Articulate released the highly-anticipated Storyline product about a month ago. In doing so, the learning community now has a stunning new tool for extending the concept of rapid eLearning development into a professional development suite. I was invited to be a beta product tester for Storyline and based on that experience, here are my top 5 favorite new features in Storyline:

1. HTML5 package for iPad. With more and more clients asking for the ability to deliver learning on the iPad, Storyline is an ideal authoring tool. I conducted tests of this new feature, and my results will publish to this blog shortly.
2. Branching. Even though Articulate Studio 09 offers some limited options for branching, many of the Articulate courses we’ve seen our clients develop continue be of a page turning nature. This may be for a variety of reasons, but the rapid development nature of that tool does best lend itself to making these types of courses. However, Storyline, by way of using the triggers feature, makes it easier to create very dynamic interactions and branched scenarios, thus opening up the tool for greater creative possibilities.
3. Timeline. The professional development concept of a timeline made its first appearance in the Articulate QuizMaker tool. However, a limited number of Articulate users have taken advantage of what that concept offered. In Storyline, the use of a timeline saves developers time in synchronizing audio with objects. To explore this concept further, you can consult one of my earlier blogs comparing Articulate and Captivate.
4. Screen Recording. This new feature brings Storyline up to a new level for competing with Captivate. With Storyline, you can now save your screen capture as one video clip and embed that in the slide. You can save your screen recording as either a step-by-step demonstration or as a simulation.
5. Character. I know a lot of users are going crazy about this new feature. The character feature allows you to choose between cartoon or real-person photographs, and those characters offer hundreds of facial expressions and body poses – imagine the possibilities for use! But, I’ve chosen to put this feature as the last one in my top five list for two reasons. First, I know a lot of my clients oppose the use of cartoons in eLearning courses. Second, although it is great that the Atsumi photograph album comes with Storyline for free, purchasing an additional character costs $299.

Overall, I am excited that Storyline is finally available to all eLearning developers. If you would like to know more about this new tool, you are welcome to join the Fredrickson SIG featuring Articulate Storyline, presented by Gerry Wasiluk, Fredrickson Affiliate and Articulate MVP, on June 12th.