I am considering switching from Captivate 6 to Storyline, because I am tired and frustrated from the sea of bugs and problems. No product is ideal, but this is already too much for my health....
Please, is there some edu-sources, how Storyline works, how is workflow etc.? And what you think, when will come a new version of Storyline?
My recommendation is to learn by doing some small hands on projects and you will find that storyline is very easy to master quickly
Finally, this community portal itself a great resource for getting good guidance and handling issues
I know a lot of people goes tired with Captivate 6 (including myself) that is why i have spent a time to write a detailed article about this on my blog to justify why storyline is much much better than Captivate 6 for developing e-learning (you can use this post to quickly learn some differences between captivate vs articulate as well)
Thanks Electron for link of your interesting article. I just started trial Storyline - after one hour of discovering and laboring, i was able basic working with Storyline simple project. Very nice, intuitive, and smooth working and results. My considering after first day - yes, I want Storyline.
Because I am also active user of the products wich are parts of eLearning Suite 6 - Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat, Photoshop and Audition - I dont leave Adobe products portofolio (just CP). But I make some corections of my upgrade plan for software - and I will spend money, wich I have calculated for next Adobe upgrade (from eLS 6 to eLs 6.5), rather for buying Storyline.
Next Adobe products I will upgrade soon to version 7.
Please, know somebody the date of release new version of Storyline?
I can only speak from personal experience but i invested in captivate 5.5 and persevered for about 12 months. I was able to produce some commercially viable products but I was continually frustrated by the technical problems i kept running into. I switched to storyline and i haven't looked back. It is a real pleasure to use and so much more intuitive. The only thing i cant do (much easier) in storyline is produce pdf documents.
If you give your permission, I can use your posts when I start my second trial to convince my company to buy Storyline instead of Captivate.
I've been using SL for more than a year now (as a freelance), but as you mention at the start of your post, I got frustrated just at the view of the (horrible-counter-intuitive) UI.
I'm still trying to recover from the effect that the "Captivate dessert" produced in me, so I also appreciate that you share in your post the source of a sample course. I've opened it so I can see "things" inside this dessert and understand at least something.
@Electron... That is a nice blog, but I think you missed one of the coolest features of Storyline that really allow you to amp up the interactivity you build into your courses: variables. Yeah, Captivate has some variables, but what they can do is significantly limited because, at least according to the superficial research I did, they appear to only have text variables (variables that can store strings of text).
Storyline provides three types of variables:
Text variables (again, these can hold a string of text, for instance, you can have the learner enter their name in a text field, and throughout the balance of your course, the course will address the learner by their name)
Numeric variables which you can use to track the number of times the learner tries an interaction or, much cooler, keep a running score of something (for instance, if, after several interactions, your learner is just doing poorly, you can kick the learner out of the course, or, more generously, suggest they find some additional help)
True/False variables that you can use to check the status of something. You can use T/F variables for instance to ensure that a learner has completed everything you want them to complete (view all layers of a slide, for instance) before enabling the Next button.
These are cheesy, and way too minimal, explanations of what variables can do for you, but once you start getting into them, you'll find that variables can really help you enrich your courses. What you can do with them is really only limited by your imagination. I suspect that how you can use variables may be tough for people who're unfamiliar with using variables, but you definitely want to check 'em out.
And, Storyline makes using variables incredibly easy, much simpler than in Captivate.
@Chris, I agree your research into Captivate variables is rather superficial. Beyond user-defined variables, CP also provides access to dozens of system variables, which give you a lot of control over your project. Storyline currently provides read-only access to a handful of quiz-related variables. The same applies to CP's Advanced Actions that are at least equal to Storyline triggers.
I am far from being a Captivate cheerleader, but I do prefer to compare the merits of one tool over another based on reality.
I would say that both of you (Michael and Chris) bring up valid points about variables. Storyline's variable offerings are much easier to understand and user-friendly for instructional designers who do not have an extensive programming background. Let's face it... It can take while for the concept of a variable and its value to be really understood.
Storyline does a good job of providing variables for the typical-use scenarios for a lot of IDs: text, numeric, t/f. Captivate is by nature a more complex program where you can really dig in and access the variables Michael is describing, but doing so requires a comfort level with coding.
I agree with Michael, CP's access to a variety of system variables is one of it's better assets. I also find it easier to build advanced actions with conditional statements a little more clearer in CP. Articulate did a great job in making variables simple in Storyline, but if you read some of the other posts, users are hungry for a little more power.
