TIP: Create a Custom Menu Slide

Do you want to create your own Menu slide? Do you want to ensure that the user can't advance to your summary and/or quiz until they have visited all of the other scenes in your course?

Well, you're not alone. This topic comes up quite a bit in the Forum. Here are the basic instructions for creating a custom menu slide: 

• Create a T/F variable for each scene (topic, module, branch, or whatever you want to call it). Set the initial value be False to represent that the user hasn't yet completed the scene.
• On the last slide of each scene, create a trigger that adjusts the corresponding variable to True when the timeline starts or ends (depending on your preferred restrictions).
  • Alternately, add the trigger to the Next button. But if you do that, be sure the trigger appears before the trigger that jumps to the next slide.
• On the custom Menu slide:
  • Add a trigger to change the state of the Next button to Disabled when the timeline starts. Include conditions so this trigger executes if any of the variables =False. (Tip: Be sure to connect the conditions with "OR" instead of "AND.")
  • Add a trigger to change the state of the Next button to Normal with the conditions that all the variables are True. (Tip: Be sure to connect the conditions with "AND" instead of "OR.")
    • To ensure this trigger executes every time a user returns to the custom Menu slide, have that slide "Reset to initial state" when revisiting.
    • Or, if there are animations on the timeline that you don't want to repeat on revisiting, do this: Put the trigger on a blank layer, and set the Layer Properties to "Reset to initial state." You'll also need a trigger on the base layer to show that blank layer when the timeline starts.

By the way, you can use the same basic instructions even if you don't include a Next button on your custom Menu slide.

• To do this, disable and enable whatever button you have for advancing (for example, a Go to Quiz button) using the steps above that describe how to disable and enable the Next button.

Variables and trigger conditions provide the real power in Storyline. If you're not familiar with them, I highly recommend that you check out Articulate's User Guides. 

*** UPDATE ***

I attached a file that demonstrates and explains how this works.

If you scroll down in the comments, Sarah Hodge's comment links to an example that shows how to make the user go through the scenes/sections in order. 

*** UPDATE ***

Articulate added the "Else" option to triggers with conditions. So instead of two triggers controlling the NEXT button (one to disable and one to enable), you can use one trigger with an "Else" statement.