Timer on each question in a quiz

Off the top of my head, the easiest slide-based timer is often just an additional layer of that timer’s length with a trigger to go to the next slide when the timeline ends. If there are no images or visual assets on the layer, the user will never be able to interact with it, but if the timer begins when the slide does and automatically send the user to the next slide when the layer completes, the effect is the same as a timer.

To respect the user as well as for general accessibility, I think it’s still advised to add visual indicators of the time so that people know how much time is left. Most people think of numeric countdowns but those can be a bit complex, and benefit from JavaScript.

a low-tech alternative could be to add two rectangles to the timer layer to simulate a progress bar. The background rectangle can be the “container” and the foreground rectangle of a different color can be the bar. Then the bar can given an Entrance Animation of wipe-right with a duration equal to that of the timer—say, three minutes. Then when the slide layer begins, learners will see the foreground rectangle slowly “fill” the background rectangle.

Ensuring the bar timer is communicated before the quiz begins will reduce learner surprise, and a little bit of graphic design finesse could help guarantee the timer/progress bar looks clean.