Who is Articulate?
Articulate is a software company founded in 2002, based in the United States. They specialise in elearning software and are most well known for Articulate Storyline. Articulate is widely seen as one of the world’s leaders of elearning software and services.
Articulate products are now used around the world and they have won multiple award, the company is regularly seen as the key elearning and HR conferences and exhibitions such as Learning Technologies.
Articulate software is used by educational institutions, business, elearning companies, freelancers and more. It has a loyal customer base and with a well managed forum with excellent product and learning information.
Articulate is widely respected for its suite of elearning tools that are now used in over 170 countries and are used by all of the 100 of the Fortune 100. Led by founder Adam Schwartz the company scores highly for its interaction with customers via its forum and engagement on social media.
What is Storyline?
Articulate storyline is an elearning authoring tool developed by Articulate after the initial success of Articulate Studio.
Storyline allows you to create interactive, engaging and compelling digital content without any previous experience of coding or development.
Storyline builds on the previous success of Articulate Studio and retains many interface elements to allow users to easily transition to Storyline. Storyline allows users to create interactive content like assessments, quizzes, interactive scenarios and case studies with their own content.
The current version of Storyline also allows access to a content library allowing the user to incorporate a rich library of media including video and images.
Storyline provides a number of pre-built templates that users can use to create their own courses or content. This includes assessments, menus and a range of interactive elements. These templates also come with a design theme that you can apply.
Users create content using a simple drag and drop interface, you can create your content from scratch or use a series of pre-built templates. Articulate has a number of online video tutorials to help new users to get started, taking people through the basics – more than enough to get you up and running and building your first course.
How do you get Storyline for free?
Yes – but only as part of a trial.
Storyline is now deployed as part of Articulate 360. This is a paid service (SasS) where you pay a yearly subscription with Articulate allocating sellers for various countries.
Within Articulate 360 you get access to Storyline 360. It is possible to purchase Storyline 3 but support for this is ending April 25 2023. There is advice on the Articulate website. All of the new product innovations will be on Articulate 360.
You can obtain a free trial for Articulate 360 via the Articulate website, this will give you free access to the entire suite of tools, not just Storyline 360.
What is the difference between 360 and Storyline 360?
Articulate 360 is commonly referred to as 360.
Articulate 360 is a suite of tools by Articulate that you pay for each year. Later in 2023, this will be the only software suite that will have ongoing support from Articulate. Within Articulate 360 you get access to:
Rise 360
Content Library 360
Review 360
Storyline 360
Articulate Training 360
Peek 360
Studio 360
Replay 360
This is a suite of elearning tools to allow you to quickly and easily create elearning courses. Within Articulate 360 you also get access to Review 360, an online platform that allows you to publish courses, share links and get feedback from stakeholders and collaborators before your course goes live.
Studio, Rise and Articulate all provide something different for elearning developers with Rise in particular providing a top/down learning platform and allowing developers to create content very quickly using a ‘block’ development platform.
Articulate 360 is viewed as more than an authoring or elearning tool and is positioned as your completed learning development platform with everything that you need. There are a range of award-winning authoring tools, media library, review platform and media tools like Replay.
Storyline 360 is just one part of Articulate 360. Storyline is a very successful software tool and is widely used within the elearning sector and went through three versions before the launch of Articulate 360. Many developers and companies have previously used Storyline, Storyline 2 and Storyline 3, with ‘Storyline’ widely regarded as being one of the market leaders in elearning software tools.
Many developers only use ‘Storyline’ and do not require the other tools packaged within ‘360’. Articulate ensured that 360 includes new features, additional software within 360 and more frequent product updates during the year.
What is Storyline used for?
Storyline is a very powerful software tool and its full capabilities are often overlooked. As you can create elearning courses very easily with storyline and it comes with many pre-loaded templates it has often been criticised in the past for a specific look.
This is unfair as Storyline has been developed for custom development and developers, many who have created award winning content. At Real Projects we’ve created Storyline to create over 16 award winning courses, including three for AnalyiSport.
Within Articulate Storyline 360 is a range of features including triggers, branching, animations options and integration with programming panels. There is an option to create rich interactive content beyond elearning courses. We’ve used Storyline 360 to create content for interactive kiosks, desktop kiosks, interactive tool boxes and more.
Like most software there are limitations but Storyline allows for javascript integration and the Articulate support team are incredibly helpful if you are trying to push the boundaries of the software.
The main use of Storyline is within the elearning sector with large companies selecting Storyline as their development tool of choice. The level of functionality available to developers and instructional designers allows for rich, engaging content. Completed courses are relatively easy to edit without and this makes it a compelling choice for procurement teams.
Storyline is still a development favourite but Rise 360 is increasingly being considered by development teams and HR professionals. With its fast development team and ease of use Rise is increasingly seen as a solution to current development challenges, including budget restraints, lack of trained staff and need to develop content.
It is important when developing content using Storyline that you have a clear process and understanding of the tool. Within the process you’ll need to engage design, writers and subject matter experts, this does need to be a lengthy process but you should avoid re-work by having a clear understanding of the project and a plan.