10 Replies
Welcome to the community!
I know a lot of people goes tired with Captivate 6 (including myself) that is why i have spent a time to write a detailed article about this on my blog to justify why storyline is much much better than Captivate 6 for developing e-learning (you can use this post to quickly learn some differences between captivate vs articulate as well)
Adobe Captivate 6 vs Articulate Storyline – Side by Side Comparison
Good luck!
Thanks Electron for link of your interesting article. I just started trial Storyline - after one hour of discovering and laboring, i was able basic working with Storyline simple project. Very nice, intuitive, and smooth working and results. My considering after first day - yes, I want Storyline.
Because I am also active user of the products wich are parts of eLearning Suite 6 - Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat, Photoshop and Audition - I dont leave Adobe products portofolio (just CP). But I make some corections of my upgrade plan for software - and I will spend money, wich I have calculated for next Adobe upgrade (from eLS 6 to eLs 6.5), rather for buying Storyline.
Next Adobe products I will upgrade soon to version 7.
Please, know somebody the date of release new version of Storyline?
Btw, sory for my language I am
Hi,
Intersting comparative article Electron.
Jaroslav -
You may want to read this post - http://community.articulate.com/forums/p/3065/157276.aspx#157276
I had added in my favorites list.
Hi,
I can only speak from personal experience but i invested in captivate 5.5 and persevered for about 12 months. I was able to produce some commercially viable products but I was continually frustrated by the technical problems i kept running into. I switched to storyline and i haven't looked back. It is a real pleasure to use and so much more intuitive. The only thing i cant do (much easier) in storyline is produce pdf documents.
@Electron, your posts really make the point!
If you give your permission, I can use your posts when I start my second trial to convince my company to buy Storyline instead of Captivate.
I've been using SL for more than a year now (as a freelance), but as you mention at the start of your post, I got frustrated just at the view of the (horrible-counter-intuitive) UI.
I'm still trying to recover from the effect that the "Captivate dessert" produced in me, so I also appreciate that you share in your post the source of a sample course. I've opened it so I can see "things" inside this dessert and understand at least something.
Thanks a lot,
Belen Casado
@Electron... That is a nice blog, but I think you missed one of the coolest features of Storyline that really allow you to amp up the interactivity you build into your courses: variables. Yeah, Captivate has some variables, but what they can do is significantly limited because, at least according to the superficial research I did, they appear to only have text variables (variables that can store strings of text).
Storyline provides three types of variables:
These are cheesy, and way too minimal, explanations of what variables can do for you, but once you start getting into them, you'll find that variables can really help you enrich your courses. What you can do with them is really only limited by your imagination. I suspect that how you can use variables may be tough for people who're unfamiliar with using variables, but you definitely want to check 'em out.
And, Storyline makes using variables incredibly easy, much simpler than in Captivate.
@Chris, I agree your research into Captivate variables is rather superficial. Beyond user-defined variables, CP also provides access to dozens of system variables, which give you a lot of control over your project. Storyline currently provides read-only access to a handful of quiz-related variables. The same applies to CP's Advanced Actions that are at least equal to Storyline triggers.
I am far from being a Captivate cheerleader, but I do prefer to compare the merits of one tool over another based on reality.
I would say that both of you (Michael and Chris) bring up valid points about variables. Storyline's variable offerings are much easier to understand and user-friendly for instructional designers who do not have an extensive programming background. Let's face it... It can take while for the concept of a variable and its value to be really understood.
Storyline does a good job of providing variables for the typical-use scenarios for a lot of IDs: text, numeric, t/f. Captivate is by nature a more complex program where you can really dig in and access the variables Michael is describing, but doing so requires a comfort level with coding.
I agree with Michael, CP's access to a variety of system variables is one of it's better assets. I also find it easier to build advanced actions with conditional statements a little more clearer in CP. Articulate did a great job in making variables simple in Storyline, but if you read some of the other posts, users are hungry for a little more power.
articulate storyline2 is easy as compare to captivate 6.
and lot of feature are involve in it.
Feature are given below:-
motion path-:
slider Design:-
Object Animation:-
Animation Pointer:-
TimeLine Trigger Event:-
Slide Transiations:-
these are feature are involve in articulte storyline2.
which are differ from the adobe captivate .
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