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Steven_Haigh's avatar
Steven_Haigh
Community Member
6 months ago

Slide Layer Order

Hi 

I think that I have had this issue before and never got to the bottom of it.

I have created a bespoke menu in slide master.

there is a closed menu on one layer and an open menu on the other.  I need the open men to open under the closed menu (which it was doing) but now, for no reason it has decided to open over the top of the closed layer, I've not changed the order or anything.

The layers appear to be in the correct order, although I have swapped them over to no avail.

Anyone else experienced this? How did you fix it?

13 Replies

  • Layers will open in the order you call them and then layer over the top of previous layers. If a layer is open and you call it its position will not change.

    You could add triggers to hide the layer before you call it to ensure it is in the right place.

  • Steven_Haigh's avatar
    Steven_Haigh
    Community Member

    Okay, so I have the master slide with an instruction to open the "closed menu Layer" and you click on the menu item and it expands the menu by opening the "open menu layer" .

    I need the "open menu layer" to open behind the "closed menu layer" in order to give the appearance that it is sliding out from behind the "closed menu layer" it currently isnt. It is opening over the top which looks a bit rubbish.

    How can I fix this? (I hope it makes sense)

    • Nathan_Hilliard's avatar
      Nathan_Hilliard
      Community Member

      Never paid much attention to the stacking order They are targeting assured visibility, but its not much help when trying to do custom effects. Try using the trigger approach Phil mentioned by just placing this trigger:

      Show Closed Menu When timeline starts on this layer

      at the top of the Open Menu layer's trigger list. That way, the closed menu will always display above the open menu when it gets opened.

  • Can you have triggers in this order

    Hide closed menu

    Show open menu

    Show closed menu

     

  • Steven_Haigh's avatar
    Steven_Haigh
    Community Member

    Sorry, struggling to follow here.  I have the collapsed menu on one layer and a menu button so when the user clicks the menu button the fill menu "Flies in" from the left giving the appearance of the menu opening, only it opens over the top of the collapsed menu not under it.  This is the trigger I am using.

     

     

  • Steven_Haigh's avatar
    Steven_Haigh
    Community Member

    Hi 

    . Yes exactly how min is set up but my open menu slides out over the top of the closed one for some reason.

    • Nathan_Hilliard's avatar
      Nathan_Hilliard
      Community Member

      The trigger to show the closed menu layer after showing each open menu layer is key. I will be unavailable for a while but if you could share your project file, perhaps someone else could provide more specific help. 

      You could also try rebuilding the menu interaction from scratch. Sometimes things get corrupted and need to be redone.

      • Steven_Haigh's avatar
        Steven_Haigh
        Community Member

        Yes I will probably Have to rebuild it. I was working and suddenly go confused. I've had loads of issues with the button states as well.

  • BrettConlon's avatar
    BrettConlon
    Community Member

    I've come here looking for an answer to the same problem, but I'm still confused.

    Does the layer order (as they appear in the "Slide Layers" panel) take precedence for the object stacking order or does the order in which the layers are triggered override the stacking order? I would have thought the layer order (in the panel) takes precedence (ie. objects on upper layers sit ON TOP of lower layers, no matter when they are revealed.

    Even Google's AI summary, when I was searching for an answer to this question, states:

    "In Articulate Storyline, the slide layer order refers to the stacking sequence of different layers on a single slide, where the layer listed higher in the "Slide Layers" panel will appear on top of the layers listed below it, meaning objects on a higher layer will visually appear in front of objects on a lower layer; essentially, the order you see them listed is the order they will be displayed on the slide."

    But the linked articles that Google provides are not that clear. This article seems to suggest that the trigger order sets the stacking order and I should create multiple triggers to re-establish the desired layering, yes?

    Here's what my project looks like:

    For the 3 layers:

    1. The top layer contains a consistent slide title, "Policy summary..." (that I want to show at all times on that slide) and is triggered when the timeline starts on the base layer (#3. below). I've selected this layer in the screenshot above so it shows the title.
    2. The 2nd layer has a text definition that appears under the title, an image that contains the same colour as the background (it's used for a hidden animated reveal) and it is larger than the slide title's position (ie. it covers it) but I want it to sit UNDER the title. The idea is to have an image, that refers to each policy point, animate out from under the background image panel, on the right side and then when the next policy point is shown, it animates back under the panel. I trigger this layer 1 second after timeline starts on the layer, but the image (with background colour) is appearing ON TOP of Layer 1 - shouldn't it be UNDER the title that's on Layer 1?
    3. Contains the base layer with slide banner and background.

    I plan on adding many more layers like layer 2 (for additional policies) but I need to get the ordering right first, which will depend on whether the layer ordering OR the layer triggering takes precedence in setting the object layering.

    If "trigger order" is setting the object stack order, I'm guessing I'd have to trigger the layers in reverse order (from how they appear in the Slide Layers window) to make them sit in the right order on the screen, yes?

    Your confirmation/guidance would be MOST appreciated 🙂

    • Nathan_Hilliard's avatar
      Nathan_Hilliard
      Community Member

      The last time I checked, the most recently shown slide layer is placed above any existig slide layers. If you want overlapping layers to show in a specific stacking order, you would need to add triggers to each newly shown layer that re-establishes the visual elevation of any other layers that become obscured. As you suggested, trigger the bottom most layer first.

  • Most recent is sat on top, to reorder you do have to close a layer and reopen it to sit above a layer