User Guide
60 Topics7 Pro Tips for Working with Motion Path Animations in Storyline 360
Animations can be a powerful way to explain a concept, tell a story, or make your content memorable. Storyline 360 has a variety of animation options—including entrance, exit, and motion paths. With motion path animations, you can control how your objects move and bring your ideas to life. Here are some time-saving tips to help propel you forward when working with motion path animations. 1. Rename Motion Paths When you add a motion path animation to an object in Storyline 360, a name is automatically assigned. If you plan on adding multiple motion paths, it’s a good idea to rename each one. This will make it easier to identify which motion path you’re working on when editing triggers. 2. Copy Animations If you plan on using the same motion path animation on several objects, save time by copying the animation from one object to another using the Animation Painter. By double-clicking the Animation Painter, you can apply the same animation to multiple objects one after the other without having to click the Animation Painter over and over again. To turn it off, click it one last time or press the ESC key on your keyboard. Did you know? When you copy and paste an object, any animations you’ve added to the object are also copied over. So if you’re using the same object multiple times, add any animations you want to include before you copy it to save time. 3. Sync Using Cue Points As you build content, you might change your mind about when you want your motion path animation to start. Syncing your motion path to a cue point gives you the flexibility to change the motion path timing without having to edit the trigger each time. All you have to do is drag the cue point along the timeline until the timing feels right, and the motion path will start at the new time. 4. Select the Object Path to Edit To edit a motion path, you can select the start or end point individually using your mouse and drag the point to the desired location. If you have multiple start or end points overlapping each other, you can easily select and edit them without having to hide objects from your timeline. Simply select the line of the object path you want to edit. It will turn bright blue while the other objects and their paths will fade. Then, move the start or end point as needed. Did you know? Another way to fine-tune a motion path is to select the start or end point of one or all of the objects and edit the X and Y coordinates. This is great for times when you need to be super-precise. 5. Change the Easing Option By default, Storyline 360 automatically assigns an ease-in and ease-out effect to your motion paths. This controls the acceleration and deceleration of an animation. If your animation needs to move at the same pace across the screen, then you’ll want to edit the easing direction to none. 6. Orient Shape to Path There might be times when you need to include an object that faces a certain direction as it follows a path—for example, a car making a right turn. By selecting Orient Shape to Path, the object will always face the direction it’s moving, even when it travels on a nonlinear path. 7. Use a Relative Start Point Perhaps you want to create an interaction where the object can move multiple times depending on the learner’s choice. For example, let’s say you created a racetrack and want the learner’s car to move forward whenever they answer a question correctly. Instead of duplicating the object and creating motion paths for each possible outcome, you can select Relative Start Point to move the object along the motion path starting from its current position. For more ideas on how to use this feature, check out this tutorial. Did you know? You can add more than one motion path to the same object and have each begin at the new location of the object based on previous movements. For more ideas on how to use this feature, check out this free Storyline 360 download by Samuel Apata. Motion path animations give you the flexibility to quickly create content that’ll move your learners. What tips do you have for working with motion paths? Share your ideas in the comments 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.399Views0likes9Comments15 Ways to Collaborate on Projects and Manage Your Team with Articulate 360 Teams
