Articulate on iPads?

Jan 31, 2011

Hi Team,

Was wondering how you plan to deal with the increasing amount of iPad users. I know that in my company they are running pilots with them but my Articulate courses won't run on them :( Are you looking into a Publish for iPad or other solution like publishing a course to HMTL5 or something like that?

209 Replies
Phil Mayor

Gerry Wasiluk said:

Besides the Articulate staff working their tails off (and doing great work BTW), there's been quite a few beta testers who have been pounding hard on the product, devoting a lot of their time to helping Articulate realize Storyline, some of us since early July.

I can appreciate how frustrated some folks might be tempted to be because they can't see what's going on behind the veil of beta testing.  However, a potential game changing product of this nature takes time to get right for the first version, IMVHO.

Rather than get upset for how long it's taken--I'd advocate instead appreciating the fact that Articulate wants to produce the highest quality product possible from the start and is taking the time to do it right. 

This is not easy work.  The difficult takes some time and the miraculous takes just a little longer.


nicely said Gerry, always more articulate than me!

Rob Nachum

Michelle Ellsworth said:

Where's Soryline?  How do I get it?  Over 40% of my clients are moving to iPads this year!  Need a solutions A.S.A.P.! 


Out of interest, does anyone have any feedback / comments on uptake of "other" tablets? Y'know those Androidy ones? There was a huge broohaha here in Australia where Samsung couldn't sell the Galaxy 10.1 due to an "iSuit" but that has been resolved. Acer has a grunty Android version and one that runs W7. But there does not seem to be the same uptake yet in the way that Samsung (particularly) and HTC have grabbed the smartphone market.

In some respects it could almost be cheaper to give away an Android tab with a killer app on it to get the traction that is necessary. Then developers could actually work on getting HTML5 right rather than having it shoved down our throats without a common standard and we could work with Flash (shock horror) as well.

Not really on this thread but I suspect that HTML5 is one of the big bottlenecks that is slowing down the release of SL1.0

Just sayin'.

Cheers

Rob

Garry Hargreaves

Hi Guys,

This maybe of interest

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/23/technology/personaltech/onlive-desktop-plus-puts-windows-7-on-the-ipad-in-blazing-speed-state-of-the-art.html

 

iPad service called OnLive Desktop Plus.

It’s a tiny app — about 5 megabytes. When you open it, you see a standard Windows 7 desktop, right there on your iPad. The full, latest versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer and Adobe Reader are set up and ready to use — no installation, no serial numbers, no pop-up balloons nagging you to update this or that.

 Supports FLASH on the iPAD....via windows.....it's not April is it.

 

Cheers

Garry

Rick Koskinen

I like that: "Shipping" idea: Maybe more specfically, don't tease your client base.  The only reason I don't have an authoring tool for iOS is the sheer amount of work my team has to do to keep up with user support.  Our core competence as content creators has been delayed by this.  At the same time, my gut tells me that Storyline is designed for skilled developers and will not be easy for the less experienced to pickup.  That's unfortunate in that it requires re-balancing our production line.  We will soon move on another solution.

Russell Still

There are a couple of apps that promise to give Flash support to iPads. One is Swiftr (Swifter?). I gave it a try a few months back and it is very poor at its main job. Flash animation is choppy and grainy. I don't hold out much hope for any of the current Flash fixes for the iPad.

Regarding giving up on Storyline and picking another solution, what other options are there? I'm not aware of any at the moment.

Gabe Anderson

Rick Koskinen said:

I like that: "Shipping" idea: Maybe more specfically, don't tease your client base.  The only reason I don't have an authoring tool for iOS is the sheer amount of work my team has to do to keep up with user support.  Our core competence as content creators has been delayed by this.  At the same time, my gut tells me that Storyline is designed for skilled developers and will not be easy for the less experienced to pickup.  That's unfortunate in that it requires re-balancing our production line.  We will soon move on another solution.


You might be surprised, Rick. Patience will pay off soon. We're very close to releasing Storyline, and the wait will be worth it. We'd rather release a high-quality product that's easy and fun to use than one that's low quality and offers inferior results. It will be hard to find another product like Storyline.

But don't just take my word for it. You'll hear plenty of praise from beta customers, too.

Phil Mayor

Gabe Anderson said:

Rick Koskinen said:

I like that: "Shipping" idea: Maybe more specfically, don't tease your client base.  The only reason I don't have an authoring tool for iOS is the sheer amount of work my team has to do to keep up with user support.  Our core competence as content creators has been delayed by this.  At the same time, my gut tells me that Storyline is designed for skilled developers and will not be easy for the less experienced to pickup.  That's unfortunate in that it requires re-balancing our production line.  We will soon move on another solution.


