Challenge #544: Brand Storytelling Accordion (Powered by AI & JS!) 🚀
Hi everyone! 👋 Here is my entry for this week's Accordion Interactions challenge. For the content, I decided to focus on Brand Storytelling and how brands communicate through stories rather than just hard data. I thought it would be a valuable mini-lesson for anyone interested in marketing or instructional design. But the most exciting part for me was the behind-the-scenes creation process! Yesterday (March 24th), I had the opportunity to attend the "10 AI Assistant Capabilities You’re Missing & 10 Tips to Master them" event by David Anderson, which discussed the implementation of the AI Assistant in Articulate. Around the same time, I watched an excellent video tutorial by Learning Dojo titled "Building a Sliding Accordion with New Learning Prompts Tool". I felt so inspired that I decided to test out the prompts from prompts.learningdojo.app mentioned in the video, implementing them directly into the Articulate Storyline AI Assistant. To my surprise, it worked wonderfully! 🤯 The AI generated the structure for a fully functional HTML/CSS/JS accordion. I simply placed it inside an "Execute JavaScript" trigger when the timeline starts on a blank slide. Then, from my side as an instructional designer, I only had to tweak the CSS styles (giving it a clean design with a deep blue/purple gradient) and make a few minor adjustments to the code to structure the content into two levels and ensure the text fit perfectly. I think this is a fantastic tool and workflow for adding interactive and custom UI elements to our courses. AI keeps surprising me every day! You can check out my interaction here: Brand Storytelling Accordion Hope you like it! I'd love to read your feedback.Build awareness. Promote safety. Empower action.
An engaging eLearning module designed using vector graphics and microlearning to help learners recognize workplace sexual violence and respond appropriately. Check it out: https://www.brilliantteams.com.au/vector-graphics-elearning-workplace-sexual-violence-training/Meet the Team: Hover Quotes for Storyline
Here's an example of how I've used quotes for meet-the-team type interactions. I've always been a fan of using quotes in my trainings and try to include a few in every course. Rise has some good options for quote blocks but quotes are rare in Storyline courses. View the example (download included)Effective Email Writing Skills
We focused on creating a simple and engaging learning experience using vector graphics and microlearning design. The goal was to make workplace communication training: Easy to understand Visually appealing Practical to apply Built in Articulate Rise 360 with simple interactions. View the sample: Email Writing Skills Training | Custom eLearning CourseRace Back To Base
Hello! Can you make it back to base before the sandstorm hits? Play now. The thing I really love about working with vectors is how scalable they are. Even the tiniest details remain crystal clear when you scale them up. I built this demo using elements from a single vector pack created by Macrovector on Freepik. To create the illusion of movement, I used PowerPoint to recolour the wheels on the Mars Rover vehicle, and isolated parts of the tyre track. I then made a GIF using these shapes. And then placed the GIF over the modified SVG image in Storyline. This allowed me to turn the motion on/off using state changes. Pretty much everything that moves in this demo is a GIF, tucked away in a state change until it's needed. Having access to high-quality, easy-to-use graphics allowed me to focus on the instructional elements and the scoring mechanic. The 'wronger' your answer, the quicker your oxygen will deplete. Even if you reach the third question, if your oxygen hits zero, you will have to start again. This is controlled by JavaScript, which adjusts the value of the variable by a set amount when triggered. var player = GetPlayer(); var penalty = 