Storyline - change state of Next button in player

Sep 14, 2012

Hi,

Is there a way to change the state of the Next button to glow at the end of the timeline to prompt the user?  Thanks!!!

27 Replies
Nancy Woinoski

Hi Renee, you can't change states on  the player buttons. If you want to do this you will have to disable the player buttons and create your own next  button. You can then add a glow to one of the states (I would probably add a custom state  to do this instead of using one of the built in button states.  After you create the button, add a slide trigger to each slide that says change state of button to whatever state you have put the glow on - when the timeline ends.

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Hi,

Another thought to prompt the users if you don't want to create custom buttons:

  • Insert a shape - perhaps one of the block arrows, like the Pentagon - and add some text like...ummm...Click Next ()
  • Maybe animate it to fade in
  • Set it to hidden
  • Place it on the Master Slide
  • Set up a Slide Trigger to change the state to normal when the timeline ends

Just tested it on slides where one was 2 seconds and one was 10 seconds and it seems to work.

Renee Lubaway

Thanks, Nancy, your suggestion was timely and useful - I needed a solution quick. I agree I wish I felt comfortable to totally trust that the learner is going to know what to do to advance - but my learner analysis says not to assume such things. So, I'm trying to find a solution that's as inconspicuous as possible.

Thrilled about Rebecca's time saving suggestion, if the learner clicks to advance before the tip appears they won't be annoyed by it. And if they don't, then surely they'll be pleased to see guidance and direction.

Thanks to both of you!

Rebecca Fleisch Cordeiro

Hi All,

It's been a while since this original question, but I was working on something today and thought I'd upload a sample of the approach I suggested in October for reminding Learners to click Next if they forget.

My approach doesn't change the state of the next button but inserts a little prompt for the Learner. Story is attached.

If you're interested, there's a Screenr here.

Nancy Woinoski

Monica Hoffman said:

This is all very helpful.  Just to make sure I am understanding...is there a way to change the color of the NEXT buttons that are part of the player?  I can not find it anywhere.  I see the color scheme and background colors but not where the button color is. 


Hi Monica, you change the colour of the of the player buttons in the Player Settings.  Click Player/Color and Effects/Show advanced color editing/Edit item/Button

It is well buried so I'm not surprised you couldn't find it.

Michael Hardin

One method that I find effective is to set triggers in the Slide Master for the NEXT button. Set one trigger to "Change the State of the NEXT button to Disabled when the Timeline Starts"; set a second trigger to "Change the State of the NEXT button to Normal when the Timeline Ends".

This way, the learner can't advance until the slide has completed and the button changes to grab their attention.  Use this with Becky's method and you have two visual cues for the learner.

A slight variation that would really grab their attention is to alter the first trigger to "Change the State of the NEXT button to Hidden when the Timeline Starts".  Then at the end of the slide, there is a more dramatic effect because the NEXT button appears.

Mike  

Michael Hardin

Hi Burak,

As Ashley mentioned, my solution is based on Storyline 2.  In Storyline 2, you can use triggers to change the state of the NEXT or PREVIOUS buttons (under "Buttons on the player" section in the "On Object" dropdown).  However, the choice of states are limited to the presets "Normal"' "Hidden"' or "Disabled".  You cannot create a custom state, such as glowing; at least not that I have found. 

Edward Crane

The thing about changing the states of the nav buttons, unless I'm missing something, is that it prevents the user from advancing until the timeline ends, which can be valuable, but could also be problematic, for example if the user is coming back to the course after having seen it already and is trying to skip slides by clicking Next, but it is hidden or disabled.

But I think the original question was about giving an indication to the user that they could proceed after timeline ends. I have also been asked to display an indication of basically when the narrator is done speaking and the user can proceed to the next slide. I think Rebecca's example is a good solution that I will try. Thanks for the great discussion. 

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