unless you know the audience is not computer savvy, I agree that it's safe to skip the how-to-navigate instructions. 😁
For a course-wide button that you can control, put it on the Slide Master. Include a trigger that shows or hides it based on the value of a T/F variable. Change the variable's value as needed on the slides.
Another option would be to put it on all the Layouts except for the Question Layouts.
For more info: PRIMER: Mastering the Slide Master | E-Learning Heroes
Thanks Judy. The Help tab IS a built-in Player Feature. But for some reason the Help and the Exit buttons (only) are not controllable via slide properties.
Agreed it is unpredictable behavior and I will report it - just wanted to post here in case anyone (including staff) had opinions on the matter.
As far as creating a custom button, we prefer to use out-of-the-box functionality for things like basic navigation. Back in the day we built everything as custom functionality (using Toolbook Openscript). But over the years we found we were spending as much time tweaking and fixing and troubleshooting and adjusting such functionality as we were on good learner experience. We adopted the mindset of minimizing custom functionality except when needed for mission-critical requirements. We pride ourselves on robust and elegant custom solutions for those types of requirements, but stay out of the weeds of low-impact customization of basic functionality like standard navigation and page numbers and so on. It's a matter of where you choose to spend your time.Thanks for the response and suggestions.
ChrisCole: Your Help tab is not a built-in feature.
When you create a new Storyline file, it lets you choose any of the following built-in Player Tabs: Menu, Glossary, Notes, and Resources.
It also lets you add custom Player tabs.
A custom tab can perform some (but not all) of the actions available in other triggers.
However, as noted before, there is no way to turn off a custom tab on specific slides.
I guess we added the Help tab so many years ago I forgot it was not built-in. 🙂
Thanks for your help.
You're welcome. Pay it forward when you can. 😊
(And welcome to the "I did what?" club. 🤣 )