35; // Change to 45 or 55 depending on the button var battery = player.GetVar("Battery"); var elapsed = 0; var interval = 100; var steps = 10000 / interval; var amountPerStep = penalty / steps; var timer = setInterval(function() { elapsed++; battery = Math.max(0, battery - amountPerStep); if (battery === 0) { player.SetVar("Battery", 0); clearInterval(timer); } else if (elapsed >= steps) { player.SetVar("Battery", Math.round(battery)); clearInterval(timer); } else { player.SetVar("Battery", Math.round(battery)); } }, interval); The eagle-eyed among you will have also noticed that when this demo runs on a desktop, the closed captions that accompany the narration have been repositioned and have a slight 'glitch' effect as they appear. This is also achieved with JavaScript. Despite the recent improvements to the closed caption feature in Storyline, sometimes I prefer to manually override the position of the captions to better suit my layout. This code only reliably works in desktop view, though. const mobileView = window.innerWidth < 768 || window.innerHeight < 500; var storyW = 1280; var storyH = 720; var boxLeft = 850; var boxTop = 430; var boxWidth = 350; var boxHeight = 200; var captionFontSize = 20; function positionCaptions() { if (mobileView === true) { console.log("Mobile view detected - caption positioning skipped."); return; } var leftPct = (boxLeft / storyW * 100).toFixed(2) + "%"; var topPct = (boxTop / storyH * 100).toFixed(2) + "%"; var widthPct = (boxWidth / storyW * 100).toFixed(2) + "%"; const css = ` .caption-container { position: absolute !important; transform: none !important; } .caption { position: absolute !important; left: ${leftPct} !important; top: ${topPct} !important; width: ${widthPct} !important; font-size: ${captionFontSize}pt !important; transform: none !important; z-index: 1000 !important; } @keyframes glitchstutter { 0% { opacity: 0; transform: translate(-10px, 4px) skewX(-8deg); filter: blur(6px); } 8% { opacity: 0.8; transform: translate( 10px, -4px) skewX( 9deg); filter: blur(3px); } 12% { opacity: 0; transform: translate(-8px, 2px) skewX(-6deg); filter: blur(7px); } 18% { opacity: 0.9; transform: translate( 8px, 3px) skewX( 6deg); filter: blur(1px); } 22% { opacity: 0.1; transform: translate(-12px, -2px) skewX(-10deg); filter: blur(5px); } 28% { opacity: 1; transform: translate( 6px, 0px) skewX( 4deg); filter: blur(1px); } 35% { opacity: 0.3; transform: translate(-6px, 4px) skewX(-6deg); filter: blur(3px); } 42% { opacity: 1; transform: translate( 4px, -2px) skewX( 3deg); filter: blur(1px); } 50% { opacity: 0.6; transform: translate(-3px, 1px) skewX(-2deg); filter: blur(1px); } 60% { opacity: 1; transform: translate( 2px, 0px) skewX( 1deg); filter: blur(0px); } 75% { opacity: 0.95; transform: translate(-1px, 0px) skewX( 0deg); filter: blur(0px); } 100% { opacity: 1; transform: translate( 0px, 0px) skewX( 0deg); filter: blur(0px); } } .caption-glitch { animation: glitchstutter 0.6s ease-out forwards !important; } `; let style = document.getElementById('custom-caption-style'); if (!style) { style = document.createElement('style'); style.id = 'custom-caption-style'; document.head.appendChild(style); } style.textContent = css; var capEl = document.querySelector('.caption'); if (capEl) { var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) { mutations.forEach(function(mutation) { capEl.classList.remove('caption-glitch'); void capEl.offsetWidth; capEl.classList.add('caption-glitch'); }); }); observer.observe(capEl, { childList: true, subtree: true, characterData: true }); capEl.classList.add('caption-glitch'); } console.log(`Captions positioned at left:${leftPct} top:${topPct} font:${captionFontSize}pt`); } document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', positionCaptions); positionCaptions(); I had a lot of fun making this. It still surprises how much mileage you can get from a small number of visual assets. If you have any more questions about this demo, please ask.
