Very blurry text and images in Chrome HTML5

Hi, Louis. I use Storyline 3, and I've encountered that same problem. It wasn't consistent, though. Some items would look in focus and some wouldn't. I also noticed that it was related to resizing the browser window, i.e., things looked fine at optimal size but might get fuzzy as Chrome tried to reinterpret/resize the screen. 

Have you tried adjusting the Player settings to "Lock player at optimal size"? (That's in the "Other" section of the Player settings.) That worked for me. I realize it's a work-around, and some people might be upset if they can't enlarge the course. But small-and-clear is better than large-and-fuzzy. If this fix also works for SL360, perhaps it will be enough to placate your client.

Oh, and I agree: it would be nice to have a timeline for a fix. I trust Articulate is looking into this. I also understand that it's partly due to how Chrome interprets resizing in HTML5. Alas, it's an evolving standard...

Judy,

Thanks for the note. Unfortunately, even when smaller, when compared side-by-side to the Flash output, the images and text are still blurry. We'll hopefully hear from Articulate soon about a fix for this important issue.

Hi Louis and Judy,

Update 17 of Storyline 360 (Update 5 of Storyline 3) included a fix for the blurry issues in Chrome,  noted in the version history as:

• Fixed: Courses are no longer blurry when you preview them in Storyline or view the HTML5 output in Google Chrome.

I know your goal is to produce high-quality work, and blurry slide images are getting in the way of that. We did hear from a few folks who were still running into issues after that update, so I wanted to share a summary of those findings here. 

If you're seeing blurry images in your files, follow these steps:

1. Check the original size of the image, prior to inserting it in Storyline. 
2. Insert the image in Storyline, and check the dimensions of the image under the Format tab:
   • If the image is the same size as the original, you shouldn't see a loss in quality.
   • If the image is larger or smaller than the original, you could see a loss in quality. 

We've got a lot of helpful information on best practices for using high-quality images in Storyline in this article

Louis, you also mentioned a blurriness within the Next button and I can see that within your image, so I'd like to take a look at your file as well. Can you share a copy of it with us here? 

FYI, I just updated Storyline to the latest version two days ago. The blurry images (including features such as the Next button) continue to be an issue.

To protect client confidentiality, I cannot share the Storyline file with you publicly in this forum. Do you have a way for me to send it to you privately?

Absolutely, Louis. You can upload to our Support team here and they'll be happy to take a look. 

Ashley, I have attached a different course which has no confidential content. It has the same issue of blurry text and images as the other, including the blurry "next" button, etc.

FYI, I updated Storyline just the other day (I am currently on v3.19.16600.0) and the issue is persisting.

Here is a link to the content published as HTML5 only (blurry): https://360.articulate.com/review/content/37289e55-7828-4284-86aa-6d0c128a6fc2/review

Here is a link to a Flash version for comparison. Note that everything is much crisper in the Flash version: https://360.articulate.com/review/content/eed621db-2732-446c-8fae-af732426421a/review

I will look forward to your reply. Thanks.

Hi there, Louis.  Thanks for sharing those links and the .story file.

I noticed in Chrome 69 in my Windows environment, I could see a bit of blurriness in the HTML5 output (left) compared to Flash:

In my Mac environment, the blurriness was much less noticeable:

Let me discuss this with my team to make sure we're on the same page about progress with HTML5 output in Chrome!  Sorry for the frustration - I can guess that it must be difficult to have this conversation with your client as well.

Thank you for checking. Yes, this may be a deal breaker for this client. The issue is particularly troublesome when we are wanting to include screenshots that include small text.

Thank you for bringing up the blurry font issue with HTML5 output and checking for its solution.

FYI, it looks like publishing with SL 3 Update 5, it is a little bit more blurry in Chrome as compared to Firefox and IE.

1. Do you have any suggestion which font(s) works better with Articulate / HTML5?
2. What font size or range of font size works better with Articulate / HTML5?

Hi there James! Thanks for chiming in. We're still looking more closely at this bug with our team, and we'll keep you in the loop with any updates we receive. 

While I don't have any specific font type or size recommendations, I'm curious to hear which font you're using. Also, could you share a screenshot to compare how the course appears blurry in Chrome versus how it appears in Storyline preview?