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Style Screen Prompts

The prompt style sets what a Learner sees from Simulator throughout a Lesson, from the instruction on a step to the feedback in Practice and the score at the end, and this article shows Content Developers and Instructional Designers what each control does, how to apply one style across the whole Lesson, and how to choose colors that hold up in the field.

 What does the prompt style actually cover?

More than the instruction box. The prompt style is the palette for nearly everything Simulator puts in front of a Learner while they are in the Lesson.

Prompt
What the Learner is doing
Styled
The step prompt Reading what to do on this step. Carries the step Name, the step count, and the step Description. Yes
Practice feedback Being told the action was wrong, and given the hint. Yes
Mode completion Seeing their score at the end of a mode. Yes
Abandon Lesson? Confirming they want to leave, and being warned progress will not be saved. No. This one is Skyllful's own, and you cannot change it.

That is worth knowing before you choose colors. The same palette carries the calm instruction on step one and the "Incorrect" message on a Learner's third attempt.

What are you actually styling?

A prompt has two parts, and each is styled separately.

Part
What it controls
The spotlight What happens to the screen behind the prompt, and whether the area of interest is outlined.
The dialog The box the prompt text sits in, its background, and in Custom, the text and button colors.

What does each control do?

Control
What it sets
Spotlight Background The screen around the prompt. Light dims it toward white, Dark dims it toward black, None leaves it alone.
Spotlight Outline A border drawn around the area of interest. A checkbox, then a width in pixels and a color.
Dialog Background The box the prompt sits in. Light, Dark, or Custom. Only Custom exposes the five colors below.
Default Text The color of the prompt text the Learner reads.
Primary Button Background The fill of the recommended action.
Primary Button Label The text color on that button.
Secondary Button Background The fill of the alternative action.
Secondary Button Label The text color on that button.

 

Note: Primary means the recommended action in that particular prompt, not always the way forward. On a step prompt the primary button is Next and the secondary is Quit. On the completion prompt the primary is Menu and the secondary is Try Again, so there the recommended action is to finish. Style the pair for contrast with each other rather than assuming primary always means go.

 

Note: Spotlight Outline is a checkbox. The squares beside Default Text, Secondary Button Label, and Primary Button Label are not. They are color swatches, and a swatch set to white looks much like an empty checkbox. Click one to change the color.

 

Note: A step prompt shows Quit on its own until step 2, where Previous joins it. If you are styling on step 1 you will not see both buttons you are choosing colors for.

How do you style the prompt on a step?

Step
Action
1 Open the Lesson in Lesson Builder and go to the step's General tab.
2 Choose a Spotlight Background: Light, Dark, or None.
3 To outline the area of interest, check Spotlight Outline, set the width in pixels, and choose the color.
4 Choose a Dialog Background: Light, Dark, or Custom.
5 If you chose Custom, set the five colors it exposes: Default Text, Secondary Button Label, Secondary Button Background, Primary Button Label, and Primary Button Background.
6 Click Toggle Preview to see the prompt in place on the screen without running the Lesson.
7 Click Update.

 

Note: Choose None for the Spotlight Background when the whole screen matters, or when dimming would hide the context a Learner needs. None with a thick outline is a legitimate combination, not a fallback: it keeps the screen readable and still says exactly where to tap.

 

Note: On a step that needs no action from the Learner, the prompt can be anchored relative to the viewing window rather than to a control.

How should you style a prompt?

The controls are quick. The choices are what a Learner lives with.

  • Start from what the prompt is for. Learners are meant to read it. Skyllful is a learning application, not a wayfinding overlay, and the Learner stopping to think about what they are being asked to select is the point of the exercise rather than friction to be designed away. Style so the words are easy to read and the target is unambiguous once they have read them. Do not style so hard that the words become skippable. A Learner who can finish a Walkthrough without reading a single prompt has learned to follow a colored box, and Practice will find them out, because that is where the guidance is taken away.