Vector Graphics for Onboarding
I created a custom library of vector-based characters to support an onboarding course, ensuring a consistent visual style aligned with the overall learning experience. Using Adobe Illustrator, I designed scalable assets that could be easily adapted across different modules and scenarios. To enhance engagement, I then imported these assets into Adobe Animate, where I developed simple, purposeful animations that added motion and personality without distracting from the instructional content. This approach allowed me to maintain visual consistency while introducing dynamic elements that helped bring the onboarding experience to life. LinkAccordion FAQs
What if an accordion FAQ didn't have to look like one? For this week's challenge, I built two completely different takes. One is styled as sticky notes pinned on a corkboard, where each note peels open on click, and one is a chat conversation where tapping a question triggers a typing animation before the bot replies. Both in Storyline 360 on a 9:16 canvas, with a selection screen so you can pick which style to explore. Check it out here! Would love to connect on LinkedIn and exchange ideas!The South Africa Big 5
Hello! I'm currently sitting in Joburg Airport, waiting for my flight back to the UK after a terrific week in South Africa with New Leaf Technologies. After the Learning Indaba, I was very fortunate to spend some time with the team at Kwalata Game Lodge in Dinokeng Game Reserve. Inspired by that experience, here's my demo for this week's Accordion Challenge. This demo uses JavaScript to 'shuffle' the five parts of the accordion, reordering their z-index positions, so that the selected part always appears beneath the other four. var player = GetPlayer(); var animalValue = player.GetVar("ANIMAL"); var ids = { GrassFgd: "6HxcFGzoBsU", ELEPHANT: "6YFFSsUIcdG", RHINO: "6f62e0IMC4F", LION: "5ohBXuBxrO4", BUFFALO: "6moj2Qru7Il", LEOPARD: "6DwuJlPK3xT", GrassBgd: "64KgCoIDN33" }; // Priority order: index 0 = highest z-index (frontmost) var animalOrder = ["ELEPHANT", "RHINO", "LION", "BUFFALO", "LEOPARD"]; function getEl(id) { return document.querySelector('[data-model-id="' + id + '"]'); } function getZ(id) { var el = getEl(id); if (!el) return 0; return parseInt(window.getComputedStyle(el).zIndex) || 0; } function setZ(id, z) { var el = getEl(id); if (el) el.style.zIndex = z; } var zBgd = getZ(ids.GrassBgd); var zFgd = getZ(ids.GrassFgd); var zBase = zBgd + 1; // zBase+0 = selected (back), zBase+1..4 = others low to high // So Elephant (highest priority) gets zBase+4 when not selected, etc. if (!animalValue || animalValue.trim() === "") { // Reset: Elephant highest, Leopard lowest in the group for (var i = 0; i < animalOrder.length; i++) { // i=0 (Elephant) gets highest: zBase+4, i=4 (Leopard) gets zBase+0 setZ(ids[animalOrder[i]], zBase + (animalOrder.length - 1 - i)); } } else { var selected = animalValue.trim().toUpperCase(); // Selected goes to the very back of the group setZ(ids[selected], zBase); // Remaining animals keep their relative order, stacked above var zCounter = zBase + 1; // Walk from lowest priority to highest (Leopard up to Elephant) // so that Elephant ends up with the highest z-index for (var i = animalOrder.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) { if (animalOrder[i] !== selected) { setZ(ids[animalOrder[i]], zCounter); zCounter++; } } } // Re-pin grass layers setZ(ids.GrassBgd, zBgd); setZ(ids.GrassFgd, zFgd); Each section of the accordion is also made using an SVG image, as the transparent areas of a PNG image would have blocked users from clicking any sections beneath it. Right! I have a flight to catch! Visit the Game Reserve here: https://bit.ly/elhc544
Code Block Accordion w/ Video Player
I opted to go full custom code block for this one. My accordion consists of 14 statements that might resonate with a subject matter expert who has been asked to develop and deliver training. Clicking each statement operates like a typical accordion by expanding and showing more content. In this case, the content includes several buttons that let the user explore a quick solution, or mark the scenario as not applicable to them. Additionally, they can even go deeper on the content and load a short video on the topic. The full accordion sits inside a single custom code block. Enjoy! Link to Course Demo
