A Hotspot step is probably our most versatile step. It's an interactive image based step, where the learner must select a correct portion of the screen to complete the step.

A "Hotspot" is another word for a correct area. With this step, you can draw these Hotspots over parts of the image that you deem as the correct answer. As seen below in the Hotspot editing screen - a Hotspot is drawn around the safety boots (and 3 others), meaning the learner must choose that answer in order to get the step correct. The learner won't see this transparent blue "Hotspot", but they must click within that area in their learner view.

Some uses for the Hotspot step include:

...and many more! Contact us if you need ideas on how you could use this step in your Sims.

Learn how to make a basic Hotspot Step here! For more advanced functionality, check out the other support pages on the Step.

Firstly, add your Hotspot Step by giving it a title, uploading an image, and setting the instructions for what you want your learner to interact with on this step. Click add to move to the Hotspot drawing screen.

The Branches Menu
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Click on the red "Branches" button to open the menu seen below. This is where you will add each hotspot first, before you draw them. To draw the hotspot, click on the "Hotspot" dropdown and select a shape. Alternatively, draw your own shape.

Draw Square/Circle

Using this option to draw a hotspot will result in a pre-drawn hotspot that will appear on the top left of the screen. This can be useful for when your desired points of interest are a set square/rectangle/circle/oval shape, as it's much easier to use these pre-defined shapes over drawing your own.

Although it's a pre-drawn Hotspots, these shapes can still be manipulated by you. Click and drag it to move it around, and use one of the edge handles to resize the scale or width/height. You can easily delete these by selecting the Hotspot and pressing the"Delete" key on your keyboard.

Draw Hotspot

For a more customized fit Hotspot, you can draw your own. You can do this by clicking to place dots around the image - creating a polygon shape. Once you have successfully placed your dots, you can hit the "Complete" button that will appear (after placing at least 3 dots), and the Hotspot will form your shape. You can always hit the undo button if you make a mistake and start again, or you can just delete the finished shape.

Once you select a Hotspot, a small blue button will appear next to it. Click this to access that Hotspots properties.

Correct Hotspot
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Having this checkbox checked means that this Hotspot is a correct answer for this step. You would want this unchecked if you would like to branch away from this Hotspot but it still be a wrong answer. If you aren't branching, having an incorrect Hotspot is the same as having no Hotspot there at all for the end user.

Navigate from tool/Navigate from Hotspot
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Check out our support page on Tools for more information about these two options.

On select go to
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This drop-down will define where the user will jump to once they click this Hotspot. By default it will go to the next step if correct, or stay on the current step if incorrect - but you can change either of these to any step within your sim, or even an external Sim (more on branching and external Sims in our other support pages)

On Right Click

For some applications, such as simulating software, a right-click must be used instead of the normal left-click. Simply navigate to the right-click tab, and treat it the same as you would the left. Ensure you turn left-click "Correct hotspot" off if you want it to be right-click only.