Forum Discussion
Storyline Audio
Hi all. In Storyline I've created a scene and the first page has no audio or media. The second page has audio which I want to play automatically. I've tried so many different things to get it to work. When I preview in Storyline it works as intended but not when I import it to Articulate. Would appreciate assistance as to what I'm missing.
To resolve the issue, create a button (e.g., "Start") that triggers navigation to the next slide. This ensures users must click an element—similar to how the "Play" button on the loading screen is clicked in the solutions provided by Thierry or Kate, where only the audio slide is published. If the learner does not interact with the initial "Play" button (or any button on the first slide), the audio on the next slide will still load but remain muted due to browser autoplay restrictions. If the first slide contains a standard button, the initial "Play" button will not appear. However, if the first slide includes a "silent" audio file (as in Thierry's example), the "Play" button will be displayed to comply with browser autoplay policies. Either solution provided in this thread should resolve the issue. I hope Articulate will provide official clarification on whether this behavior is an intentional or an unexpected bug.
18 Replies
Can you share file/show a screenshot of the triggers? as simply having the audio on the timeline should work
Hi Kate. Thank you for responding. I'd appreciate any assistance as I have another two behaving the same when I upload them to Articulate.
Can you show me what you've got on the timeline?
To resolve the issue, create a button (e.g., "Start") that triggers navigation to the next slide. This ensures users must click an element—similar to how the "Play" button on the loading screen is clicked in the solutions provided by Thierry or Kate, where only the audio slide is published. If the learner does not interact with the initial "Play" button (or any button on the first slide), the audio on the next slide will still load but remain muted due to browser autoplay restrictions. If the first slide contains a standard button, the initial "Play" button will not appear. However, if the first slide includes a "silent" audio file (as in Thierry's example), the "Play" button will be displayed to comply with browser autoplay policies. Either solution provided in this thread should resolve the issue. I hope Articulate will provide official clarification on whether this behavior is an intentional or an unexpected bug.
Thank you all for your support. By inserting the blank page I was trying to avoid having the black screen with the play icon and trigger it to automatically go to the second slide and play the audio. I'll pop a button onto the first page. Thanks again.
Hello Nedim . Every time I cross paths with you in a discussion, I learn something new from you. And each time, I don't understand your explanation at first glance. 😁
So I'm interested in both how you solve Bridget's problem and how you control the “Play” button on the loading screen. So, do you have some time to explain, please?
1/ what exactly have you done (on one or two slides?) to make the audio listenable ?(Bridget's problem).
2/ on the other hand, what do you do (or rather: what do you avoid doing) to have OR avoid the “play” button on the loading screen?
I have my own solutions for these 2 questions, but I'm very interested in yours, which are often cleverer than mine. Thanks.
Hi ThierryEMMANUEL
When you have a single slide with an audio or video media set to play automatically, Storyline will enforce the play button to comply with the browser's autoplay policy. Clicking the play button will load the slide and trigger the media to play. In this case, it's not possible to avoid showing the play button on the loading screen because the media is set to autoplay on the very first slide.In Bridget's scenario, the first slide was blank and automatically advanced to the next slide, which contained the audio media. Because there was no media on the first slide, Storyline did not enforce the play button. However, on the second slide, where the audio media was set to autoplay, the issue occurred. Since there was no initial learner interaction on the first slide, the audio media was loaded but prevented from autoplaying due to browser restrictions. By adding a button on the first slide to jump to the next slide, an interaction was triggered, allowing the audio media on the second slide to play as expected.
1. A button was inserted to jump to the next slide, ensuring that the learner interacts with something before advancing. Storyline recognizes the interaction and does not enforce the play button. On the next slide, where the audio media is set to autoplay, the audio media will play as expected. Your solution also works and is a clever workaround. However, Storyline will still enforce the play button because it detects the audio media that you put on the slide as part of your workaround. Some may prefer the play button, while others may want to remove it—it ultimately comes down to personal preference. Both of our solutions resolve the issue, but they lead to different outcomes in terms of the play button.
2. You can't completely avoid having the play button on the loading screen. When any media, such as audio or video, is placed on the first slide and set to autoplay, the play button will be enforced, regardless of whether we want it or not.
Note: Put another way, playback of any media that includes audio is generally blocked if the playback is programmatically initiated in a tab which has not yet had any user interaction. Browsers may additionally choose to block under other circumstances.
MDN
Example:
The audio media is loaded but blocked from autoplaying until we interact with it.Needless to say, my solution is no better than yours. Both solutions initiate some form of interaction on the first blank slide before advancing to the audio slide. The only difference is whether or not the play button is displayed on the loading screen.
