Feature Comparison Of Top 3 eLearning Authoring Tools

eLearning Authoring Tools - Features Comparison

Many a times this is a very commonly asked question to us by our clients – Which Authoring Tool is best for eLearning Development and at times it is difficult to differentiate which one is really the best. The decision of which tool to be used really depends on various factors like interactivities, media, multi-device output requirement, ease of use, cost, time to deliver, expertise, etc to name a few. In this blog we have tried to put together a simple listing of various features available in each eLearning Authoring Tool. Hope this bird’s eye view will help to have a better idea on features of each tool –

Sr. No Articulate Storyline 2.0 Adobe Captivate 9 Lectora Inspire 16
1 Intuitive User Interface Intuitive user interface Responsive Course Design (RCD)
2 Text Editing Adobe Captivate Draft Additional Status Action Condition Relationships
3 Dockable Panels Roundtripping with Microsoft PowerPoint Inline Variable Replacement
4 Slide View Toggle Multistate objects Improved test results
5 Content Importing Object styles Enhanced Likert questions
6 New Languages Equation editor Improved bullets and numbered lists
7 Slide Templates Master slides Additional status indicator objects
8 Characters Professional project templates Media play optimized
9 Timeline Interactions library Enhanced Progress Bar Action
10 Story View Themes Increase/Decrease Text Size
11 Customizable Player Multiscreen responsive eLearning authoring Quick Tour
12 Slide Masters iOS device capture Compatibility with Lectora Online 3
13 Themes Multidevice previews Improved PowerPoint importing
14 Color Themes Gesture-enabled mobile learning Enhanced support for xAPI-based titles
15 Format Painter Geo-location support New closed captioning file support
16 Zoom Relative smart positioning of objects New sets of check boxes and radio buttons
17 AutoRecovery Device-aware eLearning delivery Enhanced Preview in Browser
18 Motion Paths Native support for HTML5 objects Additional FTP Transfer Mode
19 Slide Layers Best-in-class HTML5 publishing Quick Launch access to ReviewLink
20 Triggers Responsive themes Set Completion Status renamed to Set Tracking Status
21 States MinMax object sizing Convert Existing Titles to RCD
22 Slider Interactions Asset store Auto-Fit Mobile Devices
23 Convert to Freeform Responsive Motion Effects without programming Responsive Title Themes
24 Variables Interactive slide shows with multistate objects Responsive Page Layouts
25 Exit and Entrance Animations Multistate support for drag-and-drop interactions RCD Device Inheritance
26 Markers Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) support Reset Overrides
27 Animation Painter Actors Cross-Device Object Moving and Resizing
28 Transitions Customizable Smart Shapes Automatic Page Height Adjustment
29 Lightboxes Colors and effects CurrentView Variable
30 Buttons Rollover slidelet, images and captions Device Rotation Trigger
31 Hotspots Best-in-class screen capture Enhanced Preview in Browser
32 Data-Entry Fields High-definition screencast
33 Mouse Objects Audio-video support and synchronization
34 Scrolling Panels Scenario branching
35 Screen Recording Text to speech
36 Software Simulations Support for right-clicking in simulations
37 Action Fine-Tuning Auto-text captions
38 Multimedia Support Table of contents and Aggregator
39 Video Text enhancements
40 Web Objects Pan and zoom support
41 Screenshot Tool Customizable skins
42 Quizzing Comprehensive quizzing
43 Freeform Questions Knowledge Check questions
44 Multiple Quizzes Responsive drag-and-drop interactions
45 Negative Scoring Pretest and branch-aware quizzing
46 Question Import Multiple question types
47 Question Banks Comprehensive scoring
48 HTML5, Flash, Articulate Mobile Player Remediation
49 Publish to Microsoft Word Randomized quizzing and question pools
50 Tracking and Reporting In-product LMS preview
51 Right-to-Left Language Support Publish to Adobe Captivate Prime and other LMSs
52 Translation Support Shared Advanced Actions
53 Section 508 Accessibility Roundtripping with Adobe CC
54 WCAG Accessibility Accessibility support
55 Custom Tab Order Multiformat publishing
56 Player Font Size Native app publisher
57 Skip Player Navigation Unicode support
58 Language ID for Screen Readers Right-to-left language support
59 Keyboard Support for Sliders Popup blocker
60 Retina display support
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Please note, this feature list is picked up as is from the respective websites of each product and below are the sources of information

  1. Articulate Storyline 2.0
  2. Adobe Captivate 9
  3. Lectora Inspire 16
Author:
Hands-on, dynamic and energetic executive, Amol has a multi-year experience in diverse technology industries and functions, in both Sales and Marketing and Operations. Engineer by graduate and an MBA professional, he started his career in 2004 as a Regional Sales Manager for one of the largest US MNC based out of India continues to live his passion for sales till date. Currently an eLearning and LMS consultant and & Board Member of Knowzies Technology Solutions, his responsibility is to manage the company's growth in the Americas, India and APAC, and encourage its Global expansion through his network of 1000+ qualified Elearning and SaaS experts. Amol is a serial blogger and a have delivered many webinar’s in his past engagements. He likes to write largely about latest eLearning technology trends, mobile learning, and learning technologies. His passion for eLearning makes him the perfect blend for designing solutions for large enterprises especially where the cost is the constraint. Prior to his current venture, Amol had a blast leading the International Business Operations for various leading LMS and eLearning organisations globally. Amol successfully managed a talented pool of professionals and partner companies (Channel network implementation) enabling the acquisition of many leading enterprises. A solid credo in business ethics and knowledge sharing are its key business drivers. He is what the Urban Dictionary would call a straight shooter, enjoys playing cards on the table and doesn't deal with fuss. Big in creating new connections and value to its network (because the network is quite everything), he is hungry for innovation and falls in love for true out-of-the-box thinkers. Cricket and food are superior passions. Loves the family and is blessed with two happening daughters and a caring wife. Over weekends you will find him in kitchen experimenting with new dishes. In case of any queries, you can reach to him on amol@knowzies.com.

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