Pause button doesn't function if there are slide layers??

Sep 19, 2013

I am working on a course that has three layers. Based on what the user declares at the beginning of the course, a variable is set and they are shown the appropriate material. Most of the slides have three layers for this. A number of slides are also single layer meaning the content for all three types of users is idential so layering isn't needed.

After the course is published, on the slides that have layers, the pause button does not functionally pause the slide's progress. You can see the pause button change to a play button. You can also see the scrub bar stop. However, the audio and animations continue to play. On the slides where there is only the main layer, the pause/play works just fine.

Any ideas why this doesn't work? Is it a bug or am I completely missing a setting? I've been looking and looking and just can't seem to figure this out.

20 Replies

Justin Grenier
Staff

over 10 years ago09/19/13 at 12:25 pm (UTC)

Good Afternoon, Sandra.

Have you seen David's Knowledge Base Article on How to pause the timeline of a slide? You'll also find some variations on this theme within the following Forum Threads and Screenrs:

Dennis demonstrates an example
Gerry echoes David's method, and additional discussion ensues
Mike comes through with some cool ideas on pausing and resuming a video
Another awesome Screenr from Mike on interactive video

Good luck with your project!

Sandra Lowe
Author

over 10 years ago09/19/13 at 12:46 pm (UTC)

All good examples. My situation is slightly different. The base layers on my slides do not hold the course content. The layers do. Each layer has its own audio. I don't want to pause the base layer, I need users to be able to pause they layer they are viewing. Do you think David's method would work in this situation? Just add additional pause layers for each layer of the course? I'd still love to explore and play with this idea as I think/wish the pause/play button should function no matter what layer is being viewed by the user.

In the meantime, in order to continue getting this course ready for my client, my work around is to remove the pause/play/scrubbar and change the properties of the previous button to a replay button. Users won't be able to actually pause the course but they will have the option to replay the slide after it stops at the end of the timeline. My client seems to be ok with this for now.

Justin Grenier
Staff

over 10 years ago09/19/13 at 2:16 pm (UTC)

Hello again, Sandra!

I'm glad you found an effective workaround, and I believe Dennis's second example in this thread addresses your need. Michael's post here is another creative alternative.

Good luck and have fun with it!

Randy Richardson

over 10 years ago12/31/13 at 9:00 am (UTC)

what about using javascript to activate the Storyline Player Pause button??

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
Staff

over 10 years ago01/02/14 at 8:41 am (UTC)

Hi Randy,

I did a quick look through the forums to see if there was some similar discussion on using Javascript to use the built in play/pause button and didn't find anything. There are a number of community members who are well versed in Javascript who I hope will chime in here to let you know if they've set up something similar.

Kim Dion

almost 8 years ago06/16/16 at 4:48 pm (UTC)

Hi Community - Any chance there has been an enhancement in the last two years that easily allows the learner to access the play/pause button when they are on a slide layer?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
Staff

almost 8 years ago06/16/16 at 7:09 pm (UTC)

Hi Kim,

If you are referring to the seekbar play/pause button - the seekbar is on a slide level, but you can enable seeking on the slide layers as detailed here. If you do that, the seekbar elements will be accessible and referring to that layer - but the overall play pause won't have an impact on the base layer as well. You can set up slide layers to pause the base layer as a default.

Bruce Roberts

6 years ago03/27/18 at 11:34 am (UTC)

Hi Ashley, the pause button is a page object and should be able to pause all media on a page. When layers are used for subtitles (I have a lesson with 7 optional languages), the pause button does not pause the page, it only pauses that layer.

If I'd known I'd have to build custom functionality, I would have done this from the start. This must affect everyone who uses layers and must appear as a regular feature request going back years:

https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/pause-button-disappears-on-seekbar-during-slide-layer-revisit

https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/pause-layer-timeline

https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/pause-play-button-question

https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/slide-pause-problems

The community have fantastic solutions, without which I would be stuck on many occasions, but please can we either get seek bar functionality working properly or provide easy to implement custom navigation tools so authors can build their own?

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
Staff

6 years ago03/28/18 at 3:41 pm (UTC)

Hi Bruce,

Thanks for linking all those other discussions here too. I know there are a few things our team is looking at in terms of the seekbar/timeline functionality. The built-in pause button on the seekbar should work to pause the slide timeline and items on there such as audio or animation. As for any media, items such as web objects will be externally linked and not something you'd be able to pause from within Storyline.

