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Many problems posted in the Forum are related to triggers that do what’s already done automatically by the built-in states (Normal, Hover, Down, Visited, Selected, Disabled).
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This Review 360 project demonstrates how the built-in states work: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/eaccc037-929b-43b5-b636-5333181a9c70/review
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\nOverview of built-in states
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\n- When you insert a button, it will have the Normal, Hover, Down, Visited, and Disabled states.
\n- When you add multiple-choice or multiple-response questions, the response buttons will have the Normal, Hover, Down, Selected, and Disabled states.
\n- You can add built-in states to other items, such as text boxes, shapes, and images.
\n- There are also states with automatic functions available for draggable objects in a drag-and-drop interaction. These include Drag Over, Drop Correct, and Drop Incorrect.
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\nHow the basic built-in states work
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\n- When an item has a Hover state, that state automatically displays when the user’s mouse is over the item. The Hover state goes away when the user’s mouse is no longer over the item.
\n- When an item has a Visited state, that state automatically displays when the user clicks the item.
\n- When an item has a Selected state, the first click automatically changes the state to Selected. The next click changes it back to Normal. Repeated clicking toggles between the two states.
\n- When an item has a Selected and a Visited state, the first clicks changes it from Normal to Selected. The next click changes it to Visited. From that point, clicking toggles the item between Selected and Visited.
\n- When multiple items with the Selected state are in a button set, clicking one of those items changes it to Selected and automatically changes the other items in the set to Normal. (Here’s more information: Storyline 360: Working with Button Sets | Articulate - Community)
\n- When multiple items with Selected and Visited states are in a button set, clicking an item changes it to Selected. Any item that has not been clicked remains Normal. Any item that was previously clicked changes to Visited.
\n- When an item is Disabled, it is no longer clickable. In other words, triggers that are set to run when the item is clicked will not run when the item is in the Disabled state.
\n- Hidden is a unique state. It doesn’t show in the States panel—and you should not create a state called Hidden. Instead, when a trigger changes an item to the Hidden state, Storyline automatically hides the item.
\n- See the \"Combining States\" slide in the Review 360 project (linked above) to see how the states are layered.
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\nHow the drag-and-drop built-in states work
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\n- An object being dragged changes to its Drag Over state when any part of the object intersects with any of the drop targets.
\n- An object changes to its Drop Correct state when it is dropped onto the correct target.
\n- An object changes to its Drop Incorrect state when it is dropped onto the incorrect target.
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Triggers often cause problems if they duplicate the built-in actions described above. Instead, save time—and troubleshooting—by taking advantage of what the built-in states do automatically.
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You don’t need a trigger to change an item to a given state when the timeline starts. Instead, select the desired state in the Initial state dropdown. The dropdown will include all of the states in the States panel, plus Hidden.
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Exactly!
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I've seen enough Forum questions where the answer was \"Delete those unnecessary triggers that duplicate built-in functionality\" that I decided I wanted a post to direct folks to, instead of re-writing the info. 😁
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(I created many of my TIPS posts for the same reason. Linking to them makes it easier to answer the questions that are asked repeatedly in the Forum.)
Exactly!
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I've seen enough Forum questions where the answer was \"Delete those unnecessary triggers that duplicate built-in functionality\" that I decided I wanted a post to direct folks to, instead of re-writing the info. 😁
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(I created many of my TIPS posts for the same reason. Linking to them makes it easier to answer the questions that are asked repeatedly in the Forum.)
Great post. Leveraging the states saves so much time on building triggers. I've seen many authors add complex triggers for something a button set would do.
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The default states, such as selected, are also better for accessibility as they are identified by screen readers.
Great post. Leveraging the states saves so much time on building triggers. I've seen many authors add complex triggers for something a button set would do.
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The default states, such as selected, are also better for accessibility as they are identified by screen readers.
