Forum Discussion
IMPORTANT! - a fix if you have a PLAY button appearing at start of courses
OK, Articulate rolled out an update to Storyline and it seems that now when publishing a course, instead of auto-playing (as before) it now puts a nasty big PLAY button on the first screen.
Hopefully Articulate will roll out a fix (very!) soon.
In the meantime, I have discovered that AUDIO on the opening slide will cause this. Removing the audio, removed the PLAY button and things went back to normal.
Therefore to get round the issue, try what I did - create a tiny opening slide of a flat colour (same as your project background) and set it to be your opening slide.
Worked well for me, and thankfully I can now stop hearing screaming from my clients.
Will Articulate be releasing an update that allows the developer to turn off the ugly "play button" without having a crazy workaround of adding a blank slide?
Users should have an option of adding it or not, and it should never "automatically" add it (especially since the button is ugly, isn't symetrical or centered and many of us have created "start buttons" of our own already to fix the issue and not have "two buttons".
Please advise.
Hi Jonathon,
The play button was added to handle the autoplay changes made by browsers such as Chrome and Safari. Unless there are changes to how those and other modern browsers handle the autoplay of media, we won't be removing the play button.
After a while, learners may stop seeing the play button as Chrome's Media Engagement Index (MEI) learns that they allowed audio to play on previous visits to the same site. When that happens, audio will automatically play as it did in earlier versions of Chrome.
Wondering what is the latest on this thread. My screen is black with the play button, but why can't it be the slide showing with the play button? I just have a big black screen in SL block in Rise until the learner clicks the play button.
Hi Julie,
Thanks for reaching out for clarification. It sounds like your question is specific to Rise 360.
Take a look at Adam's reply here with regards to how this is handled. It sounds like you are experiencing the expected behavior.
I read Adam's reply before sending my note.... He is describing behavior on a phone. I am experiencing this behavior on my laptop.
Hey, Julie. I'd like to take a closer look at this. Can you help me with a couple details?
- Does the first slide of the Storyline block contain audio or video that should play automatically?
- What web browser are you using to view the course?
thanks for this Andrew. i have this issue after they rolled out a recent update - when i import in files from articulate engage, there is a big play button whereas previously the interaction was displayed and autoplayed - very frustrating
Sorry about that, Breda! You shouldn't see a play button over your Engage slide. We've got this logged as a software bug, and we'll keep you posted on our progress.
Thanks for your help Alyssa! I have been in touch with technical support over the last few weeks in relation to this issue. Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hi, Breda. Appreciate this detail!
This conversation, as well as your support case with my teammate, Anna, is linked to this bug's report so we can update you on all fronts.
The second there's more information to share, you'll be the first to know. Thanks for bearing with us!
This is good to know. I am experiencing the same thing where I have the gray slide with a big play button on the slide where I have imported my Engage interaction.
Hi there, Julie!
I'm sorry you're seeing this issue, too, and appreciate you letting us know. I added your voice to our report so we can keep you posted on our progress with this bug.
While our team continues to investigate this issue, learners can click the play button to launch the Engage interaction.
While we are waiting for this fix, is there anyway to improve the appearance of the grey screen and play button? The arrow in the play button is off centre and really doesnt look good in the course
Hi Breda,
The button design/color is currently set to the greyed out mode so that it's easily distinguishable for learners to click on to start the course. If having the ability to change the coloring and design is something that would improve your experience (and that of your learners) can you share a bit more detail by submitting a feature request here?
Thank you!
Hello, Michelle. Great questions, and I'm happy to explore both scenarios with you!
- Autoplay behavior for media that isn't on the first slide: Audio and video content on other slides should play as expected. However, if your slides are set to advance automatically without any interaction, that media might not work since learners haven't allowed their browsers to play it. Click here for how to make sure that audio plays correctly throughout your course!
- The play button appearing on Engage interactions that get imported into Storyline: We've logged this as a separate bug, and I'm sorry you experienced it. I'll add your voice to its report so we can keep you in the loop on any new development! In the meantime, clicking the play button will launch the Engage interaction.
Let me know if that helps, or if you see something different!
The fix most commonly mentioned worked originally. However with the release of Chrome 71 ( https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2018/11/web-audio-autoplay) in December 2018 the audio piece would not auto-play.
The .25 second slide did not have any interaction and was intended to move automatically to the next slide (both being identical) so the big ugly play button didn’t show. The first “real” slide had audio on it and it used to play automatically but with the update (Chrome 71) it no longer does. It needs some form of user interaction on the page in order to “understand” that the person wants to interact with the media.
What I’ve heard at this point from other developers is that you either need to 1. Add some form of interaction on that first slide (like a play button) or 2. Ensure the slide directly after the .25 slide doesn’t have audio. The act of either pressing a button or choosing Next to start the course “tells” the browser that the user does want to interact with the audio that will be played on the next slide
The Chrome update does make sense. I mean, if I accidentally went to a website and video or audio just started to play without any action on my part, I wouldn’t be happy. I want to control when that audio or video starts.
Anyway, I hope this helps some of you.
