Presentation mode

ThingLink Presentation Mode (currently in Beta) is a new way of showing your content.  Presentation mode functions as a slideshow that guides the viewer through each tag. Check out the example below:

And here you can check what it would look like as a 'normal' ThingLink experience. 

The presentation mode works with all interactive images and 360 images in your account, and you can use the same editor to create content for this new mode. However, note that only some tag types work in the presentation mode so you might  - learn more below.

Quick guide

1. Upload an image or a 360 image to your account - or create a clone of your existing content.
2. Start editing the image.
3. Add text & media tags with title, description text, and images to describe objects in the background image. If you want to show an image along with the text, split the text into two paragraphs. If you need to show more images, add more paragraphs of text.
4. Use numbered icons to determine in which order the presentation mode will show the tags.
5. Once your presentation is ready or you want to test it, exit the editor, click Share -> Share as presentation, copy the link and open it in a new tab.
6. (Optional) Add a tour tag if you would like to connect multiple background images.

If you encounter issues or something does not work as you expected, check out the ‘Supported content’ section below.

Availability

The presentation mode is available on all paid accounts as well as on legacy free teacher accounts.

Supported content

At the moment, presentation mode supports only two tag types:

• ‘Text & media tags’ are used to form the text panels and show additional images along with the text. Use them to provide information about the objects depicted in the image to the learner.
• Tour tags are used to change the background image by transitioning from one scene to another.

We highly recommend that you try to create a simple example or a mock-up as you go through this article to see how different combinations of content and tags are displayed in the presentation mode.

Text & media tags

All text & media tags that have a title and description text are shown as text panels, where each paragraph of your description text is shown as a separate text panel. 

The first text panel will show the tag title, the first paragraph of the description text, and the location of the tag on the background image.

The next text panel will show the second paragraph of the description text. If your tag has an image, it will be shown next to the text panel:

Use the first paragraph to show the object on the base image. Use subsequent paragraphs to provide more details about the object or add images to showcase details. But remember that you always need to have more than one paragraph of text if you want to show an in-tag image, and you need an additional paragraph for each new image.

Note that paragraphs over 500 characters are automatically split into multiple text panels. 

Tip: you can also add one YouTube video per tag. Copy the link to the video and paste it into the ‘Button URL’ field. The video will be shown next to the last text panel (the last paragraph). Check out slide 10 at the start of this article.

Tour tags

You can use tour tags to transition from one background image to another. All images will be shown in presentation mode. Do not add more than 1 tour tag per image as only one tour tag will be activated in the presentation mode.

Note that:

• Conditional transitions will be ignored in presentation mode - the viewer will not have to answer the question to proceed to the next scene.
• Any tour tags that go to an image that has already been shown will be ignored, so you cannot create ‘looping’ presentations.

Tag order

The presentation mode will show all compatible text & media tags in the following order:

1. A house / home icon will open first if you have one.
2. If you have numbered tags (e.g 1-20) these will open in sequence.
3. If you have tags with icons that are not numbers, these will open in order of when the tags were added, oldest to newest.
4. If you have both  it will open the numbered tags first and then the other remaining icons.

Once all text & media tags have been shown, the presentation mode will use a tour tag to open the next scene in presentation mode.

Icons

While the icon design determines the tag order, note that all icons will be replaced with the ‘circle and dot’ icon design of the same color:

For example, an orange ‘1’ icon will be replaced with an orange circle icon while an orange question mark icon will be replaced with an orange circle. Custom icons and legacy icons will be replaced with a blue circle icon, too. 

Unsupported features and limitations

The presentation mode is an experimental feature that’s still in beta, so a lot of features that are available in the editor do not work when you share your content as a presentation

• Text label tags, embed tags, and poll tags are not supported.
• PDF files, 3D models, or videos inside text & media tags are not supported.
• Interactions with the presentation mode are not tracked and do not contribute to content statistics.
• Presentation mode does not have its own accessibility player and has not been optimized for accessibility. However, all elements should be compatible with screen readers.
• Microsoft Immersive Reader integration is not available in presentation mode.
• Presentation mode is separate from VR mode. It is not possible to view presentation mode in VR.
• Audio content (in-tag and background audio) is not supported.

The presentation mode does not work with interactive videos, 360 videos, or 3D models.

How to share an image in presentation mode

To share your content in presentation mode, open the scene, click the 'Share' button, and then select the 'View as presentation' tab. Here, you can copy a direct link that you can share with your viewers or use the iframe embed code to insert the presentation into your website (like at the top of this page):

Privacy settings: the presentation mode uses the privacy setting for the ThingLink scene it’s based on. If you want to share your presentation with anyone via a link, set the scene to ‘Unlisted’ or ‘Public’ privacy setting.

Tips

• The scene title will be displayed when the viewer opens the presentation. You can use it as the title for your presentation.
• Remember: if you want to show images along with text, you need to split the description text into multiple paragraphs.
• You can embed an image in presentation mode into a scenario.
• All edits are reflected immediately, similar to normal ThingLink content. If you update an image, you do not need to update the link or the embed code for the presentation mode

We highly recommend using the presentation mode when you need to guide the viewer through your content and when the tags are connected to different objects in the background image. If you want your viewers to explore the content on their own or talk about more abstract concepts where the tags are not directly related to what is shown in the background image, use the normal sharing mode instead.

If you have any questions or would like to chat about this new feature, contact our team. The presentation mode is still in the early stages of development, so we will be glad to hear your feedback.