Forum Discussion
New in Storyline 360: Text Autofit Enhancements
We know how important it is for all learners to easily access and read the text in your courses, which is why we’re excited about the improvements we’ve made to the text-authoring experience in Storyline 360. With the text autofit improvements we’ve just released, you have new ways to manage text elements, more control over your text, and easier ways to make your text accessible. Here’s a quick summary of these improvements.
Greater control over text
Three new text autofit options help you preserve your preferred font size and prevent text from automatically shrinking. Now you can choose from “expand width,” “expand height,” and “fixed size” options. Read more about each of these autofit options and see the difference between the old and new approaches in this article.
More precision over the size of your text box
Before, when you tried to resize a text box to your preferred size, it would automatically default to the height of the first line of text. With the new text autofit enhancements, you can now easily set the precise size of your text box regardless of the amount of text.
Having more precision also means you have a more accurate view of how your text will appear in the published output.
Faster workflow for a smoother experience
Now, with a single click, you can quickly toggle between different autofit options to accomplish more in less time.
Improved readability across browsers
Since accessible text is HTML text, it can display differently across browsers. With text autofit improvements, now you can easily adjust the text elements and remove scroll bars before learners see them.
We hope you’ll love the enhanced authoring speed and flexibility and greater control that comes with these new text autofit improvements. To learn even more, check out Storyline 360: Text Autofit Improvements and Accessible Text Features in Storyline 360.
A few questions regarding this:
1. How do I access these features when I insert a Textbox? I don't see them. I must be missing them?
2. I want to customize a Text box to resemble an Email window. What would be the best way? I attempted to import a message window from Mail and also build one out with other Text boxes. I wonder if there is an Icon or object I can use? Please advise.
3. My interaction involves the learner writing an email. I'm concerned they will run out of room or the submit button interferes with their text. How can I prevent these issues from happening?
Thanks!
Hi Dan!
I'm happy to help you access the text auto-fit features in Storyline 360. Like the gif shared in the original post, you can also right-click on the text box and choose Format Shape. Then, select Text Box, and you can choose the auto-fit settings.
Here's a look at these steps:
We have so many creative people who can surely offer more advice on designing an interaction that looks like an email. I'll hand it over to our Instructional Designers to share techniques!
I appreciate the help Lauren!
Bonehead question: Is there a way to view the video of your explanation in a different window or full screen? It seems I can't. Thanks.
Hi Julia and Trace! Could you let me know the Story Size of the projects you're experiencing this issue in?
Hi, Bret: I am using 1280x720.
I am also seeing odd behavior when I manually resize either of the quiz feedback layer's Continue button. It flickers rapidly when I point the mouse to it.
Steps to reproduce:
- Create a question (I tested both T/F and MC).
- In Slide Layers, select the Correct layer and manually resize the Continue button to remove the vertical scroll bar.
- Click Preview and select This Slide.
- In preview, answer the question correctly and click SUBMIT.
- Point your mouse at the bottom of the Continue button.
Expected result: Button turns grey and mouse arrow turns into a hand cursor.
Actual result: Button resizes (gets smaller/reverts to initial default size?) and mouse arrow turns into a hand cursor. When you point the mouse to a specific region at the bottom of the button, the button flickers rapidly. (Move your mouse around the bottom of the button until it triggers.)
Hi Bret: since I've rolled back to the April 27 update, I can't open any of the files with work done in the June 1 update. Trace, are you still working in the June 1 update where you can check?
Hi, Julia: I am unable to revert due to permissions, but I saw elsewhere in this thread where people are struggling with the same issue.
Thanks, Trace! Brett, I am going to have to roll forward shortly to make edits on a course updated with the new version and then roll back again. I will check the story size when I do.
Have the bugs reported earlier in the string been resolved?
Hi, John: I have not heard anything more.
Hello everyone!
Great news! We just released another update for Articulate 360 and you can read all of the details in the release notes.
The item you'll be interested in is:Enhanced: The built-in widescreen (16:9) slide size is bigger—960x540—giving you more room to work and resulting in fewer unexpected scroll bars in text objects.
Just launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer and click the Update button for Storyline 360. Details here.
Please let us know if you have any questions, either here or by reaching out to our Support Engineers directly.Hi Kathryn,
Thank you for providing that screenshot, and I'm sorry these scrollbars are appearing all over your course! I'd like to get our support team to take a closer look at your file and help alleviate these issues.
I've started a case on your behalf with our team, so you should be getting an email soon with an upload link. Please share your .story file with us, and our team will get right on it!
Hi Everyone,
Thank you for taking the time to share how the new Text Autofit Improvements have affected your work. We hear you, and we want to apologize for the frustrations and re-work this has caused!
We introduced this feature as part of our continued focus on designing accessible courses. This means you’re building a course that’s better for everyone, and this feature brings new, better ways of doing that.
When a project is upgraded to use text autofit enhancements, unexpected scroll bars sometimes appear. These scrollbars are due to text areas having extra lines, text, or other elements that overflow the bounds or margins of the shape.
We’re investigating these issues and will update everyone as we have news to share. In the meantime, here are some helpful tips to avoid these unwanted scroll bars:
- Remove blank lines at the end of the text box: Check that the end of your text is indeed the end; otherwise, Storyline will assume that an extra line needs to be read, and a scroll bar will appear.
- Remove extra margin space in the text within shapes: Extra margin space can cause text to overflow the bounds of the shape. Remove that extra margin space by right-clicking on the shape and formatting the Text Box to remove unnecessary margins.
If you run into any other snags, please let us know. You can connect with our Support Team here.
Accessibility features are all well and good, but you should have designed a mechanism to turn the feature on and off. It's hugely cumbersome to the vast majority of your users and we don't want it. There are so many improvements you could be investing time in, including other accessibility features. Please don't keep trying to convince us that this is somehow a feature we should want. Instead, get rid of it or make it an option you can turn on instead of the default. This email response doesn't really demonstrate that you've accurately heard the feedback you're getting about this feature.
Kate Farrelly
AGPA, Training & Program Policy
Victim Compensation Board
p.916.491.3624 c. 415.235.5452 f.916.491.6423
kathryn.farrelly@victims.ca.gov
[CalVCB 2016 - color]
@TRacy the scroll panels were added to ensure that modern text has enough space when published (sometimes it is larger than the boxes allow). Modern text is still there you don't have the option anymore to switch on and off).
woot woot! Thanks for that info!
