Quick Tips for eLearning Authoring Tools: Articulate vs. Captivate

From PPT slides to online training platforms, today our team of experts gives you some insights on a couple of the most popular tools used for eLearning development.

How to create content and translate it for different target audiences? How to choose the right software based on your needs?

Two of the best-known eLearning publishing tools are Articulate Rise and Adobe Captivate. Generally speaking, there are similarities between them on their use, which outputs to insert into Learning Management Systems and interaction features. However, you may have heard a bit more buzz about Articulate Rise because of its innovative cloud approach to development, as opposed to Captivate’s traditional downloadable software. The most acclaimed feature of Rise is its online collaboration capabilities making review much easier.

If you are already an Adobe’s family fan, then it makes sense for you to invest in Captivate. It comes as a native application, which means you have to download the software to your devices. However, it also has the familiar face of most Adobe applications, so if you are an Adobe expert user jumping into eLearning, this could be a great tool.

According to our team, Articulate Rise is easier to use. It works like a WordPress page, and, when it comes to translations, it only takes a few clicks to perform an export to get a file that contains all the content which is then sent to the translators. However, there is an important glitch when it comes to video: Rise is currently unable to handle closed captions or subtitle files (.vtt or .srt).

On the other hand, Captivate meets all the accessibility standards which developers can use to create audio-based learning materials by adding transcripts to the course and control the timing, font, color, etc.

Both applications provide many quiz format options, which make for great engagement and fun for the learners. Developers just need to create a quiz page, then choose the question type and fill in the information. Rise allows you to mix the quiz type in one quiz page, and add feedback for each question.

When it comes to the export format, Rise has fewer options compared to Captivate, but it allows a more straightforward process without any additional complications for developers. The following formats are potential Rise outputs:

• xAPI
• SCORM
• AICC

Adobe Captivate can publish online courses in various outputs, and just as Rise, courses can be used in most devices such as desktops, tablets, and phones. It supports both Android and iOS operating systems, but the process is not as simple as with Rise and it is a bit trickier.

In the end, it really depends on what the client is looking for and what is simpler and more efficient for the eLearning designer. If the critical need is a more responsive simple visual style, Rise would be our choice, but if they place more importance on interaction and multiple interface designs, we would go with Captivate. Want to learn more? Follow us on our LinkedIn or Facebook pages to find out about our next Webinar on eLearning topics.