LSO Content Player Pops up in new window from portal

[Former Member]

Dear Guys,

In LSO when i am booked against a course, in portal I am able to run the course by clicking on link 'Start Now'. Now a new window poups up ie the content player popus up in a new window and plays the course.

We need the content player to play in the same window without poping up in new window. how can we do this?

Can the BSP application coding change will help us to do this?

Or in portal side some configuration has to be changed?

Regards,

Shamila.

[Former Member]

Hi Shamila!

I think it would be possible by making BSP changes. However, it might create additional issues. As of now the CP is designed to be launched as a pop-up and by launching the CP in the base window might break some object references. The content launching and tracking might throw some errors. Even if it works then it might require a lot of development work. It might also require to make further changes to address some usabilty issues. For instance, have you guys thought what would happen when the user exists the CP. Should the user be navigated to the course description page ?

I am not still not able to findout why would anybody require to have the CP launched in the base window. If you could provide some clarity on that then I would be able suggest alternatives.

Regards,

Ravi Sekhar

[Former Member]

I personally think that it is a usability issue. It is not good usability to throw popup windows in front of the learner. Better design would be to provide the content in the base window.

Look at YouTube and you will see what I mean...it is a much better user experience, in my opinion. SAP should update their BSP to take this approach in future releases.

[Former Member]

Hi Gary!

I completely agree with you about not popping up windows as it is a bad usability. But in my little experience in web interfaces and e-learning I would prefer to have the course content pop-up in a separate window rather than in the base window. Unless the base window interface is dynamic and allows users to jump from screen to another with ease. Similar to what you experience in some of the sites developed in Flash. The portal will take a lot of time to attain that level.

I also appreciate YouTube design from a usability point of view. But it is not ideal when you talk about learning. Majority of the learners expects the learning content to acquire most of their real-estate on screen. It is also gives scope to accommodate more controls/tools related to learner's learning activities on the screen. It also makes delivery of content consistent across different

It was good to hear some different comments. Please let me know what are your further thoughts around this.

Regards,

Ravi Sekhar

[Former Member]

Hey Ravi,

Thanks for sharing your perspective.

After thinking further about the real estate question, I believe that, at least in the US, most instructional designers aim to present content at 800x600 pixel size. This accounts for differing monitor sizes, etc. If this is the case, then good instructional design (e.g. don't put too much content on a screen at once) should assure that content could be played in-line (in the BSP page). Since the navigational controls are at the bottom, that wouldn't have any effect on width of the page and could also be accommodated.

I'm still of the opinion that SAP LSO (and all leading LMS systems) should evolve to presenting content in the base window. Perhaps there are some extreme exceptions where the extra real estate would make a true difference. In that case, perhaps the learner should be offered an LSO learner setting where they can choose to display content in-line or in a separate window....let them decide Alternatively, one could offer the Training Administrator an infotype setting where they specify whether the content should be displayed in-line (default) versus in a separate popup (this could be used on an exception basis).

Gary

Edited by: Gary Pearl on Oct 29, 2008 9:25 AM

[Former Member]

Hi Gary!

I also think evolution is the only solution to this. I disagree to the fact that we should consider only one aspect (avoid pop-up) and not consider the impact of this on other aspects. Evolution would only be able address other challenges/issues.

At present, I think pop-up is more scalable and portable solution rather than opening the content in the base window. If you want your content to be scalable, portable and at the same time be user friendly then you treat it as an independent component. We also need to keep in mind the main objective of any elearning contnent i.e. to impart knowledge. Considering the fact that we have variation of content (ex. assessments,application simulations, simple textual content ) and which would be accessed by people from various parts of world. A very good approach would be to accomodate requirements of majority of audience (if not all). I am not discarding the idea of opening the content in the base window. In fact I could envision the advantages of that. I strongly believe in designing a solution which caters to majority of user population, without compromising on the base objective, it should be flexible and cost effective.

I am really glad that you regarded my comments worth and shared your thoughts.

Regards,

Ravi Sekhar