If you have a team of e-learning developers, you probably have two basic goals: to create beautiful, effective courses and to manage your team as efficiently as possible. And we want to help you do just that! That’s why we’re always adding new features to Articulate 360 Teams. Check out the following 15 features that’ll have you collaborating on projects and managing your team with ease, no matter how big your team grows. Collaboration Features Collaborative Authoring in Rise 360 Work together on Rise 360 courses with members of any Articulate 360 team. Create and edit different lessons simultaneously or take turns fine-tuning the same one. Changes happen in real time, so everyone always works on the most recent version. You can even give collaborators different levels of access by making themauthors or admins. Learn more about collaborative authoring. Question Banks in Rise 360 Create repositories of questions that can be used in any course you create. Share them with your team so everyone can quickly create quizzes with consistent questions, answers, feedback, and media. Knowledge checks and quizzes draw from these banks rather than displaying the same static questions whenever a learner takes the course. When you share a question bank, team members can use your questions and, with the proper permissions, modify them or add their own. Learn more about question banks. Shared Block Templates in Rise 360 Build Rise 360 courses faster by saving existing blocks and their content as templates. Share those templates with your team, then everyone can reuse them in other Rise 360 courses. Learn more about block templates. Shared Team Slides in Storyline 360 Easily collaborate on Storyline 360 projects with a library of shared team slides. Team members upload and download slides, scenes, and entire projects right within Storyline 360. It’s perfect for sharing project templates, slides that need to be in every course, and reusable slide content, such as interactions and quiz questions. Learn more about team slides. Shared Team Folders in Rise 360 and Review 360 Create shared team folders in Rise 360 and Review 360 to organize your content, assign permissions, and invite collaborators. You can even allow multiple authors to publish new versions of a course to the same Review 360 project. Project Reviews in Review 360 Speed up project reviews. Publish e-learning projects from Storyline 360 , Rise 360, and your other Articulate 360 apps to Review 360 to gather feedback from stakeholders. Collect in-context feedback, follow threaded discussions, and resolve comments in one easy-to-use web app. Learn more about Review 360. Request Reviews in Review 360 Keep your team on track without the hassle of spreadsheets or phone calls. Send and track requests for specific stakeholders to review a content item right from Review 360. With email notifications, due dates, visible statuses, and completion buttons, you’ll never miss another deadline. Learn more about requesting reviews. Integrated Comments in Rise 360 and Storyline 360 Streamline review processes even further. Get Review 360 comments in context as you work in Rise 360 and Storyline 360, eliminating back-and-forth toggling between apps. Browse through feedback from various stakeholders, see comments for multiple Review 360 items, reply to and resolve comments, and add suggested images in real time—all in one place. Cloud Backup in Storyline 360 and Review 360 Work with confidence, knowing your files are safe and easy to access anywhere, anytime. Access your Storyline 360 project files from anywhere and share them with team members by uploading your source files to Review 360. Learn more about cloud backup. Admin Features Consolidated Billing Management Articulate 360 Teams makes billing management simple. You get one annual bill that covers all your team seats. You have the flexibility to pay via credit card or purchase order. And as your team grows, you can add more seats using your account management console. Learn more about account management. Easy User Management Easily add and remove users as your team evolves. For example, when users leave the company or their roles change, remove them from your team and assign the seats to new users. You can even upload all your users at once using a simple CSV file. And you can add as many admins as you’d like to manage your team. Learn more about managing your team. Group Admins Manage your team with ease. Organize users in groups, such as departments or locations, and assign admins to manage each group.Watch this videofor a brief overview andcheck out this articlefor details on managing users, groups, and admins. Manage Team Slides and Block Templates Admins who have user seatscan rename and delete all Storyline 360team slides and Rise 360shared block templates. This is helpful when the original content owners aren’t available to make changes. TransferContent Maintain control of your content and intellectual property. When someone leaves your team, keep shared content within the subscription and choose what happens to their personal content. Content includes Rise 360 courses, microlearning, label sets, and block templates; Review 360 items and request reviews; and Storyline 360 team slides. Single Sign-On Don’t worry about remembering (or forgetting!) another password.Control authentication for your Articulate 360 team using your own identity provider and oursingle sign-on (SSO) solution. Start a Free Trial Experience these Articulate 360 Teams features for yourself! Sign up for a 30-day free trial of Articulate 360. You can invite up to 10 users to join your team during the trial period. You’ll get the exclusive collaboration and admin features described above, as well as award-winning authoring apps, 20+ million royalty-free course assets, as well as live and on-demand online training. See these FAQs to learn more about free trials and let us know if you need help!299Views0likes0CommentsDrag and Drop
