Provide Consistent Exit Experience Across Browsers
A former client contacted me recently because the Exit tab in her course wasn’t working consistently across browsers. Her question was, “How do I get the Exit tab to work regardless of the browser my learners use?” It’s a great question, and we’ve got an answer: use a launch page.
The problem is that Exit tabs are supposed to close the browser window. But many modern browsers have security settings that prevent windows from closing themselves. Seeing as how no two browsers are exactly alike, your Exit tab might work with some, but not others.
By using a launch page, you can create a consistent Exit experience for learners across all browsers. The launch page starts the course in another browser window, allowing the Exit tab to work. It’s really easy to set this up in your Articulate projects. Here’s how:
In Storyline:
- Go to “Player Properties”
- Select “Other”
- Check “Launch Player in new window”
- Click “OK”
In Presenter:
- Click the “Articulate” tab in PowerPoint
- Click “Player Templates”
- Click the “Other” tab in the lower left
- Check “Launch Player in new window”
- Save changes to the template
In Quizmaker:
Quizmaker is a little different because it’s actually the “Finish” button at the end of the quiz that closes the browser. However, learners might sometimes experience the same window-closing issue, so we recommend using a launch page. Here’s how to set it up:
- Click “Player Templates”
- Choose the template you’re working with and select “Edit Template”
- Select the “Other” tab in the bottom left
- Check ”Launch Player in new window”
- Save changes to the template
After you publish your course, you’ll find a launcher.html file in the published output folder. This is the file you should use to start the course. For example, if your learners are accessing the course from your website, give them the link to the launcher.html file and it’ll work across browsers like a dream.
To learn more about this topic, you can browse these Knowledgebase articles:
To dig even deeper into the details on this, our own engineer extraordinaire Brian Batt suggests this site.
