How Can I Highlight Important Information when Users Review Content?

In a recent custom virtual training, a student asked for help in creating scenario-based courses in Storyline. When the scenario arrived to a point where the learner received a quiz question, they wanted the learner to not only be able to review content they had already seen, but to also highlight important information. The main consideration here was that they did not want the information highlighted on the original slide, only when being reviewed.

While there are several ways one might accomplish this, one of the easiest ways is to use a lightbox condition along with a simple “change state” trigger. Let’s take a look at this method.

Develop the Content Slide

In this particular case, the content slide was a simple click-and-reveal interaction with the information to be highlighted residing on the layers.

Tip: In order to create a “highlight” (shape) that does not compromise the visual quality of the text, make sure the shape is under your text box on the timeline.

Create a Quiz Question with a “Hint” Option

Next, create a quiz question. In our example, we used a simple True/False Graded Question. After the question is to your liking, add a “Hint” button with a trigger to lightbox the slide containing the content you want the learner to review. As you may recall from one of our earlier entries about lightboxes, they can be used for many purposes, such as reviewing previously accessed content without leaving the current slide (like we’re doing here).

Set Up Conditions for Highlighting

We all know that in Storyline, nothing happens without a trigger. Should you ever find yourself adding the words “if” or “unless” to what you’re asking the trigger to do, then you might need to utilize a Condition. In our case, we only want the highlight on our content slide layers to show IF the content is being reviewed (i.e. when it’s in the lightbox). Therefore, the first step is to change the highlight’s initial state to “Hidden.”

Next, we need to add a trigger to change the state of the highlight back to “Normal,” but only IF the slide is being viewed in a lightbox. You may be familiar with conditions based on Variables and Shapes (States), but in class, we find that not a lot of people have used Window Conditions. Here’s your chance!

Tip: To ensure that the highlight returns to the “Hidden” state (should the learner revisit the slide within the course again, but maybe you don’t want the entire slide itself to reset), simply adjust the Slide Layer Properties to “Reset to initial state” when revisiting. We used this method in our example because we want to retain the “Visited” states of the buttons on the base layer, should it be accessed again.

Now, the content will appear highlighted only when viewed in the lightbox. Want to see what it looks like in action? Take a look at the finished product at this link. You can also download a copy of the .story file here.

Summary

As mentioned previously, this is only one way to accomplish this effect. Another way might be creating highlighted duplicate slides that reside in their own “Lightboxes” scene and triggering the lightboxes to those duplicate slides. Additionally, if there is no interaction utilizing layers on your slide, you could use the same method outlined here to show a “Highlighted” layer when the learner views the slide in a lightbox. How do you draw attention to important material in your courses? Do you use review/hint options? If so, tell us about it in the comments below. Happy developing!

“We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?” ~The Doctor

~Raye

Update: Please note that the interface of the faster new trigger workflow (in Storyline 360 update 3.33.20625.0 or later) will appear slightly different! While the process is the same, this article uses screen captures from the classic trigger workflow.