Happy to pass this all along as a feature idea to our team, and please also feel free to share your own ideas as feature requests here to send directly to our product team!

Alison Coops

almost 6 years ago05/07/18 at 1:08 pm (UTC)

Hello, I have created a short course. Many of the slides have multiple layers. The way the course works, the course proceeds from slide to slide, layer to layer. So, at the moment, if a person gets interrupted while on a layer, there's no way to pause. This morning, every time I want to pause but can't, I'm closing the browser, then resuming when I want to continue. We can't expect LMS users to do that -- they'll just let it run and miss some of the course. The pause button needs to be standard, always available functionality. The developer shouldn't have to program around it. Thanks.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard
Staff

almost 6 years ago05/07/18 at 8:03 pm (UTC)

Thanks, Allison for that insight. Did you enable the seekbar as a part of your player properties? Are you looking for that to interface with other items on the slide such as a web object? I’ll be happy to pass your thoughts on to our product team, I just want to make sure I am understanding your needs and course set up.

almost 6 years ago05/08/18 at 12:10 pm (UTC)

Good morning,

All of the slides have a seekbar, but it goes all the way across (with a
pause button) during the first layer. When it goes to the 2nd (or third)
layer, it just sits there with the full bar filled in and just a play
button. There's no way to pause if the phone rings or someone comes to the
door -- it just continues until it gets to the next slide, when a pause
button appears again. The slides and layers have audio, animated text
boxes, and graphics. I just want to it play continuously like a video
(which it does) but I'd like the user to be able to pause it if they get
interrupted or want more time to look at something on the screen.

Thanks,

*Alison Coops*

almost 6 years ago05/08/18 at 9:00 pm (UTC)

Hi there Alison! I'm curious about your layer properties. Here's a setup that would allow you to pause each layer:

I made a quick mock up file with layers that still show the base layer, and each layer has its own seekbar action. I'm attaching that file. Can you let me know how your setup differs, and maybe we can brainstorm? Feel free to attach your file as well.

almost 6 years ago05/09/18 at 12:12 pm (UTC)

OK, that seems to fix it, but I'm confused as to why not checking "Hide
slide layer when timeline finishes" and "Prevent the user from clicking on
the base layer" disables the pause button.

Thanks,

*Alison Coops*

Alyssa Gomez
Staff

almost 6 years ago05/10/18 at 5:01 pm (UTC)

Hi Alison!

I thought the best way to explain this would be to record a quick video for you. Have a look at it here, and let me know if you have any questions about it!

Christina Clark

almost 6 years ago06/15/18 at 9:55 am (UTC)

This post was removed by the author

Philip Deer

over 5 years ago10/17/18 at 10:15 pm (UTC)

Hi Alyssa,

I was having the same issue and found your video very helpful! Thanks.

I have a few questions:

1. Why would the layers not already default to that setting?
2. What is the beneift / reason to having the settings default the way they currently do?
3. Is there a way to change multiple layer settings at once?
---Otherwise, I will have 59 layers to change one by one. I have several slides with 4 to 7 layers each. I already published the SCORM to the LMS and users have been trying to pause and take notes but it doesn't let them. I want to fix this ASAP and a mass settings change would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance!

Alyssa Gomez
Staff

over 5 years ago10/18/18 at 3:43 pm (UTC)

Great questions, Philip! Let's dive right in!

There are lots of ways to use layers in Storyline, and each method requires different settings. There's no "one size fits all" default setting that would work for everyone.
The benefit of the default settings is that you can display text or objects on layers without hiding the base layer or pausing the base layer timeline. A really common example of this is a Tabs Interaction like this one. As you click each tab on the base layer, a new slide layer opens and displays information without hiding the base layer.
While there isn't a way to change multiple layer settings at once, that would make a great feature request! I'll pass your idea along to our Product team, as I can see how that feature would be a huge time-saver.

Philip Deer

over 5 years ago10/18/18 at 4:40 pm (UTC)

Thank you, Alyssa!

I see what you mean by the benefits of the default mode.

Thanks for submitting the feature request.

over 2 years ago12/22/21 at 2:05 pm (UTC)

Hello. I was having the same issue. I followed the instructions and now I'm able to pause on my layer. I had a continue button at the end of this layer and now it just loops back to the base layer instead of jumping to the next slide, and object trigger that is set. It's showing on my timeline and I have a trigger that the button appears when the timeline ends on the layer. Any reason this seems to have disappeared?