Drag and drops are a common type of interactivityused in e-learning. A drag and drop interaction typically consists of drag items (the objects that are dragged) and drop targets (the zones the dragitemsare dropped on).A drag and drop interactioninvolves moving the cursor over adrag item, selecting it, and moving it toa drop target. Drag and drops also work on mobile devices by using a finger to move the drag items. Learn More: 3 Design Tips for Creating Effective Drag-and-Drop Activities 3 Ways to Create Drag and Drops With Storyline 360 How to Create Freeform Drag-and-Drop Interactions in Storyline 360199Views0likes0Comments5 Inspiring Font Pairings for Your Next E-Learning Project
Look at any e-learning project and one of the first things you’ll notice are the fonts. Theme fonts set the stage. They establish a project’s tone—and they make a big difference in helping learners read content more easily. But, with so many options to choose from, how can you possibly pick? Thankfully, you don’t have to search online for the perfect heading and body fonts. You can simply mix and match the built-in Storyline 360 fonts and system typefaces to make your content look polished and legible. Curious to see which fonts work well together? Take a look at these five pairings you can start using right away! 1. Montserrat Medium & Montserrat Want to combine similar fonts without falling into the “it’s boring” trap? Try pairing Montserrat Medium with Montserrat. These two fonts have the same base—just with different line thicknesses. The result is an engaging, easy-on-the-eye contrast. Together, these fonts create a sense of strength and tranquility. And because of their versatility and geometric lettering, the fonts are generally safe for any project. 2. Georgia & Verdana Pairing different fonts can sometimes feel daunting. How do you know which ones to mix and match? What if you end up combining fonts that conflict instead of contrast? Choose Georgia and Verdana and you can put those worries aside, as these two fonts were designed to work together. The elegant simplicity of Georgia combined with the clear and legible Verdana font makes this classic combo a nice choice for your projects. 3. Trebuchet MS & Garamond Need a fresh look? Sometimes combining the old with the new can give a sense of unique familiarity. To capture that balance, try Trebuchet MS and Garamond. The modern Trebuchet MS paired with Garamond—one of the oldest fonts—emits a friendly and sophisticated tone, giving you the best of both worlds. 4. Oswald & Open Sans The best font pairings have visual contrast—but that contrast can't look disjointed. After all, we still need to maintain cohesiveness. Use Oswald and Open Sans to create that ideal match. Oswald’s slightly elongated characteristics combine beautifully with many fonts. Match it with the neutral and friendly Open Sans and you’ll have a distinct and professional pairing that’s instantly pleasing to the eye. 5. Raleway & Roboto Light Need to add some personality to your projects? Look no further than the dynamic Raleway and Roboto Light duo. This sleek and modern font combination is the perfect mix! Raleway works great as a heading because its subtle, artistic look attracts just the right amount of attention. Roboto Light body text completes the picture because it’s versatile and easy to read. Wrap-Up Using any of these font combinations can help your courses look captivating, professional, and readable. And since anyone using Storyline 360 already has these fonts installed, you can easily share your file and rest assured knowing the text formatting will stay intact! Of course, these are just a few pairing options; we’re sure you have many other creative ideas up your sleeve. We’d love to hear them! Which built-in fonts are your go-tos for headings and body text? For more typography tips, check out these articles: 8 Questions to Ask When Choosing Fonts & Formatting Text Insider Tips for Working with Fonts in Storyline 360 How to Use Typography to Improve Your E-Learning Storyline 360: Working with Theme Fonts Follow us on Twitter 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.199Views0likes0CommentsxAPI
xAPI, also known as The Experience API or Tin Can API, is an e-learning software specification used for sending, storing, and retrieving learner activity and performance data. This standard is based on the idea that learning can happen anywhere, not just in an e-learning course that’s hosted on an LMS, so you should be able to track learner activity everywhere. xAPI captures information about online and offline learning experiences across different platformsusing statements that explain what the learner has done. These xAPI statements are recorded in a Learning Record Store (LRS), which can exist alone or in addition to a Learning Management System (LMS). Learn More: An Introduction to xAPI A Quick Introduction to LMS Standards How to Choose the Right Learning Management System (LMS) for You What Is xAPI? xapi.com Tin Can vs. Experience API vs. xAPI100Views0likes0CommentsCreate a Cohesive Look with These 5 Storyline 360 Visual Design Pointers
