Module 1: Themes & Templates

A Theme is a collection of colors, fonts, objects, and master slides. They allow you to maintain a consistent look across slides, scenes, and projects. You can only use a single Theme in a project. However, you can apply custom design properties to master or individual slides throughout a project that supersede default Theme properties.

A Storyline template is a master file that allows you to create lessons that are consistent from project to project. Typical templates include such things as layouts, content areas, variables, animations, navigation, and more.

• Create a Theme
• Format a Master Slide
• Create Layouts
• Save a Theme
• Load a Theme
• Add Slide Navigation to the Slide Master
• Create Variables
• Add Triggers for a Progress Indicator
• Create and Use a Template

Module 2: Custom Navigation

Although it’s easy to add animations to an object that allow for simple movement, Motion Paths allow you to move slide objects from one location to another along complex paths. Unlike simple animations, you can apply multiple Motion Paths to an object. In addition, Motion Paths can be associated with Triggers to initiate an object’s motion along a path. During this module, you’ll not only work with Motion Paths, you’ll use Triggers to control them.

• Create a Motion Path
• Change Motion Path Options
• Change the Duration of a Motion Path
• Add a Second Motion Path to an Object
• Delete Specific Triggers
• Edit “When” a Trigger Occurs
• Add Triggers that Reset Motion Paths
• Copy and Edit a Trigger
• Add Triggers that Disable States
• Add Triggers that Enable States
• Add a Trigger to Show a Layer

Module 3: Gamification

An important goal of any eLearning you create is to motivate your learners and make your eLearning fun. One way to engage and motivate your learners is to add game elements into your eLearning—known as gamification. During the activities in this module, you will create a sports Jeopardy-style game that will engage your learners from the beginning to the end of the lesson.

• Start and Stop Media
• Change the Hover State
• Make a Trigger Conditional
• Show Layers Conditionally
• Hide Objects Using States
• Adjust a Variable
• Change a State Based on When
• Calculate a Score
• Adjust Variables Dynamically

Module 4: Video Control and Sliders

You learned how to insert a video into a Storyline project in “Articulate Storyline: The Essentials.” But there’s more to video than simply inserting it and allowing it to automatically play. During the first part of this module, you will learn how to insert YouTube Videos (or videos from other video streaming services such as Vimeo), and how to control the playback of a video.

• Work with Web Objects
• Edit Video Parameters
• Add Cue Points to the Timeline
• Add Triggers Based on Cue Points
• Change a Character’s State Based on Time
• Insert and Format a Slider
• Set Slider Values
• Add Triggers to a Slider

Module 5: Advanced Quizzing

In “Articulate Storyline: The Essentials,” you learned how to add a Drag and Drop Question slide to a project. During this module, you’ll enhance a Drag and Drop Question slide by editing the question properties so that learners receive instant feedback when answering a question.

During a quiz, it’s certainly possible that a learner can answer a question incorrectly. You’ll learn about remediation and how it allows the learner to jump to a different part of a lesson and retrieve relevant information about the question that they answered incorrectly.

And you’ll learn about creating a random quiz begins with Question Banks. By default, a Storyline project already contains a single, empty Question Bank. You can create as many banks as you need. The more Question Banks you have and the more question slides you have in each bank, the more random your quiz can be.

• Modify Drag and Drop Questions
• Add an Image as Question Feedback
• Set Remediation
• Import Questions From a File
• Create a Random Quiz
• Redirect a Quiz

Module 6: Extending Storyline

You can use Triggers to perform robust interactivity and calculations. However, Triggers will take you only so far. Storyline can go beyond its built-in functionality by employing JavaScript. JavaScript is a standard scripting language used by web developers to create interactive web-based content.

Storyline allows you to execute JavaScript in your projects that perform several useful functions. For instance, you can attach a JavaScript to a button that allows learners to print a slide. You can also use a JavaScript to save project variables from a Storyline lesson into a text file. Once the data has been saved into a text file, you can import it into a database or spreadsheet.  

• Execute a Print JavaScript
• Save Variables To a Text File with JavaScript

Module 7: Accessibility and Reporting

You can use Storyline to create eLearning lessons that are accessible to users who have visual, hearing, mobility, or other types of disabilities. You’ll make images accessible, and control visibility. Then you’ll learn about setting a Tab Order. Learners can select screen objects on a slide by either clicking the mouse or using the [tab] key on the keyboard. By default, the Tab Order is determined by the order by which you added objects to the slide. The first object added is the first object in the Tab Order. You can easily edit a slide’s Tab Order prior to publishing your project. Up next is Closed Captioning, which allows you to display a slide’s voiceover audio as text. Closed Captions, which are an expected component of a 508-compliant eLearning lesson, are not supported natively in Storyline. However, you can create them on your own using Triggers, States, Variables, and Layers.

Last but not least, learn to create content that will report results to a Learning Management System and how to set up some reporting options and specify the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) version standard, Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC), Sharable Content Object (SCO), and the Manifest File.

• Make an Image Accessible
• Control Accessibility Visibility
• Edit the Tab Order
• Add a Keyboard Shortcut to a Button
• Add Closed Captions
• Upload a Project to an LMS

Kevin Siegel is the founder and president of IconLogic, Inc. He has written hundreds of step-by-step computer training books on applications such as Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, Adobe RoboHelp, Adobe Presenter, Adobe Technical Communication Suite, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint, QuarkXPress, and TechSmith Camtasia Studio. 

Kevin spent five years in the U.S. Coast Guard as an award-winning photojournalist and has nearly three decades experience as a print publisher, technical writer, instructional designer, and eLearning developer. He is a certified technical trainer, a veteran classroom instructor, and a frequent speaker at trade shows and conventions.

Kevin holds multiple certifications and was named one of the top trainers in the world by Adobe Systems, Inc.

Kal Hadi is a Certified Technical Trainer with more than 20 years of experience in computer graphics, imaging, and electronic publishing. Kal is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology Electronic Publishing graduate program. He is also the author of many books and papers in graphics and web publishing.