You might be surprised, Rick. Patience will pay off soon. We're very close to releasing Storyline, and the wait will be worth it. We'd rather release a high-quality product that's easy and fun to use than one that's low quality and offers inferior results. It will be hard to find another product like Storyline.

But don't just take my word for it. You'll hear plenty of praise from beta customers, too.

Its an amazing product, worth the wait
Bruce Graham

This product will blow your proverbial socks off....and I believe that the support and the community that surrounds it will make it turbo-charged. Those of us lucky enough to be beta'ing are still finding ways to be (daily) wowed by this product.

What you can do is limitless - and easy.

Just wait a little longer and all will be revealed.

Bruce

Steve Flowers

To state the obvious -- more capable tools are going to be more complex to use than less capable tools. The Articulate design and development crew has done a really dynamite job balancing complexity and ease of use. 

As for other tools on the market, we've been scanning for awhile. I've been really disappointed in the output of the tools I've tested. HTML5 output of all of the tools I've tried really doesn't live up to the hype conveyed by the marketing materials distributed by the toolmaker. Many of these HTML5 outputs seriously handicap the generating tool to the point that it's not really an equivalent output to the native published output (Flash based).  The outputs also looked, and in some cases behaved, differently on each browser I tested on. Not to mention the utter failure of these tools to provide a workable output for IE6 or IE7 (still holding a non-trivial slice of the market).

I love HTML5 in theory. In practice, it's been pretty mediocre where e-learning is concerned. But it's just the beginning. I expect the tools to get better and better as time goes by. I have no doubt Storyline will ratchet the bar upwards.

Gerry Wasiluk

@Gabe  + 1

@Phil +1

@Bruce +1

@Steve +10

Wholeheartedly and enthusiastically agree with my esteemed colleagues. 

Just, as I've cautioned before, keep your expectations in check if you've never seen the product before.  It is v1.  That said, I still believe, after working with it for a while, that it has a very bright future.

More when we can talk about it . . .

Andrew Gadomski

Thanks to all for the work that you are doing on Storyline. We have been patient here at Aspen, and we are really making waves in very large HR organizations with the apps and modules that we are producing using Articulate. We use the tool because we eventually turn over the work to the clients so they can manage the work themselves, and the Articulate platform is so much more streamlined than others, such as Captivate.

Our "apps" are have massive amounts of intellectual property within each, and we have found that using an iPad or even a smartphone is too small for our tools. Beside we really don't want the users of the apps to engage them when away from other systems they use regularly. They use our apps in conjunction with other tools that are only resident on their desktops / laptops. 

However, we have found that Cloud Browse (app on iTunes) is a nice stop gap for those who are desperate for iPad access. Those clients gain access from our Articulate Online account, so they are already browser based to begin with - they simply open up in Cloud Browse instead of Safari. But Storyline should change all that, and we are ready when you guys are to make the shift Take the time you need to get it right. The HTML 5 is just as important as the iOS, and we are ready to play.

Alexander Covan

@James 

For whatever reasons, the iPad platform has become "popular" for mobile sales forces.

As learning professionals, we design the best experience that will deploy on the client's technology, not tell them to switch technology.

If I had a client come to me and say, I need training that will work on audio only cell phones... with no visuals... I'd try to find the best solution for that particular problem.

If I have a client who says we need e-Learning for iPads because that's what our salespeople carry with them all the time... that's what I'm going to do.

Bruce Graham

@Alexander,

As Instructional Designers we also have a responsibility to suggest to clients why something may be incorrect, based on our experience and our understanding of the market.

If, (after that), they still want something, then fine, but we do occasionally have a responsibility to suggest to them that, (for example...), rather than a course on an iPad they buy a bunch of books for the salesperson instead, and measure success not through SCORM but through on the job performance and a good 'ol fashioned team meeting.

Bruce

Steve Flowers

In some situations, the iPad is a great tool. The desktop is still a great tool. Depending on the design problems, one may be better than the other. I fear that we haven't yet discovered the best form for support tools and learning content to take best advantage of the portable form factor.

The chasm between ideal (the craze / hype) and the real (what people will actually DO with their devices) seems to be pretty wide in my organization. Management clamoring to be a part of the wave of hype and most employees simply wanting less intrusion by management into their daily work. 

Fortunately, with Storyline [Redacted]. [Redacted] [Expletive] Awesome. [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] totally [Expletive] awesome [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted].

[Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted] [Redacted]And [Redacted] to boot. [Expletive] Awesome feature includes [Redacted]. [Redacted] soon. [Redacted] [Expletive] happy. #win.

Did I mention [Redacted]?