StoryLine 360 vs StoryLine 2

Nov 09, 2016

I use StoryLine 2 and have become accustomed to all of its quirks, and mods, and little hacks that I need to do with it to give the best presentation possible to my users.

Now I see this "StoryLine 360" as part of the Articulate 360 Studio, and I'd like to get some answers to some questions.

1) Can I expect the same types of quirks that I have with SL2, which I am totally fine with btw now that I have adapted to them?  Or is SL360 more or less a completely different product and should not be treated the same as SL2.

2)  What exactly are the differences?   It would be nice to have or see some sort of a checklist of things that SL360 has that SL2 does not.   I get that the articulate 360 package has the full gamut of Articulate products (the very vast majority of which I won't use, personally), but simply comparing one storyline to the other, I need to know if I need to take the time to make a change or not.  

Any information or advice is greatly appreciated.  I'm concerned by what i'm seeing, mostly because I simply don't understand it.

thank you.

99 Replies
Crystal Horn

Hi Harry, and thanks for sharing your experience.  I did see your contribution in another discussion about the full screen video option; were you able to get your situation resolved?  Some users were satisfied with inserting their videos as web objects in a new browser window to maintain the video controls; I'm wondering if you used this or a similar method.  Either way, we're happy to lend you a hand.

I also wanted to just link you to our input about Articulate 360 products and subscription model, and how it compares to our perpetual versions.  Your Storyline 2 license is yours forever, and fully supported.  If Articulate 360 is not the right toolkit for you, Storyline 2 will continue to be there!  Again, let us know if we can be of assistance!  

Steven Michael

Hi all,

I'm still yet to hear a concise explanation of the differences.  This fundamental question is being skirted around.  Is 360 merely an upgrade of storyline 2 or is it a completely new and different product?   Do users need both storyline 2 and articulate 360?  A direct answer to this would be greatly appreciated .... i.e. not a ..." well it depends what you want..."   We all want the best in one package.

Wendy Farmer

Hi Steven

SL2 is the current perpetual version of a standalone Storyline product.

Articulate 360 is a suite of products that consist of desktop apps and web apps

DESKTOP APPS                                                                        WEB APPS

                                     

You can have both SL2 and SL360 installed on the same machine

Projects created in SL2 can be opened in SL360 - a backup copy will be created and the file open in 360 becomes a 360 project file.

Attached is comparison chart of the products

Harry Carter

Hi Crystal,

I never did get my problem resolved. I actually started using Captivate. But I would rather find a solution, considering the investment I made. Again, my courses need to include many videos that are high quality (measuring blueprint details). I started reading about the web object thing but got really turned off, wondering why, after such an investment, I would have to start being a programmer or coder. I purchased the software for ease.

I'd like to get back to Storyline 2 if I can find a solution. Also, I tried using a high quality video in Rise and same thing happened. My video was noticeably blurrier and when I clicked the full screen on the video it was much larger than the screen, etc. All in all, not good. Please help, this is all that is preventing me from doing all of this.

Regards,

Harry

John Mackenzie

I have 3 storyline keys. 

In the process of changing computers I couldn't download SL2 and downloaded 360 .

Your marketing is aggressive for this but you need to allow users to access SL2 updates etc.

The question I have is related to the others and like the previous user a direct answer is more likely to engender loyalty. You have a good product so be transparent.

Can SL360 files be imported into SL2 , this would be a very useful feature for me as I might get a 360 subscription but can't afford to get it for all my employees, but if we could still share work on files that would be great

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi John,

It sounds like you were unable to find the download link for Storyline 2 as well? They are still on our site, but with the focus being Articulate 360 it may be harder to find. You can find the downloads of our earlier products here. 

Articulate 360 isn't backwards compatible with earlier versions, so you won't be able to import Storyline 360 into Storyline 2 (or Studio 360 into Studio '13). You can upgrade earlier versions to the new Articulate 360 set up though.

In regards to upgrade pricing, since you currently have Storyline licenses there is special pricing for current customers and the "teams" pricing may work if you have multiple employees who need to be sharing licenses. I'd suggest reaching out to our Success team here as they'll be able to offer you specifics on that.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Harry, 

What issues did you run into with the web objects that caused you to rely on programming or code? If you were able to upload the video to a site such as Youtube or similar, you can use their embed code to insert it directly into Storyline to display the video. That way Storyline won't touch the video during our normal compression process as the vide is only linked/embedded inside the course. 

As far as Rise, do you have a sample link that you could share with us? I'd like to take a look at what you're describing in terms of the larger size when clicking to open the video. You can share it here with us in the E-Learning Heroes community or if you'd like you're welcome to start a case with our Support Engineers.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Harry,

Sorry if I missed that in your reply - and if they were created in Camtasia you'd need somewhere to host them to use the web object method in Storyline. 

Do you have one of the sample Rise courses to share with us? If you already sent it along to our Support Engineers please let me know as I'd like to follow along in the case. 

Steven Michael

Hi Ashley,

Thanks to all here with the comments about he SL2 v 360 discussion.  Ashley just in terms of pricing and how it works with multiple users.  In our institution we have 3 people who need to be using SL2 almost immediately and more potential users down the line.  What would be the best choice in terms of pricing options?  We don't want to purchase a great number of year long subscriptions as it may be a few months before others even start learning/using 360? Thanks Steve

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Klaas, 

Storyline 2 and Studio '13 are perpetual licenses, so you've purchased them and own them outright. Articulate 360 is a subscription based product, but since you're an existing customer there is a discounted rate as you'll see described here.  I'd invite you to use that link at the top of the page to connect with our Success team so that they can walk you through the options specific to you and your needs. 

Kim Myers

Well here is a sad story - I downloaded the trial to SL360 and was excited to give it a good try so I could assess the features. I'm too busy to just "play" with the software, so I decided to do real work and open a current project of mine that was 75% complete using SL2. I  made  my final edits, added audio and quizzing, then published it to Review360 so my client could view/comment on the course. First, the client didn't like the idea of having to create a User ID / PW  before being able to leave comments. I didn't like not being able to add my client's name/email as a "reviewer" so they could simply access the course and begin commenting without a lot of hassle.

However, that wasn't as upsetting as finding out that I can't open my finished project up in SL2! - WHAT? - shame on me for assuming that SL360 files would be able to export or be compatible with SL2 - bubble burst.

Here is another problem with this scenario - I have a team of 4 in my group - everyone is currently on SL2. One person joined my team and SL2 was purchased 2 months ago - and another person less than 6 months ago.

Upgrading to SL360 might be good for one person on the team who can take advantage of some of the advanced features - but it is not something that we can all upgrade to at one time - but, if we can't open each other's files up, then an upgrade is a moot point.

AND - icing on the cake -  we have projects that require us to use freelance developers on occasion - and our freelance developers use SL2. We can't expect everyone to upgrade to SL360 if they are not ready or not interested - so if I have a project that I need to share with a freelance developer to work on - they won't be able to open it with SL2 if I used SL360.

Bummer - if the ability to work collaboratively between those who use SL360 and those who use SL2 is not possible, guess the decision to upgrade has already been made for me.

 

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