Hotspots are great for taking paragraphs or bullet lists of text and turning them into more interactive content.
Step by step process
Correct vs incorrect
Text metaphors
Labelled graphics
Explanatory charts or graphs
Software menus and functions
Document parts
Features of a product
In the video below, we show you how to add the hotspot element to your topic or article:
How do you create a Hotspot?
Hotspots work just like any other content element for creators - they can be added in any location, moved around and copied. Sage includes Hotspots in her calculations of topic quality and length.
Hotspots start by uploading an image or importing an image from our image library.
You will then see your first two hotspot markers. You can drag and drop markers to any part of your image. Each image can contain up to ten markers - use the + button to add more markers.
For each marker, you need to add a description of text explaining that marker - perhaps that step in a process or a part of a document. You can also add images to each marker or upload downloadable documents.
You can then save your hotspot for explorers to encounter.
Hotspot best practices:
Select an image which has clearly differentiated parts within it, to make it obvious to explorers about how they should explore the image and it's markers.
Each marker can have a different icon - the numbers 1 to 10, letters A to J and a range of icons (tick, cross, heart, circle, arrows, star, ? and !).
You can optionally add an introductory title or paragraph of text to a hotspot. This will appear above the hotspot and can provide instructions for explorers about the hotspot (if you haven't already outlined this in, say, a text element above the hotspot element).
You can optionally select an option to require explorers to view all hotspots before they can progress. They can be useful for compliance topics where you need to be certain explorers have viewed all content.
When you are editing a hotspot as a creator, the marker you are editing will animate (to help tell the difference between markers with the same icon).
You can also use the Image Editor to edit your images - crop it, add notes or change the filter.
How do hotspots work for explorers?
Explorers see hotspots as images with interactive markers. They can click on a marker and see the associated description floating above the image.
Unexplored markers will animate for explorers until they are explored. There is also a 'countdown' of explored markers above the image. In combination, it is obvious to explorers where they need to explore next.
Examples:
Let's take a look at some examples of the hotspot element in action!
Process. Hotspots work well to explain a process in an interactive way:
Charts or graphs. Hotspots can also work well to explain charts, graphs, reports or other documents:
Software. You can use hotspots to explain software or systems:
Images within a hotspot. You can incorporate images within your hotspot markers. To do this, click on 'Insert Image'.
Documents within a hotspot. You can include downloadable documents within your hotspot markers. To do this, click on 'Upload File'.
