articulate – The Logical Blog

May 30, 2024

Articulate Storyline 360: May 2024 Update Makes 64-Bit Storyline the Default

With the May 2024 Storyline 360 update (Build 3.88.32474.0), the 64-bit version of Storyline 360 is now the default.

According to Jesse Taber, engineering manager for Storyline 360, "Storyline has traditionally been a 32-bit application. The primary difference between 32-bit and 64-bit applications is the amount of system memory they can use. In Windows, 32-bit applications can access, at most, 4GB of memory, while 64-bit applications can access far more memory than any modern consumer-grade PC can accommodate."

Taber went on to state that "The primary benefit of targeting 64-bit processor architecture is the ability to use more system memory. When Storyline 360 opens a project file, it loads it all into memory. Very large projects, particularly those with many rich media assets, can experience issues opening, saving, and publishing in the 32-bit version of Storyline 360. Projects like this should be much more stable in Storyline 360 x64."

"Aside from memory usage, most authors will likely see performance on par with the 32-bit version of Storyline 360. While performance improvements were not a primary driver for creating Storyline 360 x64, we plan to invest more directly in performance improvements going forward," said Taber.

To install the update, start the Articulate 360 app, click the drop-down menu to the right of Storyline 360, and choose Install Update.

If the 64-bit version isn't working, you can easily restore access to the 32-bit version via the Articulate 360 preferences. Open the Articulate 360 desktop app, click the drop-down arrow in the upper right corner, and choose Preferences.

From the Legacy Access area, select Restore 32-bit Storyline 360 and then click the Save button.

May 16, 2024

Articulate Storyline 360: Cloud Backups

Back up. Seriously, back up!

Sorry, I mean backup… as in, back up your projects.

During my Articulate Storyline 360 training vILT classes, I stressed the importance of backup projects. While I love Storyline, projects can get corrupt like any other program. You'll breathe a bit easier if you have a recent project backup. The problem with backups is remembering to create them and/or ensuring the backup is on an external or network drive (it does not do you much good if your backup project is on your hard drive and that drive goes bad… say goodbye to your project and your backup).

Articulate Storyline 360 now offers you free cloud project backups.

To begin, Publish the project and select Review 360.

From the bottom of the Publish dialog box, select Upload project file to Review 360.

Click the Publish button to upload a backup copy of the project to the cloud.

Once the project has been published, click the View Project button.

You can download the cloud copy by selecting Current Version > Download Project File.

Looking for training or mentoring? I'm just an email away if you need help using Storyline 360 or Rise support.

January 31, 2024

Articulate Storyline 360: Emphasis Animations

Articulate updated Storyline 360 to include interactive emphasis animation effects like pulsing, shaking, and teetering.

To get the latest build, start Articulate 360 and install the update. Once installed, you'll be working with Storyline build 3.84.31647.0.

Create or open a Storyline project and insert an image onto a slide. In the example below, I inserted a cute puppy from the Content Library.

Select the image and, on the Animations tab, click Add Emphasis Animation.

There are currently five emphasis animations: Pulse, Grow, Shrink, Shake, and Teeter. I selected Shake.

Once the emphasis animation has been applied, you'll have some options. For instance, I've set the Shake amount to Medium.

Then I set the animation's Duration.

A trigger is added to the Triggers window. Double-clicking the trigger offers the ability to edit the trigger as appropriate.

I published the sample emphasis project and uploaded it to my web server. The interaction is very subtle, which I like. You can see it here.

If you're looking for Storyline help, we offer virtual training, mentoring, and development support. Send me an email and let's discuss your needs.

December 8, 2023

Articulate Storyline: Action Fine Tuning

Storyline does a great job recording software simulations. During my vILT beginner Storyline classes, we cover all of the recording modes and the many options.

Once you've recorded a simulation and added it to a scene, you will likely notice that Storyline captured too much. In a recent recording, I noticed that Storyline showed the student where I clicked by highlighting the menu item. I was okay with the menu item being shown when demonstrating the steps. However, in the "let me try" version of the course, I didn't want the learner to see the "click hint."

This is the perfect use case for Storyline's Action Fine Tuning.

Right-click the slide that needs to be tuned and choose Action Fine Tuning.

In the Capture Action Fine Tuning dialog box, click the Previous Frame button to remove the unwanted click visual.

