Claro vs. Storyline

We have just completed an evaluation of Claro vs. Storyline in our organization. We have used the Adobe suite for years, but are migrating to another system because of our need to work with PowerPoint imports extensively and deliver on iPads.

I've put both through their paces. Each has their strengths. I can say with confidence that Claro does not have "greater ability to publish to HTML5." For iPad delivery, I consider Storyline far superior to Claro for most real world uses. A few Storyline advantages:

1. Claro does not have a mechanism for users to take courses on the iPad when they are not connected to the internet. Offline delivery is a great Storyline strength.

2. Claro limits the screen sizes you can use to their own pre-set templates. Storyline has much more flexibility.

3. Theme customization and sequence animation are considerably more difficult and time-consuming in Storyline.

To be fair, Claro does have its strengths. Its review and collaboration features are much more advanced than Storyline's. There are several other advantages to using it, depending on your organization and its needs. But superior ability to publish to HTML 5 is definitely not one of those advantages.

I would be glad to email my comparison matrix if you email me privately. 

Michael,

In your view - was the SaaS availability of Claro a major benefit, (it seemed to be enough of a benefit that it won them the eLearning 24/7 Award for product of the year)?

I would love to have SaaS availability for Storyline.

Thanks

Bruce

In our organization, SaaS availability was not much of a factor. I could see how it would be very helpful in some environments-- particularly those that have months where they're not actively developing courses. 

re: HTML5 I suspect what they are referring to are the fact that Storyline publishes different versions Flash and HTML5 and offline iPAd only format where Claro publishes one format for all which is obviously a different approach. I know I often hear about the limitations of HTML5 - and there are some for sure, but most of the ones people think of aren't actually true (just take a look at output from either product)

Claro also does some things HTML5 wise others don't do like auto play audio when a page loads and use HTML5 specific tags for performance. Storyline does a nice job of going beyond (it would seem) HTML5 with their native player for iPad. (Offline players are also available from a number of LMSes and often an important factor is does the offline player talk to your LMS. I think Storyline's only talks to theirs and other TinCan players - which isn't a bad thing, but definitely something to consider.  You probably should ask dominKnow if they have an offline player coming - I wouldn't be surprised if there was one right around the corner.)

The other HTMl5 factor might be the difference in variety of devices supported between the two products.

That being said as Michael points out you have to look at how you are working, who with and what makes the most sense you will definitely find competing strengths and weakness in most of the good products.

Paul's post is very informative. We found Claro's capabilities impressive-- just not "superior" to Storyline for our specific needs. 

I should point out that neither Paul's post nor his profile mention that he is the VP of business development for Domiknow, the company that makes Claro. He was actively involved in trying to sell Claro to our organization-- a sales goal which he pursued thoroughly and attentively. 

I'm confident that if anybody on this forum wants to hear a persuasive case for using Claro, they will get one by contacting Paul or the sales department at Domiknow directly.   My own assessment of Claro is based solely on the needs of our organization: We're interested in delivering courses as effectively as possible to the specific learners we serve. We have no financial interest in the sale of any particular tool.

I think mine is the perspective that people who participate in this forum generally expect when seeking opinions on specific products. When that is not the case, I think it helps to know .

Many thanks for that post Michael - very useful.

Bruce

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Thanks Michael for making that clear. I looked and see I've not updated my profile since it was create about 8 years ago.  That is now fixed.  As always I try to be as impartial as possible, but definitely should have made that clear.

Anyhow I've used many tools over the past 15+ years work for an LMS vendor (GeoLearning) for many of them and managing several authoring products and helping our clients with anything esoteric our support team had trouble with.  I can honestly say most of the tools out there have some very good points (and Storyline is certainly no slouch in this category) as well as a few warts.  (Yes even Claro could probably be said to have a few )

Hi Michael,

I am starting the same kind of evaluation. We have comparable requirements, I am just using Keynote instead of Powerpoint. I guess it should be very usefull for me if you can share your comparison.

Many thanks.  

Hi Michael, I'd love to see the matrix as well. Have messaged you privately. 

UPDATE: My comparison matrix is out-of-date. Claro and Storyline have both added many features since I did my comparison. My employer has also asked that I stop sending my original matrix out since it contains information that is now inaccurate. Much as I appreciate all of the emails asking for my matrix, I must respectfully decline.

No problems, thanks Michael

So, who will make a new comparison?