Creating a cohesive visual design throughout your course is something e-learning pros spend a lot of time perfecting. Here are a few ways I ensure visual design consistency right from the start! 1. Create custom theme colors to ensure consistency Before adding content to your slides, create a new theme color. Using theme colors ensures consistency across slides and makes it quick to change the colors throughout a project or template. Go to the Design tab Click the Colors drop-down arrow Select Create New Theme Colors Use the color selectors to assemble your palette Enter a name for your custom theme colors Click Save Pro tip: Use the Eyedropper tool to select any color visible on your screen. For more info, check out this article: Storyline 360: Working with Theme Colors. 2. Create new theme fonts to save design time Avoid editing the fonts on every slide by creating a new theme font for each of your projects at the start. Theme fonts control headings, body text, questions, and answer choices. Go to the Design tab Click the Fonts drop-down arrow Select Create New Theme Fonts Choose a heading font and a body font Enter a name for your custom theme fonts Click Save For more info, check out this article: Storyline 360: Working with Theme Fonts. 3. Use slide masters to create uniformity across slides No need to copy and paste similar items from one slide to another. Apply the same look and feel across multiple slides easily using slide masters. Go to the View tab Click Slide Master Customize the slide master and layouts Pro tip: If you have a quiz in your course, you can also customize the feedback masters to give your question feedback layers a consistent look and feel throughout your course. For more info, check out this article: Storyline 360: Using Slide Masters. 4. Edit assets in third-party apps and save changes directly into your project With the Media Library, you can edit project assets in a third-party app—like Photoshop—and save the updates to Storyline 360 without having to export and reimport the image. Right-click the image you want to edit Scroll to Show in Media Library Click the pencil icon to edit Choose an app from the list of image editors installed on your computer Edit the image Save your changes and close the app For more info, check out: Editing Assets in Third-Party Apps. 5. See what the layout will look like by quickly adding placeholder text When you’re designing slide layouts, it can be helpful to add placeholder text to get a feel for what they’ll look like once you add your content. With Storyline 360, you don’t have to go to the web to search for lorem ipsum text to copy and paste. You can save time by using this shortcut right on your slide. Insert a textbox on your slide Type =lorem() Hit Enter on your keyboard Pro tip: If you want a certain number of placeholder paragraphs, enter that number in the parentheses. For example: =lorem(3) displays 3 paragraphs. More Ways to Save Time These are just a few of my favorite visual design workflow tips. There is so much more you can do in Storyline 360. Want to save even more time? Then check out my other time-saving articles: Set Yourself Up for Success with These 5 Storyline 360 Project Time-Savers Crush Your To-Do List with These 6 Storyline 360 Slide-Building Tips I’d love to hear all the different tips and tricks you use to save time. Please share your ideas 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.99Views0likes0CommentsKnowledge Check
Unlike a quiz, a knowledge check is not typically graded or tracked. Learners complete knowledge checks to gauge their understanding of course material. They’re useful for helping learners know how they’re doing. Knowledge checks usually provide feedback to help learners understand why their choice was correct or incorrect. Learn more: Rise Knowledge Check Blocks Interactive Knowledge Check Examples in E-Learning #7 How to Create a Successful E-Learning Knowledge Check99Views0likes0Comments5 FAQs About Using Grouped Objects in Storyline 360
