Forum Discussion
Need advice on setting up Storyline template to share with design team for use on over 100 courses.
Hello all! We are looking to move several of our regulatory courses from Captivate (heavily customized, not easy to update) to Storyline. But we want to go about it the right way. We want to create a shared template that all the designers can have access to. If branding colors change (which they do every few years) we want to be able to easily change the shared template. If we want to update the logo to a newer logo, we want to be able to do that with ease.
Any advice or guidance is appreciated. I'm also happy to do a WebEx with anyone willing to talk with me about this process.
Thanks in advance!
My top tips:
- Use the __(heading) or __(body) fonts for text. If you see one of those designations after the assigned font, the program will auto-update the font if you change the Theme Font.
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- As needed, create some Text Styles, too.
- More info: Using Text Styles in Storyline 360 - E-Learning Heroes (articulate.com)
- Assign colors using the Theme Colors. Then the program will auto-update text or objects if the theme colors are changed.
- The logo will appear in the Media Library. That means you can replace all instances of the logo by editing/replacing the logo in the Media Library.
- If the courses will likely use the same or similar interactions, set them up with dummy text in advance, so they can be easily duplicated.
- Create a style guide with instructions for how to use the template, what's allowed, and what's not allowed (as needed).
Thank you for your top tips Judy! Much appreciated!
I'll take any other top tips, especially around using Master Slides vs. or in conjunction with using Content 360.
Any additional advice in managing a portfolio of 100++ courses.
re: Master Slides
Set up Master layouts for kind of slides you'll typically have in a course, as well as Feedback layouts (which are used for layers). Keep in mind that a Master placeholder can be edited and moved while editing a slide. Standard text boxes and shapes on a Master cannot be edited or moved. Also, all slide elements will appear on top of any shapes on the Master (even if the shapes are at the top of the Master Layout timeline). Here's the User Guide info:
- Slide Masters in Storyline 360 - E-Learning Heroes (articulate.com)
- https://community.articulate.com/series/articulate-storyline-360/articles/articulate-storyline-360-user-guide-how-to-use-feedback-masters
re: managing portfolio of courses
- Follow a good naming convention for files.
- The file name might include an abbreviated version of the title. If courses have ID #s, those might be in the name. File names might also include a version # and/or the final date for that version.
- For example: HR123-benefitEnroll-v2-2023-08-23.
- The file name might include an abbreviated version of the title. If courses have ID #s, those might be in the name. File names might also include a version # and/or the final date for that version.
- Have a good naming convention and folder structure for storing the files in a shared location.
- Editing Storyline should always be done on a copy of the file on your local drive. (In other words, never edit SL over a network.) That means folks need to back up a file to a shared location whenever they work on it.
- If multiple people will work on the same file, you need a process for ensuring that they don't work on the wrong version or overwrite the most current version.
- I recommend having a main folder for each course. Within that, have a folder for each version of the course. Within a version folder, there might be folders for resources, graphics, and source files. (It all depends on what you might need to refer to in the future.)
Good luck!