Click the OK button, and you're done.

Check out this short video I created and posted to YouTube to see how the Action Fine Tuning feature works.

Looking for Storyline support or mentoring? We've got you covered: https://www.iconlogic.com/consulting-mentoring-services.html.

November 14, 2023

Articulate Storyline 360: Instant placeholder text

You've been asked to create a Storyline slide. The images are ready, but the text is not. Instead of typing fake placeholder text, Storyline can do the heavy lifting for you.

Select the object and type =lorem() to add placeholder text to a slide object.

Press [enter], and Storyline will fill the object with lorem ipsum text.

Type =rand(), and Storyline will add actual words to the object.

Adding text between the parenthesis tells Storyline to add a specific number of paragraphs and lines. For instance, Type =rand(4,3), and Storyline will insert four paragraphs and three lines.

If you'd like to see this feature in action, check out this YouTube video.

If you are looking for Storyline training, we've got you covered with these vILT courses. We've got you covered if you need eLearning mentoring or development services.

October 31, 2023

Articulate Storyline 360: Cloud Backup for Source Files

Articulate updated Storyline 360 earlier this month to include the ability to upload your project source files to the cloud. This feature allows members of your team to download your project files easily.

To upload your project to the cloud, choose File > Publish.

From the list of options at the left, choose Review 360.

From the Cloud Backup area, select Upload project file to Review 360.

Publish the project.

On the Publish Successful screen, click View Project.

At the left of the window, select the version you'd like to download from the Current Version drop-down menu.

Click the three dots and choose Download project file.

The project's source file is downloaded to the Downloads folder on your computer.

If you need turn-key eLearning development in Storyline, Camtasia, or Captivate, consider IconLogic. If you need training, we've got you covered with our virtual instructor-led classes.

September 21, 2023

Articulate Storyline 360: Integrated Comments

I updated my Articulate Storyline 360 a few days ago to version 3.79.3092.0 and was pleasantly surprised to see an improvement to the review workflow…review comments that appear directly within the Storyline project.

Publish your project to review 360.

Return to the Storyline project and notice that there's now a Comments window.

Click the Review Request button.

Add your reviewers and click the Send request button.

Your reviewers will receive a review invitation email, as shown below.

Reviewers click the Go to Review 360 button and add comments as shown below. When done, reviewers click the I'm done reviewing button.

The review comments appear in the Comments window within Storyline.

If you're looking for Storyline training, support, or mentoring, we've got you covered with our vILT classes, books, and development services.

August 21, 2023

eLearning and Copyright: Are You at Risk?

Online training is more popular than ever. With powerful development tools such as Articulate Storyline, Articulate Rise, TechSmith Camtasia, Adobe Captivate, and Lectora, it’s never been easier to create relevant, highly interactive, and visually stunning eLearning.

Regarding the visually stunning part of eLearning… adding compelling images and videos to your training is a great idea. But where are you going to get those assets? A quick search on the internet finds this great image of Mickey Mouse. Another search finds a cute cat video that will add the perfect amount of humor to your module. The online options are endless, and the assets are easy to download and import into your project.

You publish and upload the project to your web server or Learning Management System. Along with the kudos from your learners comes a cease-and-desist letter from the lawyers at Disney. Worse, that cat video gets you sued for significant money. Even worse? You have to pay the fine, and it's painful.

According to copyright.gov, “anyone found to have infringed a copyrighted work may be liable for statutory damages up to $30,000 for each work infringed and, if willful infringement is proven by the copyright owner, that amount may be increased up to $150,000 for each work infringed.”

Let those numbers sink in for a moment… $30,000… $150,000…

As the boundaries between traditional and online education continue to blur, educators and institutions face unique challenges and opportunities to ensure that their eLearning content is effective and legally compliant. This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge necessary to navigate the complexities of copyright law within the context of eLearning, enabling you to confidently create, distribute, and use digital educational materials while respecting the rights of content creators.

Give us 90 minutes, and we've got you covered!

Learn more about copyright as it pertains to training and eLearning during this 90-minute, live, instructor-led course. Throughout the course, we will explore key copyright concepts such as the fundamentals, fair use and its application in eLearning, open educational resources, licensing models, and strategies for obtaining proper permissions. We will also delve into real-world scenarios and case studies, providing practical insights to inform your eLearning endeavors.

