How to make a chapter for pop-up pages

There have been many questions in the forum on how to create pop-up pages that go beyond the standard message box or a single text box. For example, you may want a student to click on a small thumbnail image and then be taken to a page that has a larger version of the image along with explanatory text. Or, you may want to provide detailed feedback to a test question that includes an image, audio, video, and/or text. Below is the procedure for creating a separate chapter just for these types of pop-up screens.

1. Create a new chapter at the end of your course. I call mine "Pop-ups." 

2. Set the chapter properties. Properties I usually include:

Page size: smaller than the interface size, so that the student can still see the course behind the pop-up window.

Inheritance: disinherit all interface elements.

Table of contents: uncheck the box so it does not appear in TOC. 

3. Add any graphics or text elements to the chapter that you want to have appear on all pages. For example, you may want a header graphic at the top, a close button, etc.

4. Create one page for each pop-up page you want. Give them an "intelligent" name, so that it is easy to link to them later.

5. Add your content to the various pages. You can include anything on the page that you can on any other Lectora page: text, images, graphics, actions, etc.

6. Link your pages to the corresponding action.

For a standard pop-up style interaction, add an action to the item the student should click. On click > Go to > Chapter, Section, or Page > Select the pop-up page > Check the Open in New Window box.

For a test question, check the Show page for feedback box and select the page you want.

Other tips:

You can create sections in your Pop-Up Chapter if you are likely to have different types of pages. For example, you might have a section for test feedback because you want a different sized page and want text to indicate that it is a test result. You can further create sub-sections. For example, have a sub-section for correct and another answer for incorrect. The correct section can have a green header at the top that says correct, and the incorrect section can have a red banner at the top that says incorrect. By setting the properties and adding graphics/text boxes at the chapter and section level, you know that each page you add will look right, and you don't have to keep making changes to each one.

If you put a pop-up chapter at the end of your course, make sure your students can't accidentally navigate to it. Be sure to disinherit the next button on the last "regular" page of the course so the students don't keep going.

With an on-click action, you can customize what the window looks like by clicking the Window Properties button in the Action dialog box.

For question feedback, resist the temptation to include a link on the page that takes them back to the original content. That content will open up a new instance of the course (in addtion to the instance where they just answered the question). This can cause confusion to the student (and possibly the LMS!)

These tips compiled from E-Learning Uncovered: Lectora Version 9.

Enjoy