Hi Suzan
Unfortunately there are no "Recommended Settings" for a
Button object. What it all boils down to is the mix of objects on
your slide and how they interact. By default, Button objects cause
the slide to pause until they have been interacted with. Let's
assume you inserted a blank slide. The slide will normally come in
and be timed for 3 seconds in duration. Now let's say you insert a
button object. You don't change anything about it and just click
the OK button to insert the object on the slide.
After you insert the button, it pops onto the slide. Let's
observe some things. Shall we?
Look at the Timeline. Notice those two vertical bars on the
button object representation? Those indicate a pause. And if yours
looks like mine (and there's nothing to make me think otherwise)
the pause is probably occurring at the 1.5 second mark. To confirm
this, double-click the button object on the slide to see the
properties. Then click the Options tab. Note what is listed in the
field labeled "Pause after:".
Okay, now look at the Button tab. Note what you see in the
drop-down field labeled "On success:". By default, this area is
configured for "Continue". Personally, I think this default setting
is probably the biggest source of confusion and frustration when it
comes to Button objects. Here's why.
Notice the Button object on the Timeline is split into two
different areas. The area before the pause occurs is labeled
"Active", while the area after the pause occurs is labeled
"Inactive". What does this mean? It means this. The button is
visible and can be clicked by the user while the playhead is in the
Active area. So at any point along the way, up until the pause
occurs (and even while paused) the button may be clicked by the
user. Once clicked, the action assigned to the button is carried
out. What if your button should go to the next slide when you click
it? Well, if the button is left configured with the "Continue"
action (remember, this is the default) nothing will appear to
happen if the click occurs before the button pauses. When this
happens, the button has already received its click action. It was
set to "Continue", which it did as it should have. But it continues
to the pause point and stops. And here is where it gets wonky.
See, the button may only be clicked once. Because it was
clicked before it paused, it continues to the pause point and
stops. And it's dead at that point. So to remedy this, you change
the "On success)" action from "Continue" to "Go to next slide. When
this option is selected, it doesn't matter how much time is left to
play, the next slide appears and begins playing.
Does that make more sense? If not, post back where you may be
confused and we'll try to help.
Cheers... Rick