Forum Discussion
Ending A Storyline Slide Preference
Design survey. Have slide content fade out, end with whatever is on screen last or add a prompt? What do you prefer?
Jessica,
Sorry, I didn’t read your post well enough.
I seldom create slides that automatically advance. Even if a slide has nothing on it but text to read, I want the learner to take some action on each slide. So unless there is audio or video that demands more time, I usually use short timelines. That means I can’t use fades, because they will fade when the timeline ends.
Additionally, in our internet world, people feel abused if they click and have to wait more than .1 (or sometimes .01) sec before something happens. I opt for click and see instantly. I will use fades for something that appears later or disappears sooner than other objects. By the way, I don’t use the fancy, glamorous animations, because they don’t all work well in every browser.
Thanks for the longer reply Walt. Yes, it's hard to wait. Even for .01 secs LOL. My current project has 10 slides of heavy content with 2 minutes of narrations on each, followed by a quiz. It has lots of animations and objects appearing and disappearing. Navigation is restricted and does not auto advance, so when the individual slides end, I can't decide if I want to fade out nothing, have whatever's on screen stay there, or something else. There is a lot of content on each slide, and it seems a little weird (not sure why) to leave the last thing. Fading also is problematic in case they look away and then everything is gone. Usually, I leave the last thing on screen but was wondering if others have clever solutions. Thank you for your input!
I think a fade or static screen leaves the learner hanging. I much prefer a prompt - "Thanks for viewing", or "You may close this window", or something of that nature.
Thanks for commenting Walt. I'm wondering about the slides in the middle of a training. I always include a you're finished with this training screen. Say there are 10 slides, and when each end the learner selects next in the player to move on. In the past I've done both. Fade out and have left things on screen. I've even had a pop up to select next. I've been feeling the pop up is redundant since the player already has a next button. I have mixed feelings about leaving whatever is on screen last. Same with fading to nothing. Just wondering what others prefer.
When a course has a Next button, I think most folks know that they should click it to move on. However, if your audience wouldn't know that, you could provide a Help slide.
Typically, if the stakeholders require that learners must "complete" each slide before moving on, the course is set to Restricted navigation, and interactive slides are programmed to only enable the Next button when the interaction is done. Here's more info: TIP: Controlling the NEXT Button 101 | Articulate - Community
Otherwise, whenever the user is ready to move on from the current slide, they'll do so. I'd avoid fading out the content, because you don't know how long the user wants to look at it. For example, they might get distracted and look away for a while, and then they'd be confused if they turned back to find a blank slide.
Hi Judy thanks for the reply and your thoughts on why you avoid fading.