Who Should Attend?

eLearning developers
Technical communicators
Educators
Instructional designers
Training managers
Trainers
Administrators

June 10, 2020

ARTICULATE STORYLINE: Inserting Web URL Hotspots

Just about every eLearning course you've ever used or created has contained at least a button or two that, at a minimum, allows for learner navigation.

Storyline allows you to insert buttons. But there's also a hotspot feature. What's the difference between buttons and hotspots?

Hotspots are similar to Buttons in that they can be interactive. Unlike Buttons, which are typically visible to the learner on the slide, hotspots are transparent. You insert hotspots over slide assets or areas of a slide and then use triggers to make the hotspot interactive.

To insert a hotspot, click the Insert tab on the Ribbon and, from the Interactive Objects group, click Hotspot.

On your slide, draw a hotspot shape over the area of the screen that you'd like to be clickable. In the image below, I've drawn a hotspot over the web address and globe icon. Next, I'll create a trigger that links to the Chesapeake Stables website.

With the hotspot selected, click Create a new trigger on the Triggers window. Change the Action to Open URL/file.

Note: The Open URL/file Action is in the More group; you’ll need to scroll down to find it.

In the File or URL field, type the website address you'd like learners to visit and then press [enter].

Next, test the link. With the Trigger Wizard still open, move your mouse over the web address that you just typed.

At the right of the web address, click Check URL/File.

The target website opens. The ability to check a URL from within the Trigger Wizard is a nice feature because links to websites aren’t fully functional until you Publish. In fact, if you Preview the slide and click the hotspot, you'll see the Link alert as shown in the image below.

And that's that… between buttons and hotspots, adding interactivity to your eLearning cannot get much easier.

***

Looking for training, consulting, mentoring, or development on all things eLearning? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. You can learn more about our eLearning classes on the IconLogic website.

December 9, 2019

ARTICULATE STORYLINE 360: New Trigger Workflow

If you want to make something happen in Articulate Storyline, Triggers are everything. They're so important to your success in Storyline that we cover them beginning in the opening minutes of our Storyline Beginner class and continue to teach them through the end of the Storyline Advanced class.

A recent Storyline 360 update from Articulate has taken what was already a pretty nice trigger workflow and made it even better. In this article we'll take a quick look at the new workflow. (If you'd like to explore the new workflow, download the latest build.) You can check your version of Storyline via Help > About Storyline. The new trigger workflow can be found in build 3.33.20625.0 or later.

The new trigger workflow will be on by default. However, you can elect to stick with the old, Classic workflow if you prefer. To switch between the new and Classic workflows, choose File > Storyline Options.

Select the Features category and then select Use the new, faster trigger workflow. (You will need to restart Storyline to switch between modes.)

In the image below you can see the classic Trigger Wizard. As I said at the start, I think the wizard was already pretty easy to use. If I had any complaints at all it was with the need to take a few extra clicks to create a Condition. (As you can see, there's a Show Conditions button which leads to a second screen where, after a few clicks, the Condition gets created.)

The new Trigger Wizard, shown below, streamlines/groups things quite nicely. Tops among my favorites is that Conditions have been moved up in the workflow (there's no longer a big button to click that leads to a different window).

When you select Actions (by clicking the link to the right of the word Actions), the options are grouped into appropriate categories, making specific actions easy to find.

The Triggers panel also received a facelift in the new build. Chief among the enhancements is the ability to Disable (you no longer need to delete and recreate individual triggers… with a quick click you can disable them) and Group (when triggers are grouped, you can make a single edit to change the event that triggers all the actions).

If you're still working with developers who are using Storyline 3, there's no worries about the new workflow causing trigger issues. According to Articulate, "The new trigger workflow is fully compatible with the classic workflow in all builds of Storyline 360 and Storyline 3, so you can share a project file with other authors no matter which version of Storyline they’re using. When you disable a trigger in the new workflow, that trigger is present but hidden in the classic workflow in Storyline 360 and Storyline 3."

You can learn more about the new trigger workflow on the Articulate website.

***

Looking for Storyline training, consulting, mentoring, or development? We've got you covered. Give us a call at 877.754.2662. We've got an awesome collection of live, online classes. You can learn more here.