Forum Discussion
Previous trigger and layers
I have a couple slides that have several layers. When the user clicks the previous button, the previous slide shows and then if they click Next, it goes to the last layer they were viewing. What I want is if, while viewing a layer, if they click previous, I want it to go back to the previous layer or atleast start over with the base layer. How do I do this? Thanks!
When a trigger shows a layer, that layer remains open until another trigger hides it. That's done directly with a "Hide layer" trigger. Or it's done when a trigger shows another layer for which the Slide Layer Properties indicate to close other layers.
That's the long way of saying that if you don't want a layer to show when someone returns to a slide, you need a trigger to hide it.
For example, you could add triggers to the PREV button that hide each layer. Note that those triggers must come before the trigger that jumps to the previous slide.
Another option would be to add triggers to hide each layer when the slide's timeline starts.
Your post says you want the user to "go back to the previous layer." That's also doable. For example, you could use a variable to track which layer is open when the user leaves the slide, and then use triggers with conditions to show the appropriate "previous layer" when the user returns to the slide. IMHO, that isn't worth the effort. In fact, it could be confusing to the user .
The built-in functions will not do that the way they are. Each slide has only one Next and one Previous button, so you will have to create a number of triggers for it, and use conditions to decide what action to take. You will also need to keep track of which layer to close.
See the attached sample for one way you might do it. You will need to set the layer properties to show or hide content on lower layers.
I agree with Judy, you might be better served by using slides instead of layers.
Actually, I never use the built-in Previous and Next buttons, for a variety of reasons,
First, they make your course look like it came out of a cookie-cutter box, instead of being designed by an ID professional. Of course, I realize that there are some clients that don't care, and aren't willing to pay for top level design.
Secondly, Previous and Next work well if you are (re)creating a book, or have a hankering to force the learner into a linear progression through the material. Again, I realize there are clients that don't care. Government entitie, are usually just interested in forcing the learner to be in the presence of some sort of material, without regard to whether learning takes place. Many companies think that being experts at creating a certain widget makes them experts on how to teach people.
Finally, while there may always be a certain amount of material that builds on previous material, and must, therefore, be presented sequentially, maximum learning corresponds to (among other factors) the amount of choice the learner has (know in the industry as learner-centricity).
For a sample of better ways to navigate a course, see the sample at this discussion:
