Creating a New Content Author Module

Content Author modules are created directly in LITMOS Training via an existing course or a new module. The example flow shown here is from Content>Create a course. (Modules can also be created directly from Content>Create a module and then added to courses later.) As with all SCORM files uploaded directly into LITMOS, the Content Author SCORM files have a file size limit of 1GB.

• Navigate to Content
• Click 'Create a course'
• Select 'Add Modules'
• Select the 'Create' tab

• Click the 'Content Author' button

From here, you can select 'Save' to save the module and continue adding modules to the course or return to edit this module later. Or you can choose 'Save and Author,' which saves the Litmos Module details and takes you directly into Content Author to start authoring your module.

Content Author Module- Authoring

You will land on the pages tab when you create a new module in Content Authoring.

From here, you can access all menus for Content Author. It is easiest to first go through your module's Introduction, Theme, and Settings to configure those details before creating the content.

Introduction

The introduction will display at the start of the module.

The module name will display in Content Author when you create a module. If you prefer that the module in Litmos is different from what it displays in the module, you can change it by clicking on the title.

If you do not wish to have an Introduction screen, turn off the Enable Introductions Screen Option.

Changing a Banner Image

To change a banner image, click the Select Banner image button. From there, you can browse an image from the available images in the module or use the Unsplash image library.

The allowed image formats are jpg, jpeg, gif, webp, svg. Max size is 1000MB.

To add/change the image using the Unsplash library,

1. Click the Unsplash tab.
2. Search for a desired image by typing in the search field.
3. Click the image and then click Select.

Once you have changed your banner image, it will appear as below.

Note: The Alt text is automatically generated when you upload an image from the Unsplash library and toggle the Caption button ON.

Themes

Themes is where you can edit the overall appearance of your module. For easier content authoring, your styling will default to the logo and colors from your Litmos brand.

The logo can be updated if required. Logos will display on the introduction screen and at the top left of each module page. Click the 'Change'/'Remove' button to update or remove the logo.

Dark Mode and Colour Settings

These can be left as is or updated if you prefer a different look and feel for your module.

Colour Settings include:

• Page Background
• Headings
• Body text
• Links
• Glossary term underline
• Citation links
• Pass/Fail feedback

When you change each color, the sample image on the right of the Themes page will update to indicate what this will look like within the module.

If you select color combinations that do not meet colour contrast recommendations, you will be prompted to update them as shown below. It is important to review any contrast warnings.

 

Modules are also available in a light or dark mode. Light mode modules have a white background, and dark mode has a black background.  Adding background images to modules can also create contrast issues.  You may need to swap your Theme colors if you change between light and dark mode or add background images to provide adequate contrast in your module.

Please Note: Accessibility warnings do not cover all potential accessibility issues within a Content Author Module. Please check your completed modules meet accessibility recommendations.

Appearance Settings:

Appearance settings change the general module style and impact the following:

• UI Roundness (Round / Default / Square): Adjust rounded corners for Buttons, Cards and other UI controls
• Spacing (Compact / Default / Spacious): Adjust the padding and spacing so content can appear more spaced out or condensed
• Content width (Narrow / Default / Wide): Adjust page content max-width to increase or decrease line length

Please Note: These will determine the default settings for the module. Many components also have individual level styling overrides which can be used instead of the default if required.

Typography Settings

Typographic settings allow the content author to change the fonts and base sizes for body text and headings.

• Type Scale: Apply a set of predefined font sizes that are designed to visually work together.
• Body Font: Font used for all default body text.
• Heading Font: Font used for all default fonts (H1- H6)
• Font sizes: Adjust body font size and configure heading font sizes

Please Note: Choosing the "System default" font will use the native system font from the learner's device.

You can save a theme and use it in other Content Author modules. Saved themes are useful when you want to create multiple modules with a particular style that differs from your default. Click the Save theme icon and then enter a name for the theme.

You can choose a saved theme from a dropdown list.

 

Settings

The settings page allows Authors to set an option for lock progress, the completion mode, and the module language.

Lock Progress

If enabled, this setting ensures that a learner must complete all mandatory items within each page before progressing to the next page.

Completion Mode

Note: Specific component types can have a completion option defined at the component level. The component-level setting overrides the module-level setting. The default value at the component level is to follow the module-level setting.

There are three available completion modes for modules created in Content Author:

• Last Page: The module will complete once the learner has reached the last page
• Declaration: The module will complete once the learner has completed the declaration. (A declaration component must exist within the module for this setting to be used.)
• Quiz Pass: The module will complete once the learner has passed the quiz. When learners fail the quiz and reach their maximum attempts, the status will be shown as Incomplete.

Language

Set the language of the module. This setting will not translate the module content itself. The content needs to be authored by someone fluent in the required language. When accessing the module, the setting will set all buttons/ menus for the learner in the selected language. (This also sets the document language by setting the lang="" attribute on the course's HTML element.)

Add Pages

To add a page, click on the 'Add Page' button.

Select from any of the standard page templates available, or select a custom template.

Standard templates:

• Basic
• Accordion
• Video
• Quiz
• Conclusion
• Blank

The page can now be edited by clicking on the 'Edit Page.'

To continue adding pages, click the + page icon.

Pages can be reordered at any time by hovering the mouse over the page you want to move until the 'Drag to reorder' tooltip appears and the mouse changes to a hand. Then drag the page into its new position.

When you customize a page, an image preview displays so you can quickly locate a page for editing.

Chapters

You can group pages into chapters. Each chapter can have a custom title.

Templates and Components

When creating modules, you can add predefined pages or create your own pages by adding components to an existing page. You can also save your customized page as a template. Choose among the following page templates and components:

Page Templates

• Basic: This page template contains a cover image and text with a heading component
• Accordion: This page template contains a cover image, accordion, and text with a heading component
• Video: This page template contains a cover image, video, and text with a heading
• Quiz: This page template contains a cover image, text with heading, quiz, and quiz results component.
• Conclusion: This page template contains a cover image, text, and text with heading component with a conclusion-style layout.
• Blank: This page contains no default components and is used to create your layout. The 'Insert' components button is visible after creating this page type.
• Custom: Custom templates are saved by users and displayed above the standard templates.

These features are common across the page types (excluding blank).

• Page settings, including title and show in module menu can be updated
• Insert icon allows Authors to add all components:
  • Cover image
  • Text with heading
  • Heading
  • Text
  • List
  • Block Quote
  • Call Out
  • Divider
  • References
  • Stack
  • Card
  • Picture
  • Video
  • YouTube and Vimeo video
  • Audio
  • Embed content with embed code or URLs
  • Attachment
  • Accordion
  • Tabs
  • Button Popups
  • Grid Reveal
  • Flip Cards
  • Hotspot
  • Timeline
  • Gallery
  • Button
  • Multiple Choice
  • Click to Match
  • Sequence
  • Sorting
  • True/False
  • Fill in the blanks
  • Quiz Results
  • Declaration
• Sections can be added/removed/copied
• Section background color/gradient/image can be updated
• Section padding in px top and bottom can be updated
• Page Template can be edited/copied/deleted

Additional settings are available dependent on the component type (and are covered under the Components section).

Components

Individual components can be added to any page using the 'Insert' button.

• Cover Image: Display a full-width image with a heading on top. (Use at the top of a page)
• Video: Embed a video by uploading a video file (including the option to add captions and a transcript)
• Text and heading: Heading with accompanying text.
• Heading: Simple text heading.
• Text: Simple text component with basic formatting such as bold, italic, and lists.
• List: adds a numbered, bulleted, or check list to your module with options to add/delete list items, change shapes, colors, and icons and reorder the list items.
• Block Quote: A simple text treatment that allows the author to insert a block of text styled as a quote.
• Call out: A simple text treatment component that allows the Author to insert a block of text as an important highlighted message, for example, "Info," "Warning," or "Danger."
• Divider: Separate content on the page or within a stack component using a divider
• References: A component to list references that are cited on the page.
• Stack (Columns): A component that allows the author to insert a 'stack container' and then add other components inside. The Stack applies layout to its children, which can be either horizontal (Columns) or vertical.
• Card: A component to display content inside a card.
• Picture: Single Image. Allows you to reuse images from within the module or upload new ones. Images are ideally landscape and a minimum of 800 x 450 px.
• Video: Embed a video by uploading a video file (including the option to add captions and a transcript).
• YouTube and Vimeo Video: The ability to embed YouTube/Vimeo/ hosted videos rather than uploading them directly to CAT.
• Audio: Embed an audio file (including option to add transcript).
• Embed: The ability to embed custom content such as hosted videos or H5P interactions.
• Attachment: A component that allows the author to attach and display a download link to a resource within the page. The learner can download the resource directly without having to find it in the Resources menu. An option can be enabled to show the resource in the Resources menu, so that any resources added via the Attachment component can be collated and displayed in the Resources menu automatically.
• Accordion: Headings with expandable/collapsible text content sections.
• Tabs: Display content in tabbed sections.
• Button Popups: A list of buttons that open content in popups.
• Grid Reveal: A select-and-reveal interaction displaying icons or headings on a two-column grid. Clicking on the icon or header will reveal the content in the adjacent grid area.
• Flip Cards: A select-and-reveal interaction where icons or headings are displayed on cards in a grid. Clicking on the card will flip it over to reveal content on the back.
• Hotspot: A select-and-reveal interaction where icons/pins are displayed on an image. Clicking on the pins will display content in a popup overlaying the page.
• Timeline: Display content in a vertical-scrolling chronology.
• Gallery: displays pictures in gallery learners can swipe through.  NOTE: Values for picture margins are not recommended, due to images overlapping when viewing the gallery.  We recommend using stack components to help layout multiple items.
• Button: A simple button that can have a custom action attached.
• Multiple Choice: Single quiz with multiple questions. It can be a review quiz (unscored) or not (scored question). A learner can be shown correct/incorrect feedback (optional). Questions can be shuffled.
• Click to Match: The Click to Match question involves a learner being required to correctly match all the displayed items on the left with the options presented on the right to have the question marked as correct.
• Sequence: The sequence type question type/component involves a learner being required to sort a shuffled list of items into the correct order. The learner is required to correctly order all the displayed items in order to have the question marked as correct.
• Sorting: The sorting type question type/component involves a learner being required to categorize answers. The learner is presented with answers one at a time and is required to move each answer into the correct category.
• True/False: True/false question.
• Fill in the blanks: The fill-in-the-blanks type question type/component involves a learner being required to fill in the blank spaces by selecting the correct words/options from dropdown boxes. The learner is required to choose the correct response for each dropdown in order to have the question marked as correct.
• Quiz results: Show overall quiz results, feedback, and score.
• Declaration: Mark the module as complete when the learner checks the box. Customizable declaration text.

These features are common within components

• Alter the size of the heading to:
  • Fit content column
  • Bleed outside content column
  • Full page width
• Align text (text/heading components):
  • Left
  • Center
  • Justified
• Set text color (text/heading components):
  • Using color picker
  • Color transparency
  • Color with hex values
  • Color with RGB values
  • Colors with HSLA values
• A component can be edited/copied/deleted
• The component can be moved up or down the page

Besides the default brand theme colors as their accent color, the components can have a custom color set at the control level. You can add an individual color for each control. For example, you can color code tabs so each tab has a different color. You can also apply the accent color to the components inside the item.

Note: The foreground color will be automatically set to black or white, depending on the chosen accent color to meet the accessibility criteria.

To set/change the color,

1. Click the three-dot icon
2. Pick the desired color

The individual colors are set:

Note: If you select color combinations that do not meet colour contrast recommendations, accessibility warnings will be displayed. These warnings indicate where you have selected to use an unsuitable combination of the text color on top of the background color (which does not provide enough contrast).

