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How do I create tabs, lists, buttons, timelines, flip cards, acronyms, or accordions of content?
How do I create tabs, lists, buttons, timelines, flip cards, acronyms, or accordions of content?

The interact element can be used to transform text into more interactive learning elements.

Lou Monsour avatar
Written by Lou Monsour
Updated over a week ago

Creators can use the Interact element to transform paragraphs of text into different interactive layouts.

Expand the sections below to learn more.

Steps to add Interact elements to a course

Add the interact element to your topic by selecting the 'Interact' option from the content box, then follow these steps:

  1. Add a title for the element. This might be a simple title or some instructions about the element itself.

  2. Choose a layout from the dropdown menu at the top, you can change the layout option at any time and your content will adjust accordingly. Review the different layout options and tips for their best use with different content.

  3. Add your items. You can have up to 10 items of content and each item requires a title and text content (with full text formatting available).

    1. Optionally, you can upload an image or import an image from our library, you can then edit images using our Image Editor, as required and descriptive text for screen readers.

    2. Images are uploaded using the image uploader support 'click-to-zoom' functionality. Therefore, when clicked by a learner, these images will expand to show a larger version.

    3. Items can be inserted next to the current item, or moved to change the order of each item.

  4. Manage your interact settings, as preferred

  5. Click 'Save'

Video demonstration

The video below provides a brief overview of how you can use the Interact element. Please note, new Interact layouts have been added since the video was recorded and other aspects of the UI may also have changed.

Settings and options

What are the different layout options?

  • Accordion


    The Accordion layout provides a vertical row of wide buttons to display your items one-by-one. Accordion is a good choice when you have lots of items to display or want to promote the feeling of 'moving' through content. However, as opening and closing items in an Accordion triggers an animation, Accordions work best with smaller amounts of similarly sized content.

  • Buttons

    The Button layout provides a vertical row of buttons to display your items. Buttons can easily display up to 10 items, but each item needs a short title. Buttons also work best with smaller amounts of content with no, or small, images, such as definitions, FAQs, scenarios. This helps all the buttons stay on the screen at once. The vertical order of buttons can be used for simple step-by-step processes too.

  • List - Numbered, Alpha and Bullet

    The List layout provides an animated, graphical layout of items, including an optional image for each item. Lists have the most flexibility with item content and can handle large variations in length between each item. There are three different list layouts:

    • Numbered. These lists are automatically numbered, so can be used for step-by-step instructions, ranked content ('Top 5 ideas') or ranked options ('Best to least suitable').

    • Alpha. These lists are automatically labelled A-J. They are also useful for step-by-step processes, as well as presenting alternative options or different scenarios.

    • Bullet. These lists are not labelled - they just have the bullet. They are useful for lists where the order is not important (or you want to avoid suggesting a rank or order).

  • Tabs

    The Tab layout provides a horizontal menu of tabs to display your items. Tabs work best with short (single word) titles and up to 2-5 tabs in total. Tabs also display best when each item has a similar length of content. Since tabs only show one item at a time, they are useful for making complex content easier to review. Tabs are also great when each item has a lot of content.

  • Flipcards

    The Flipcard layout provides a grid of 'cards'. Each card has the item title and image on the front, and the item content on the back of the card. The cards can be flipped (click, touch or press enter) to move between the title and the content. Flipcards are very interactive and great for presenting 'matching' items like definitions or scenarios. Content is limited to the size of a card, however, so you need to keep your content to less than 300 characters.

  • Acronym

    The acronym layout allows you to create an acronym, with the title of each item being a letter in your acronym and your content being an explanation of that letter. Each letter within your acronym will be divided by a "What's next?" button, allowing explorers to click through each letter one by one.

  • Timeline

    The timeline layout allows you to display a timeline in an interactive format. Your explorers will be prompted to click on an arrow button to reveal each item within the timeline.

  • Process

    The process layout allows you to display a step by step process in an interactive format. Your explorers will be prompted to click on each item to reveal each step in the process.

Examples

Let's take a look at some examples of the interact element in action!

1. Emoticons. You can use emoticons to make your interaction engaging. In this example, we use emoticons as titles with the button layout:


2. Scenarios. The buttons layout can also be used to display scenarios:

3. FAQs. The Accordion layout is a great way to display frequently asked questions:

4. Acronyms - Accordion is also great for acronyms. It's a very flexible layout which means you can have any length for your titles, content and also add images:

5. Sequencing events. The timeline element is a great tool for visually sequencing events in chronological order:

6. Outlining steps. The process element is a great tool for explaining steps within a defined process:

7. Comparisons. Tabs work well when comparing situations or items:

9. Adding images. You can use images to make flipcards visually interesting! We recommend using the image editor to crop your images to portrait:

Note: You can also add images to the back of your flipcards by adding it into your content section. To do this, click on 'insert image' from the text options in the content section. Please note, images inserted into text do not support 'click-to-zoom' functionality.

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