Using Hotspots and Invisible Buttons in E-Learning #296

Hotspots and Invisible Buttons in E-Learning #296: Challenge | Recap

Hotspots are interactive objects that work a lot like regular buttons. They can show layers, change states, jump to slides, and do almost everything standard buttons can do. What makes hotspots so unique is they’re invisible buttons. 

Because they’re invisible, you can test learners’ ability to identify parts of an image without providing hints or guides for the learner. To help you out in working with hotspots, Storyline displays the hotpots as transparent green shapes.

Hotspots in E-Learning

Click-and-reveal interactions are just one use case for hotspots.

Hotspots can control sorting order and drop targets in custom drag-and-drop interactions. They can be used as transparent barriers to prevent learners from clicking other objects on the slide. What else can you do with hotspots? That’s what this week’s challenge is all about!

Challenge of the Week

This week, your challenge is to show how hotspots and invisible buttons can be used in e-learning. 

Never used hotspots? No problem. You can learn all about them in our user guide: Working with Hotspots.

Share Your E-Learning Work

  • Comments: Use the comments section below to share a link to your published example and blog post.
  • Forums: Start  your own thread and share a link to your published example..
  • Personal blog:  If you have a blog, please consider writing about your challenges. We’ll link back to your posts so the great work you’re sharing gets even more exposure.

Social Media: If you share your demos on Twitter or LinkedIn, try using #ELHChallenge so your tweeps can track your e-learning coolness.

Last Week’s Challenge:

Before you dive into this week's challenge, test your knowledge in the eighth grade e-learning quizzes:

19 E-Learning Quizzes to Help You Pass the Eighth Grade #295

1912 Eight Grade Quiz Makeover RECAP #295: Challenge | Recap

Wishing you a great week, E-Learning Heroes!

New to the E-Learning Challenges?

The weekly e-learning challenges are ongoing opportunities to learn, share, and build your e-learning portfolios. You can jump into any or all of the previous challenges anytime you want. I’ll update the recap posts to include your demos.

119 Comments
Sunet Sullivan
Walt Hamilton
Ron Katz
Ron Katz
Kimberly Eng

First, I put hotspots over each section of the palette and tied that to trigger different states to change the color of the paint bucket next to it to match the color. I also added true/false variables so that clicking on the section of the palette will set it to "true", while setting the other sections as "false". Next, I put freeform shapes over each part of the dinosaur that I wanted to be colored in, with different states corresponding to the different colors on the palette. I added hotspots over each of these pieces as well. I then added triggers to change the states of the shapes over each part of the dinosaur to change a certain color when (1) selecting the corresponding hotspot and (2) to change to the color that matches the color on the palette that is set to "true". I j... Expand

Jonathan Hill
Gerry McAteer
Jen Edgerton
Rachelle Albright
Kristy Moede