If you’re just getting started with Lectora® or Lectora® Online, the most time-saving feature that you’ll want to use right away is a concept called inheritance.
Inheritance allows you to place an object at the Title level, where it is inherited to all the Chapters, Sections, and Pages in your course. Take a look at the Title Explorer below. Notice that the Graphics group, Page Title, Logo, navigation buttons, and actions are all placed at the Title level.
Rather than copying and pasting these objects onto every page where you want them to appear, you can place them at the Title level and know they will be inherited. This is useful for background images, course navigation, or other objects you want on every page of your title. You can see this in action when you apply a Design Theme to your title. All of the course GUI elements are placed at the Title Level.
Chapters and Sections
The same inheritance concept applies to Chapters and Sections. Suppose you want to place a Progress Bar, Table of Contents, or button on all of the pages of a specific Chapter or Section. Inheritance has you covered. Any object you add to the Chapter level will be inherited to the Sections and Pages within it. And any object you add to the Section level will be inherited to any Sub-sections and Pages within that Section.
In the example below, you can see that the Progress Bar is placed at the Chapter level for Lesson 1, and so it will be inherited by the Sections and Pages within that Chapter.
Quick Tip: Did you know that you can change the Progress Bar type to TOC and set the Scope to a specific chapter or section?
Excluding Objects
What happens if you have an object that you do NOT want to inherit on a specific Chapter, Section, or Page? For example, consider the Next button. You may want to exclude the Next button from appearing on certain pages in your title. You can still use inheritance, but remember to disinherit that object on the Chapter, Section, or Page where you do not want it to appear.
To do this, select the Chapter, Section, or Page properties, and select the Inherit button. Choose to inherit ALL objects, NO Objects, or Specific objects from parents. Then select the objects you want Excluded and move them to the list.
In the example below, the Next button and OnSwipeLeft action are excluded from this page. I didn’t need to delete or copy the object—I just excluded it from being inherited.
Bonus Tip
If you have a long list of objects at the Title, Chapter, or Section level, it can be hard to manage the Title Explorer. Within your Preferences, you can turn on the option to “Show buttons for hiding objects in the Title Explorer.” When this option is selected, you’ll have the ability to expand and collapse the objects set at the Title level or for a specific Chapter or Section.
Now that you understand inheritance, you’ll begin to save significant course development time. For more information about inheritance, view this Lectora Live video tutorial. To learn more about the Title Explorer, check out this recorded Inspiration Wednesday webinar.
Want to try inheritance in Lectora? Sign up for a free 30-day trial.
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