[caption id="attachment_44227" align="alignnone" width="1101"] content author creating and editing modules 20[/caption]

Components that use accent color

Component	Element
Video	Control
Audio	Control
Attachment
Gallery	Indicator dots
Multiple Choice Questions	Radio/checkbox, buttons
Matching	Buttons
Sorting	Buttons
Sequence	Buttons
True/False	Items, buttons
Fill in the blanks	Buttons
Quiz Results	Score meter, buttons
Declaration	Background
Button popups	Checkmark
Accordion	Checkmark, expanded border
Tabs	Checkmark, expanded border
Grid Reveal	Checkmark
Flip Card	Checkmark
Hotspots	Hotsppot itemss
Timeline	Item markers

These features are specific within components:

• Accordion:
  • Can reorder individual accordion elements
  • Can add other components within the individual accordion elements and edit /delete those
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on the completed state indicator
• Heading:
  • Can be set as H1 to H6
• Tabs:
  • Can add the following other components as content to the tabs and edit /delete those
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on the completed state indicator
• Button Popups:
  • Can add other components as content to the button popups and edit /delete those
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on the completed state indicator
• Gallery:
  • Can turn on/off swipe gestures
  • Can turn on/off auto advance
  • Can add other components as content to the gallery and edit /delete those
  • Can define the UI position of the progression arrows, either overlaying content in the center or below the content
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
• Button:
  • Can add an icon from a fixed set of images
  • Can turn on/off showing the visited state
  • Can select a button color from a list
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
• Audio:
  • Can add/edit transcript file
  • Can prevent seeking ahead
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
• Picture:
  • Can add/edit Picture Alt text
  • Can add/edit captions
  • Can add/edit a picture (browse or select from existing files within the module)
  • Can accept image file types: jpg, jpeg, gif, png, webp, svg
• Video/Vimeo/YouTube:
  • Can add/edit/remove Video Transcript
  • Can add/edit/remove captions
  •  Can add/edit/remove poster images (browse or select from existing files within the module)
  • Can add/edit/remove a video file (browse or select from existing files within the module)
  • Can accept image file types: mp4, webm, ogv
  • Can set video to pause when not in view setting off or on
  • Can prevent seeking ahead
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can display accessibility warning message prompting learners to add a transcript or closed captions.
  • Can set a desired percentage of how much video a learner needs to watch for completion.
  • Can control video playback speed.
    • Note: Applies only to videos added with the Video component. Videos uploaded from YouTube and Vimeo will have built-in speed controls.
• Embed
  • Can add embed code
• Call Out:
  • Can select icon
  • Can select appearance
• Stack
  • Can set alignment
  • Can set Gap between items in the stack
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
• Attachment
  • Can select a file or URL
  • Can show in the Resources list
• Grid Reveal
  • Can add/edit/remove thumbnail images
  • Can add/edit/remove content
  • Can alternate slides
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on the completed state indicator
• Flip Cards
  • Can add/edit/remove thumbnail images
  • Can add/edit/remove content
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on completed state indicator
• Hotspot
  • Can add/edit image
  • Can add/edit/remove caption
  • Can add/edit/remove alt text
  • Can add/edit/remove hotspot
  • Can add/edit/remove hotspot icon
  • Can add/edit/remove hotspot content
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
  • Can turn off/on completed state indicator
• Timeline can
  • Can add an icon from a fixed set of images to each segment of the timeline
  • Can add Subtitle and Item title for each segment
  • Can add/edit/remove content in each segment
  • Can set a component-level completion option, overriding the module-level selection
• Multiple Choice:
  • Can add/edit/remove question text
  • Can add/edit/remove blank option text
  • Can set multiple choice as review or assess. When set to review, the multiple-choice has no impact on the module score. When set to assess, the multiple-choice component impacts the score and pass/fail.
  • Can set or change max attempts
  • Can shuffle answers
  • Can add /edit/ remove correct or incorrect feedback
  • Can retry incorrect only. The learner would keep their correct responses from the previous attempt and only be required to reattempt incorrect q