How to pause slides

Jun 11, 2012

Hi Everybody,

I am chasing a way to pause a slide or I guess timeline.

Currently I have media pausing when the user clicks an area to open a dialouge box on a layer (no point having audio playing about something that isn't related). However when they go back to the main layer the audio plays from where it left off but all the slide interactions/highlighting have carried on.

This puts everything way out of sync and it just seems logical that you could pause the timeline but I just can't see it.

Thanks

20 Replies
James Brandwood

Is there really no way to do this? I really can't believe this wouldn't be in there somewhere, pause/play is such a normal feature.

There is a pause button on the seekbar but I can't use it because I am creating compliance training and the seekbar allows a learner to jump ahead. Also you can't relate the pause on the seekbar to an object/button being interacted with in the presentation.

Elizabeth Adams

I was having the same issue, James.  Thanks for the suggestion, Gerry.  With your suggestion, do the buttons have to be visible and the user interacts with them or they just activated by other triggers?

I think this would be a great feature add to storyline on buttons and on hot spots - "pause until user clicks."  I can't remember where to submit these requests . . . . . [insert sheepish face here]

James Brandwood

Thanks Gerry,

I didn't realise the layer properties allowed you to do this.

I got this working from the master slide, which I always like to do. The only extra step when setting up on the master slide is to make sure your play button that takes you back to the base layer, also triggers any other layers that are relevent and those layers have to be on the master slide also.

James Brandwood

Just a side note - does anyone know why audio that starts right at the start of the timeline isn't paused when you set a layer to pause the base layer. It isn't paused by 'pause media' that links directly to it either.

This functions only work if you move the audio a few millisconds off the start of the slide. I am guessing 'show layer when timeline starts' isn't as 'start' as playing audio from the timeline start.

Ty Ehrnschwender

Gerry Wasiluk said:

You could do this with a layer.  Have the pause button with a trigger open up a layer and set the layer properties to "pause timeline of base layer."  On the new layer, just place a new play button that just closes the layer.


i have been building out my own cutom pause/play buttons this way and really thought it was the way to go! But i have noticed that if i pause the audio, then go to the next page, then come back, the audio will start to normally play (as it should) - and while my pause/play buttons are initially set properly (visually) and will still toggle properly - they will not work. This only occurs if i navigate off the page and then return with the audio muted and my pause layer has nothing selected except the pause the timeline box.

has anyone else experienced this?

Ty Ehrnschwender

Ty Ehrnschwender said:

Gerry Wasiluk said:

You could do this with a layer.  Have the pause button with a trigger open up a layer and set the layer properties to "pause timeline of base layer."  On the new layer, just place a new play button that just closes the layer.

i have been building out my own cutom pause/play buttons this way and really thought it was the way to go! But i have noticed that if i pause the audio, then go to the next page, then come back, the audio will start to normally play (as it should) - and while my pause/play buttons are initially set properly (visually) and will still toggle properly - they will not work. This only occurs if i navigate off the page and then return with the audio muted and my pause layer has nothing selected except the pause the timeline box.

has anyone else experienced this?


be sure to add a trigger to your next buttons that hides your pause layer when clicked, when using this custom play/pause approach, or else when you return, the layer actually showing or not will be confused (even if the slide is set to show the initial view upon a return)

Kika Diama

Ty Ehrnschwender said:

Gerry Wasiluk said:

You could do this with a layer.  Have the pause button with a trigger open up a layer and set the layer properties to "pause timeline of base layer."  On the new layer, just place a new play button that just closes the layer.

i have been building out my own cutom pause/play buttons this way and really thought it was the way to go! But i have noticed that if i pause the audio, then go to the next page, then come back, the audio will start to normally play (as it should) - and while my pause/play buttons are initially set properly (visually) and will still toggle properly - they will not work. This only occurs if i navigate off the page and then return with the audio muted and my pause layer has nothing selected except the pause the timeline box.

has anyone else experienced this?


I have actually experienced this same issue with building a custom menu, so instead of a pause/player button it's my custom menu layer having the issue.  Initially, the "menu" layer will properly pause the timeline when visible and continue the timeline once hidden, but if I revisit that slide that I have already activated the "menu" layer pause functionality previously, it will not pause the timeline (as it should) when the "menu" layer is activated and the timeline continues to play with the "menu" layer showing (which should not happen).

Any chance you were able to find a solution to have that "pause timeline" functionality reset when revisiting the slide?

Christine Hendrickson

Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Kika!

Just out of curiosity, what are your revisiting settings for the slide that contains the menu? Have you tried using "Reset to initial state"? I would think that would reset the slide, so if you view the "Pause" layer again, it should would properly a second time.

If you still have difficulty getting this to work, can you share your .STORY file here?

Thanks and welcome again!

Christine

Kika Diama

Christine Hendrickson said:

Welcome to E-Learning Heroes, Kika!

Just out of curiosity, what are your revisiting settings for the slide that contains the menu? Have you tried using "Reset to initial state"? I would think that would reset the slide, so if you view the "Pause" layer again, it should would properly a second time.

If you still have difficulty getting this to work, can you share your .STORY file here?

Thanks and welcome again!

Christine


Hi Christine,

The slide with the menu, which is all slides, have the revisiting settings to "reset to initial state".  Everything on the slide resets except for that "pause timeline" setting for the menu layer.  What's weird is that the way I have it set up works fine in other .STORY files but there is just the random occurrences with this and another file using this same method for a custom menu with that particular layer pausing the base layer.

Unfortunately, I can't share the .STORY file. 

Christine Hendrickson

Hi Kika,

Thanks for getting back to me. If you're concerned with sharing the file publically, I totally understand. If you'd like, you're welcome to send the files to us privately, in a support case. Any files shared with our support team will remain confidential. 

You'll be able to attach the .STORY file on the second page of the following form:

Articulate Support - Submit a Support Case

Please be sure to include a description of your issue. Please also include the URL for this thread in the form. Also, please share the case number with me. You're welcome to do so here, or in a private message. This way I can follow the progress of the case and update this thread.

Thanks again, Kika!

Christine

Michael OConnor

Hi peeps, I found an alternative pause method that doesn't require layer triggers at all. Interested? Read on...

1. Create a new scene with a single slide - caption it appropriately

2. In the player properties, create a new Player Tab and call it Pause

3. Program the tab trigger to call a lighthbox and point this to the new scene's single slide

....and that's it. When the user clicks the Pause tab, the lightbox slide will overlay the main slide. Simply click the red X in the top right corner to resume.

Hope this helps

Gerry Wasiluk

Michael OConnor said:

Hi peeps, I found an alternative pause method that doesn't require layer triggers at all. Interested? Read on...

1. Create a new scene with a single slide - caption it appropriately

2. In the player properties, create a new Player Tab and call it Pause

3. Program the tab trigger to call a lighthbox and point this to the new scene's single slide

....and that's it. When the user clicks the Pause tab, the lightbox slide will overlay the main slide. Simply click the red X in the top right corner to resume.

Hope this helps


Nice solution.  Was actually using it in four projects that I'm completing completing for a client. 

The client, unfortunately did not like it as the lightbox slide blocked out the content underneath.  The client wanted to see the content paused.

IMVHO, Articulate needs to consider a few enhancements here, which I'll be submitting:

1) The seekbar needs an option to prevent scrubbing by the learner.

2) Layers need to be able to be paused also.

3) Lightbox slides need an option to be transparent.

4) The stock lightbox slide "X" close button needs to be option so we can put our own close button where we want it.

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