I'm developing a 4 hour course and that will be presented virtually. I thought that using storyline to create the slides would be helpful and a really cool idea. I was wondering if anyone has done this before. If so, I have some questions. 1. Sometimes I want some text to show up on the slides when the presenter clicks their mouse. This will help to differentiate important topics. How can I get include specific triggers to ensure the text or images display when the presenter is ready? Thank you!

Curious why you chose Storyline and not PowerPoint for a presentation?

The Trigger action of "Pressing a Key>page down" will mimic the click/remote if you want to try that.

I really want to try something this is more engaging and interactive. I felt that storyline would allow me to more easily develop the flow of the course that I hope to produce. Since I know it so well, creating 'buttons' that link to different ideas is much easier than hyperlinking in powerpoint. It's more organized. That being said.. I'm having second thoughts....

Thank you! Follow up question: When I tried the 'press a key' option, it caused several items on the page to appear at once. So how can I stagger the appearance of the different object? For example, lines of text. Is that possible?

Powerpoint will likely do everything Storyline can and you wont have to worry it wont work locally. Also the morph animation is an amazing tool to make your life easier in PPT.

Using Storyline as a presentation | Articulate

KarlMuller
Community Member
2 months ago
Curious why you chose Storyline and not PowerPoint for a presentation?
- AmandaVenturino
  Community Member
  2 months ago
  I really want to try something this is more engaging and interactive. I felt that storyline would allow me to more easily develop the flow of the course that I hope to produce. Since I know it so well, creating 'buttons' that link to different ideas is much easier than hyperlinking in powerpoint. It's more organized.
  
  That being said.. I'm having second thoughts....
RonPrice
Partner
2 months ago
The Trigger action of "Pressing a Key>page down" will mimic the click/remote if you want to try that.
- AmandaVenturino
  Community Member
  2 months ago
  Thank you! Follow up question: When I tried the 'press a key' option, it caused several items on the page to appear at once. So how can I stagger the appearance of the different object? For example, lines of text. Is that possible?
PhilMayor
Super Hero
2 months ago
Powerpoint will likely do everything Storyline can and you wont have to worry it wont work locally. Also the morph animation is an amazing tool to make your life easier in PPT.
- AmandaVenturino
  Community Member
  2 months ago
  My plan was to save it as a webpage and since the course is virtual, it won't matter where I am. I'll have my laptop
  - PhilMayor
    Super Hero
    2 months ago
    That would be my worst nightmare as I would guarantee that would the day I couldn't get online.
JudyNollet
Super Hero
2 months ago
I think there could be advantages to using a published Storyline (SL) project instead of a PPT. For example, if you might need to jump around to different slides/scenes, it'd be easy to use the built-in Menu (instead of having to program links in a PPT). Just move the Menu so it only appears as an above-the-slides Player tab (instead of always appearing on the left). Or add a custom menu on the Master with a button to show it when needed.

The main disadvantage is that an SL course doesn't have a "Presentation" mode that lets you display the full slides on one screen while displaying the slides with notes (that is, your script for the presentation), along with a preview of the "next" slide, on another. However, depending on your set up, you could follow a custom script in Word—or even one that's printed out.
- AmandaVenturino
  Community Member
  2 months ago
  Yes! This is what I was thinking. I'm planning to add a 'menu' button to the slides that I want to return to the 'main menu'. This also allows me the ability to cover sub topics within a bigger topic using icons for navigation. The presentation takes on a branching appearance instead of a straight vertical line. I also like the idea of using states for icons so they appear greyed out when I've finished showing them to the audience.
  
  The script will be on a separate screen, so I'm not too worried about that.
  
  What I am worried about though, is allowing text to appear on the screen when I want it to. If I set it to appear after I click a button, ALL the text appears and not line by line. How can I make text show up easily when I want it to and not all at one time?
  - JudyNollet
    Super Hero
    2 months ago
    
    Amanda Venturino
    
    ... What I am worried about though, is allowing text to appear on the screen when I want it to. If I set it to appear after I click a button, ALL the text appears and not line by line. How can I make text show up easily when I want it to and not all at one time?
    
    If the text is all in one text box, you could have it animate on by paragraph (instead of as one object).
    
    FYI: when you do that, the text becomes a Group in the Timeline, and you can adjust the timing of each paragraph individually.
    
    Another option would be to put the text in separate objects, and then cue their appearance by clicking separate buttons. Or have the first one animate on when the button is clicked, and have the subsequent ones animate one when the animation completes on the previous one.
    
    Just make sure your script includes info about what to do on each slide to show the content.
SteveGannon
Community Member
2 months ago
Amanda, one way I have done this in the past is to place a full-slide hotspot over the slide that shows a layer with the first text object when clicked (that is, the training facilitator can click anywhere on the screen). That layer also has a full-slide hotspot that shows a second layer with the second text object when clicked, and so on. (Be sure to uncheck the default layer property "Hide other slide layers" so that the previous layers of text objects remain visible as the next one appears.)

You can also add keypress triggers (e.g., the spacebar) as an alternative to clicking.
- AmandaVenturino
  Community Member
  2 months ago
  So that sounds like a good idea. It also sounds like I'm creating a lot of slide layers, but not a bad thing. Thank you! I think I'll look into using this!
  - PhilMayor
    Super Hero
    2 months ago
    For me it is about using the right tool for the right job. There is no doubt it would work but is it worth the extra time., and would it look better than a PowerPoint. And my answer for both would be no.
AmandaVenturino
Community Member
2 months ago
For me and my skills with Storyline vs Powerpoint and what I hope to accomplish, using Storyline is going to keep the entire project more organized. It will not be any more time intensive then preparing a compelling powerpoint presentation and it will give me some additional flexibilities and interactions.

The topic requires more of a branching motif vs a vertical topic. I think it's going to look really slick when it's finished!