Using Timed Option and a Continue Button

[yk123]

Hi-
I am wondering if I can present instructions that are timed and have a continue button when using MediaLab.

As far as I understand (upon reading the manual and the "Help" files online), when presenting instructions/questions, I can either have a "Continue" button at the bottom of the screen (and then subjects can just click through), or I can set the screen on a timer (i.e. after 30 seconds a new screen will appear).

I was wondering if there is any way I could have both. For example, could I set the experiment such that after 30 seconds the "Continue" button appears on the bottom of the screen. This way, a subject has to stay on a screen for a certain amount of time by virtue of the timer, but, then if he still needs more time, he can wait to click "continue."

[jarvis24]

You can but only on instruction screens by use of a negative duration value such as (d-30), I believe.

For more detail, see "duration for timed items" in the user's guide or online here:
www.empirisoft.com/medialab/help/queparameters.htm#duration

--moments later---

Let me revise that--on reading your question again, it sounds like you are asking that the continue button be avaiable during the items but that there be a maximum amount of time during which they can click it--after which MediaLab would continue automatically. Sort of like what DirectRT can do with it's min-max function. I don't think there is any way right now to do that with MediaLab. Only thing I can think of is to use an item type that allows you to escape early by using the ESC key. You could time it and tell people if they are done early, they can press ESC to continue. Aside from that, I think you'd have to do a custom item with HTML.