Have you ever worked on a slide with so many objects that you found yourself struggling to click on the one you intended, or maybe spending countless hours adding animations or triggers to each individual item? There’s an easier way. Grouping objects in Storyline 360 is a handy feature that can help you stay organized and work more efficiently. Here are some of the commonly asked questions about working with grouped objects in Storyline 360. 1. When does it make sense to group objects? Working with numerous objects on a slide can start to feel overwhelming. Before you know it, your timeline and trigger panel become an endless list of objects and triggers, which can be time-consuming to manage. Declutter Your Timeline Grouping objects together can help you work more efficiently. Look at these two timelines for the same course. Ungrouped And there are still a ton of objects that aren’t visible without scrolling. Grouped Such a noticeable difference when the objects are grouped! The grouped version is clean and easy to manage. I can quickly show, hide, or lock objects in just a few clicks. Keep Triggers at a Minimum Another benefit of grouping objects is that you can execute one action for an entire group of objects. This cleans up your trigger panel and makes it easier to hide triggers if you need to do some testing. Before: After: Edit Multiple Objects Simultaneously Grouping objects also allows you to edit, move, rotate, flip, or change other attributes all at once, as if they were a single object. You can also resize all the objects in the group while preserving the spacing between objects. 2. What’s the quickest way to group objects? The most common way to group objects is by selecting the objects to group together, right-clicking, and choosing Group: But did you know there’s a faster way? You can save yourself a few clicks (and a lot of time) by using a keyboard shortcut. Simply hit Control + G (or Command + G on a Mac). 3. How do animations work with groups? When it comes to grouped objects and animations, you have two options: Option 1: Apply animations to each object individually. When you want the objects in a group to animate at different times, you can add individual animations to each object. In the following example, you can see that I added animations to each object (noted by each ⭐) and then grouped them together. The following GIF illustrates what the above grouped object with individual animations looks like in action. Option 2: Apply animations to the group as a whole. When you want to animate multiple objects all at once, group them together and then add an animation to the entire group. In the following example, I grouped the objects together and selected the Fly In animation (noted by the one ⭐ at the top left). The following GIF illustrates what a grouped object with one group animation looks like in action. 4. How do I troubleshoot animations with grouped objects? Grouped objects aren’t animating as intended? It’s possible you’ve applied a mix of both animation options I shared above. This happens a lot if you’ve added animations to individual objects and then later decided to group those objects together and add a group animation. To figure out if that’s what’s going on, open the Animations tab and then click on each individual object in the group. Keep an eye on the Entrance, Exit, and Motion Path Animation options as you click each object. If you see an animation has been added to an object, remove it by selecting the drop-down arrow and clicking None or simply deleting the extra motion path. 5. Can you add states to groups? Storyline 360 has built-in states that allow you to change the appearance of an object (such as shapes and buttons) based on the learner’s action. States can only be added to individual objects, not grouped objects. However, you can still edit the states of the individual objects within a group by selecting each object and editing their states. Or you can first edit the states and then group them together. Check out this video tutorial on how to make a group of objects display their individual hover states. Another option is to keep one object of the group on the slide, click Edit States, and paste the remaining objects in the Normal State. Check out this video tutorial on how to work with grouped objects in Storyline 360. More Resources For more information on working with grouped objects, check out these resources: Quick Answers to 6 Frequently Asked Storyline 360 Questions Top 5 Storyline Tips You Might Have Missed in 2019 Everything You Need to Know About States in Storyline 360 What questions or tips do you have about working with grouped objects in Storyline 360? Please share your ideas 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.99Views0likes9CommentsMicrolearning
Microlearning (also spelled micro-learning) breaks information and content into small, quick-to-consume bits for learners. Microlearning typically includes short training videos or scenarios designed to help learners achieve one distinct objective. The granularity of microlearning makes it easier for learners to promptly get information at the time they need it. Learn more: What Is Microlearning? Microlearning: How To Keep Your E-Learning Courses Short & Sweet99Views0likes0CommentsLocalization
Localization is the process of making adjustments to e-learning to make it work for a particular language or culture. This includes but is not limited to: the translation of text-based content, changes to cultural references, updates to the photos and imagery, and more. Learn More: Planning Your Localized E-Learning Projects Designing Your E-Learning Course Graphics with Localization in Mind Top 10 Writing Tips for E-Learning Localization QA Testing Your Localized E-Learning Courses98Views0likes0Comments