In Articulate Storyline, triggers are events that set actions in motion within an e-learning course. They determine when and how certain things happen in the course, such as displaying text, playing audio, or jumping to another slide. Essentially, triggers are the course’s “if–then” instructions.
Events:
Triggers are activated by specific events, such as clicking a button, starting a slide’s timeline, reaching a certain point on the timeline, or changing the state of an object.
Actions:
When a trigger fires, it performs a specific action. This can be a wide range of things, such as showing or hiding objects, playing audio, jumping to another slide, sending information to an LMS, or starting an animation.
Conditions:
Triggers can also include conditions that must be met before the action is carried out. For example, a trigger can be set up to perform an action only if a user has clicked buttons a certain number of times, or if a variable has a particular value.
How do triggers work in Storyline?
- Create triggers: In Storyline, triggers can be created either via the “Insert” tab or via the Triggers panel.
- Triggering event: First, select the event that will activate the trigger.
- Actions: Next, choose the action that should be carried out when the event occurs
- Conditions (optional): Finally, you can add conditions that must be met for the action to fire.
Examples of triggers:
- Button click: Clicking a button can trigger an action that shows another slide.
- Timeline start: When a slide’s timeline starts, a trigger can display an image or play audio.
- State change: If an object’s state changes (e.g., when a user ticks a checkbox), a trigger can fire and start another action.
- Course completion: Triggers can also be used to notify the LMS when a course has been completed.
Triggers are an essential tool in Storyline for creating interactive and dynamic e-learning courses. They make it possible to design complex learning paths and interactive elements without any programming knowledge.
