Grids are a visual design tool widely used by graphic designers and e-learning developers alike. Grids are layouts created with intersecting horizontal and vertical lines. You can use grids to help structure content and organize graphic elements like images and text. They help ensure slide content is organized and attractive.   

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why grids are helpful and how you can use them in Storyline 360. Here we go!

Why Grids Are Helpful

Grids are a great tool to help you use white space more effectively. The grid lines help you to align objects and ensure they’re spaced evenly.

Take a look at the before and after examples below. Do you notice how the white space is more evenly distributed in the “after” image? 

Before - No Grid

After - With Grid

 

That’s because the crayons in the “after” image are more evenly spaced and centered both horizontally and vertically on the slide. This makes the design feel more organized and less squished together. You can use alignment tools to achieve the same look, but with a grid, it’s a little easier!

Applying Grids in Storyline 360

If you’re ready to give this a try, you can easily apply a grid to your design in Storyline 360. Just go to the View tab on the ribbon and check the Gridlines option.

As soon as you apply a grid to your project, a series of dotted horizontal and vertical lines will appear on your slide.

Click the Grid and Guides icon in the ribbon to open the properties window. Here, you can make the objects on the slide snap to the grid or snap to other objects and edit the size of your grid by increasing or decreasing the spacing. 

Resources

And that’s all you need to know to get started using grids to improve the appearance of your Storyline 360 courses! But if you’d like more Storyline design tips, check out these articles: 

What tricks do you like to use to improve your e-learning designs? Share your ideas in a comment below.

Want to try something you learned here, but don’t have Articulate 360? Start a free 30-day trial, and come back to E-Learning Heroes regularly for more helpful advice on everything related to e-learning. If you have any questions, please share them in the comments.

 

1 Comment
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I recently had the opportunity to read your insightful article on using grids to enhance e-learning designs in Storyline 360. The examples provided were particularly helpful in illustrating the significant impact grids can have on the overall design quality. However, I'd like to suggest an additional feature that could further enhance this tool's versatility: the ability to modify the number of columns and rows within a grid. This feature would allow designers to customize grids more precisely according to their specific content requirements, thus offering even greater control over the layout and spatial arrangement of various elements on a slide. Such a feature would be incredibly beneficial, especially when designing courses that require a unique or unconventional layout. It would ... Expand