This guest blog entry was written by Articulate VP of Community Tom Kuhlmann.

I remember being blown away the first time I laid my eyes on the Engage interactions. In fact, when I got the initial beta invitation for Engage, I was in the middle of a project where we were custom building a Flash-based glossary.

I opened Engage and saw that there was a glossary interaction. So I did a quick test where I copied and pasted my client’s content into the Engage glossary interaction. I was done in about 10 minutes. My client looked at it and she was extremely pleased. The custom Flash glossary was going to take at least 3 weeks to build. And it wasn’t going to look as good as what I got from Engage. It was a big time saver that freed up my time for other projects.

Using a form-based application like Engage ‘09 has a lot of advantages. You don’t have to do any programming and you get a really professional product. However, one of the things that always bugged me was that I couldn’t easily create custom color schemes. Sure it came with some nice ones. And, if I wanted to, I could edit an XML file and create my own scheme. While this wasn’t hard to do, it just didn’t seem like it fit the ease of authoring that Engage gave me. I wanted to create my own color schemes inside Engage and not by editing an XML file.

Engage ‘09 to the rescue! One of my favorite new features in Engage ‘09 is the ability to create custom color schemes. You can do it inside the application and it’s easy to do.

Let’s take a quick tour.

The first thing you’ll notice is that all of the Studio ‘09 products come with consistent default color schemes. That means you’ll be able to quickly color coordinate your Presenter ‘09 slides, Quizmaker ‘09 quizzes and Engage ‘09 interactions.

In addition to the standard color schemes, Engage ‘09 also includes the legacy schemes that were part of the first generation Engage. You’re also able to create your own schemes. You can see this in action by reviewing the very helpful Engage ‘09 product tutorials.

Quick Overview of Editing Color Schemes
As you can see in the image above, you see an actual interaction. When you make edits, you’ll immediately see the changes and how they look with the interaction.

Editing is easy: Select the part of the template you want to edit by clicking on the drop-down menu. Then select the color and transparency setting (if available). If you’re not quite sure what you’re editing, just select a bright color like yellow and see what happens. It’s that easy. When you’re all done you’ll have a custom color scheme that you can use any time you like.

Now you get the benefit of building your interactions quickly and creating color schemes that match the needs of your course.

This guest blog entry was written by Articulate VP of Community Tom Kuhlmann.

Missed in all of the hubbub about healthcare and the economy was the deafening cries for elearning content that can be easily loaded on to a learning management system. Unfortunately, it just didn’t get the press it deserved. Apparently people were more interested in kissing pigs.

First, congratulations to our new President-elect, Barack Obama. Second, don’t worry, Mr. President, we’ve got you covered. With the Studio ‘09 release, all three of our applications are SCORM- and AICC-compliant. This should free you up to focus on more important things.

Typically, people will build all of their courses in Presenter ‘09 and then insert a Quizmaker ‘09 quiz or an Engage ‘09 learning interaction. However, there are times when you don’t want a big course and all you want is a single quiz or interaction. But you still want the ability to track them with your LMS.

Now, you can. So you can create big courses, little courses, stand-alone quizzes, surveys, and learning interactions using any of our products. And getting them ready for your LMS is just a matter of a few mouse clicks.

You’ll notice that the publish window for all three products has the same simple layout and design:

Here’s all you have to do to publish content for your LMS:

1. Select the publish for LMS tab.
2. Choose SCORM or AICC.
3. Select your tracking and reporting options.
4. You’ll get a file that can easily be uploaded to your LMS.

Note: Each LMS is a little different, so be sure to check with your LMS provider for specific details on how to upload your elearning course.

Now, you have the power to make your elearning courses as big or small as you want. And you can use any of the Articulate Studio ‘09 applications to build them. They’ll be as easy to track as they are to build.

Our first user group conference sold out in no time, so don’t miss out on the next one: Articulate Live ’09!

Articulate Live ’09 is coming soon and will be chock-full of tips and tricks on how to make the most of your investment in Articulate software, along with giving you the opportunity to network with and learn from fellow Articulate users and staff. We’ll also be announcing the winners of the Articulate Guru Awards 2009.

Articulate Live ’09 Details:

• When? Monday, March 9, 2009 – 8:30AM to 4:30PM
• Where? The Walt Disney Resort Hilton, Orlando, Florida

Hosted by Articulate VP of Community Tom Kuhlmann of The Rapid E-Learning Blog and featuring keynote speaker Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, Articulate Live ’09 will be an action-packed day and well worth the $395 price of admission.

