Articulate 360 FAQs: Responsive Mobile Player

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The responsive mobile player for Storyline 360 and Studio 360 gives learners the best viewing experience on tablets and smartphones, regardless of screen size and orientation. See these FAQs for answers to common questions about the responsive player.

How does the responsive player work?

The responsive player automatically displays when you view Storyline 360 and Studio 360 HTML5 courses on tablets and smartphones. It fluidly responds to the screen size and orientation of any mobile device for the best viewing experience, hiding sidebar menus, eliminating browser chrome, and delivering mobile-friendly playback controls. No extra work required. Just publish your course and let the player do all the work for you.

When you choose the modern player style in Storyline 360, learners get a fresh, unified experience that's consistent on all devices. When you choose the classic player style in Storyline 360, it'll look different on desktop computers and mobile devices. Both player styles, modern and classic, are responsive on tablets and smartphones.

Responsive Player Comparison on Tablet and Smartphone

How does Articulate's responsive player compare to Adobe Captivate's responsive authoring?

Captivate’s responsive solution requires course authors to tweak slides for every device learners use, which is difficult, tedious, and cumbersome. You end up building the same course over and over.

In contrast, our responsive player doesn’t require any extra work. We believe technology, not course authors, should do the heavy lifting. So you just build your course like you normally would and publish. The responsive player optimizes the experience for every device your learners use. In short, you don’t do a thing—a dramatic contrast to Adobe’s approach.

See these resources for more information on mult-device e-learning:

Tip: Your Articulate 360 subscription also gives you access to Rise 360, which is a web app that lets you create beautiful, fully-responsive courses right in your web browser, fast. Take a tour of Rise 360 to learn more.

Do Rise 360 courses use the responsive player?

No. Rise 360 courses are fully responsive, meaning the entire course and its content automatically adapt to any screen size and orientation.

The responsive player is used for slide-based courses built with Storyline 360 and Studio 360. The responsive player itself adapts to the learner's screen size and orientation, but the slide content always maintains its aspect ratio.

Does the responsive mobile player support the same features as the desktop player?

Storyline 360

When you choose the modern player style in Storyline 360, all player features are supported on desktop computers and mobile devices.

When you choose the classic player style, all player features work on desktop computers and most work on mobile devices, but there are some exceptions. For example, the classic player colors aren't supported on mobile devices. See this interactive demo for details on which classic player features work on tablets and smartphones.

Studio 360

The responsive mobile player supports most player features, but there are a few exceptions. For example, the player colors aren't supported on tablets and smartphones. See these interactive demos for details: Presenter 360, Quizmaker 360, Engage 360.

Where is the seekbar on the responsive player?

Storyline 360

In the modern player, the seekbar appears across the bottom of the screen on all devices and orientations except on smartphones in landscape mode. On smartphones in landscape mode, the seekbar is a circular indicator that travels around the play/pause button. When a slide is paused or it finishes playing, the seekbar changes to a line across the bottom of the screen.

In the classic player, the seekbar appears across the bottom of the screen on desktop computers and tablets/smartphones in portrait mode. The seekbar is a circular indicator that travels around the play/pause button on tablets and smartphones in landscape mode.

Studio 360

When your tablet or smartphone is in landscape mode, the responsive player moves to the right side of the screen. As the slide plays, you’ll see a circular indicator traveling around the play/pause button. You can’t drag the seekbar back and forth in landscape mode, but the circular indicator lets you see how much time has elapsed and how much remains.

To make the seekbar interactive, just turn your tablet or smartphone to portrait orientation. The responsive player will move to the bottom of the screen and reveal a horizontal seekbar that you can drag back and forth.

Can I enable and disable features on the responsive player?

Yes. The same player properties window in Storyline 360 and Studio 360 controls both the desktop player and the responsive mobile player, so you can enable/disable any player feature. See these user guides to learn how:

How does the responsive player behave if I disable all the player features?

The responsive mobile player, like the desktop player, will only display features you’ve enabled in the player properties for your course. If you disable all player features, the responsive player will disappear.

Can I change the colors, font, and font size for the responsive player?

Storyline 360

When you choose the modern player style in Storyline 360, your color and font selections work on desktop and mobile devices. When you choose the classic player style, color and font selections only work on desktop computers.

Studio 360

The player color and font options only work on desktop computers, not tablets or smartphones.

Will e-learning courses with the responsive player track progress and results in my LMS?

Yes. The responsive mobile player only affects how the player is displayed. It doesn't impact LMS tracking.

The content will still track progress and results in AICC, SCORM, xAPI (Tin Can API), and cmi5 LMSs. Learners can even switch between their tablets/smartphones and their desktop/laptop computers in the middle of a course, and it'll still track properly in your LMS.

Does the responsive player support touchscreen gestures?

Yes. We’ve optimized the new responsive player for touch control. It supports touchscreen gestures—such as swiping, dragging, and pinch-to-zoom—in HTML5 output on tablets and smartphones. See this article for details.