  • Pick one color for the way forward and a different one for the way out, then use it everywhere. Let one color carry the Spotlight Outline, the emphasized words in the Description, and the Primary Button Background, and reserve a second for the secondary button. A Learner then has one thing to learn: this color means the thing I am meant to do. It is the single highest-value decision in this article.

  • Emphasize the control's name in the prompt, in that same color. "Tap Next to continue" with *Next* in the color of the outline drawn around it means the sentence and the highlight say the same thing, so the Learner reads the instruction and then finds it confirmed on the screen. The color control on the Description toolbar sets it. Color the control's name, not the whole sentence: emphasis only works while most of the text is unemphasized, and a fully colored prompt is one a Learner will skim.

  • Decide the spotlight and the dialog together. A dark dialog on a dark-dimmed screen loses its edges, and a light dialog on a light-dimmed screen does the same. Pick opposing values so the prompt sits clearly on top of the screen behind it.

  • Treat contrast as the whole job. Prompt text against the dialog background, and each button label against its own button fill, should clear the WCAG AA thresholds of 4.5:1 for body text and 3:1 for large text and interface elements. Brand palettes fail this more often than people expect, particularly lighter brand colors carrying white labels.

  • Do not let color alone carry the meaning. If hue is the only difference between the primary and secondary buttons, a Learner with a color vision deficiency has two identical buttons. Wording and fill weight have to do some of the work.

  • Style for the moments that go wrong, not just the happy path. The same colors carry the "Incorrect" prompt in Practice and the score at the end. A palette that reads well on a calm instruction and poorly on a failure message fails a Learner exactly when they are already frustrated. Preview a wrong answer, not only a right one.

  • Style for the conditions the Lesson will meet, not the conditions you author in. This content is used on phones and tablets, outdoors, in gloves, in glare, at arm's length. A palette that looks refined on a color-calibrated monitor can be unreadable in a yard in sunlight.

  • Keep it consistent across the Learning Program, not just the Lesson. Learners move between Lessons. A prompt that changes character between them reads as a different product.

How do you apply one step's style to the whole Lesson?

Styling every step by hand is not the intent. Style one step, then push that styling out to the rest.

Step
Action
1 Style one step the way you want every step to look.
2 On that step, click Copy Prompt Style. Wait for the confirmation "Prompt styles copied successfully!" before you go on.
3 Open the Lesson's ... menu, at the right of the View Steps row.
4 Choose Step Actions, then Paste Prompt Styles to Steps.
5 Click Update.

 

Note: The prompt style travels through your clipboard, which is why step 2 has to succeed before step 4 will. Watch for the confirmation each time. Copy Prompt Style reports "Prompt styles copied successfully!" and the paste reports "Prompt styles pasted successfully!"

 

Note: To copy the styling to one other step rather than all of them, use Copy Prompt Style on the styled step and Paste Prompt Style on the step you want it applied to. Both links sit on the step's General tab.

What if the prompt styling does not apply?

Symptom
What to do
"Your clipboard did not contain valid styles! Please copy some styles and try again" The copy did not take. Go back to the styled step, click Copy Prompt Style, wait for "Prompt styles copied successfully!" and then paste again. Anything else that writes to your clipboard in between will clear it.
The prompt or the control is not where you expect in Toggle Preview Toggle Preview does not scroll the screen. On a step whose control sits inside a scrollable area, what you see will not match Simulator, and the control may not be in view at all. Check those steps in Simulator. Studio marks this with a warning beside Toggle Preview.
The Abandon Lesson? confirmation does not match your colors It is not meant to. That prompt is Skyllful's own and is not affected by the prompt style.
The change does not stick Check that you clicked Update.

If you need help, start with your manager, then your Local Administrator. If additional assistance is needed, your Local Administrator can submit a support ticket to Skyllful. 

Skyllful Knowledge Base | Content Developers, Instructional Designers