Frames

A frame is a single screen or step a participant sees, the fundamental building block of a Labvanced study. A trial is built from a sequence of frames shown one after another: a fixation cross might be one frame, a stimulus the next, a response screen the one after that. For how frames are sequenced and repeated across a trial, see Trial Timeline; this page covers what a frame is and the types available.

Frames are created within a trial group, so different trial groups have completely independent frame sequences. Once created, a frame's objects and events can be edited individually, and frames can be reordered by drag and drop, copied, deleted, or imported from another task or study.

All frames, regardless of type, share a few common properties, set in the Frame Settings panel:

  • Name: a label to identify the frame within your task (participants never see it)
  • Duration: an optional fixed display time in milliseconds; if left unset, the frame stays on screen until an event or action advances the trial
  • Background color: a custom color or the study's default
  • Hide Mouse: hides the participant's cursor while the frame is active

The three frame types

Canvas Frame

Free positioning: place, resize, and drag objects anywhere on the frame. Use this when exact placement or timing matters, such as perception or reaction-time tasks.

Page Frame

Automatic top-to-bottom layout, like a web page. Use this for questionnaires, consent forms, and instructions, where flow matters more than exact placement.

Website Frame

Embeds a real external website in the study instead of Labvanced-built stimuli. Use this for testing or tracking gaze on an actual live site.

Canvas and Page frames can be intermixed within the same trial group, though it often makes sense to keep a trial group consistently one type. Both are added the same way: a click on the respective icon in the Trial Timeline. Website Frame is added the same way too, via its own icon, but is a distinct third type rather than a variant of the other two, see Website Frame for why that distinction matters.

Side-by-side comparison of a canvas frame with freely positioned elements and a page frame with elements stacked top to bottom