Here’s what you can expect to learn:

• How working with subject matter experts can actually be easy and enjoyable
• What Articulate customers are doing to bring them the most success
• How to save time with templates and reusable content
• The best way to engage your learners with interactive scenarios
• Why good design is easier than you think
• The best practices for managing video, audio and other multimedia in your Articulate courses
• The Articulate Studio power-user tips everyone should know
• And more!

Although Articulate Live ’09 will be co-hosted just prior to the start of The eLearning Guild’s 2009 Annual Gathering, it is a separate event and requires its own registration. The registration fee includes the entire 1-day program and supporting materials, continental breakfast, lunch, and refreshment breaks.

Register today!

Also be sure to sign up for the following day’s program: Using Articulate to Quickly Design and Develop Exceptional e-Learning Courses (P-11), led by Ron Price of certified Articulate training partner, Yukon Learning.

All that and you’ll still have three full days of the Guild’s 2009 Annual Gathering to look forward to, March 10-13, 2009!

This guest blog entry was written by Articulate VP of Community Tom Kuhlmann.

When it comes to authoring tools, you basically have two choices. You can author in a form or freeform application. They both have their pros and cons.

Form-based authoring software like Engage ‘09 do all the work for you. You just insert your text, audio, and multimedia. Hit “publish.” And you’re done.

As you can see from the image below, the input is easy, requires no programming, and the output is very nice.

On the other side, you have freeform authoring. Basically, that means you get a blank page and can do what you’d like to do. An application like Authorware (or Flash) is a good example of freeform authoring. Even PowerPoint fits into that definition because it gives you a very flexible blank screen as a starting point.

Both types of tools are effective and have their place in building elearning courses. It really just depends on your needs. However, they both offer challenges. When using a form, there are times you want to do more, but the form creates some constraints. On the other side, freeform tools offer a lot more freedom, but with that comes more time to develop and a much steeper learning curve.

If only there was a way to get the best of both worlds where you could leverage the power of the form and still have freedom to be creative and go outside the box.

There is a way and it’s one of my favorite new features in Quizmaker ‘09. Now you can create your quiz content in either a form or freeform mode. And you can do so at the same time.

If you want to quickly add content to your quiz, select the form view. If you want to be creative and add a custom look and feel to your course, simply click on slide view. It’s as easy as that.

Many times, all you want to do is quickly create a quiz or survey. You like the way the form output looks and you just want to get it done quickly. You can still do that. Just add your questions and publish. You’ll be done in no time.

However, if you do want be creative, you can do that just as easy. Just switch to slide view and start editing. What I usually do is quickly add my content in form view and then do my edits in slide view. You can learn more about slide view in the Quizmaker ‘09 tutorials.

Here’s a quiz question in form view.

I added all of the core content, such as my question, answers, correct choice, and feedback options. When I was done, I clicked on slide view to add my custom edits.

Here’s the same question in slide view.

Essentially, you start with a blank screen. You can break apart the default form and move your questions and text wherever you’d like. Then add you media and any animations.

In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how I built the question above. For now, just know that Quizmaker ‘09 gives you the best of both worlds. You can choose between form and freeform authoring. You’ll see that not only is it still pretty easy to do, but you’ll find that it really opens the door to the engaging types of courses you can build.

Today we released Articulate Studio ’09 Update 1. This release features a single Studio ’09 installer, which will uninstall all previous versions of Articulate software, as well as a number of enhancements and bug fixes in all 4 products included in the Studio ’09 Pro suite.

Here’s how to upgrade (if you’re not automatically prompted in your Studio ’09 products):

• Existing Studio ’09 Customers: Go to Help -> About -> Check for Updates (or visit this page).
• Trial Studio ’09 Customers: Visit this page to learn how to update.
• Older Customers: Learn how to upgrade to Studio ’09.

Learn more about what was addressed in each product update:

• What was addressed in Presenter ’09 Update 1?
• What was addressed in Quizmaker ’09 Update 1?
• What was addressed in Engage ’09 Update 1?
• What was addressed in Video Encoder ’09 Update 1?

Here’s a sneak peek of the new consolidated Studio ’09 Update 1 installer, which allows you to select any or all Studio ’09 products to install (no more worrying about separate product installers):



Enjoy!

Here’s your chance to be an Articulate Guru. You’ll win prizes, be famous, and the chicks (or dudes) will dig you!

Welcome to the Articulate Guru Awards 2009… think you have what it takes to get past our panel of experts?

It’s easy to participate:

Step 1: Fire up your Articulate Studio ’09 products. You don’t even need to own a copy; you can download a free, fully functional 30-day trial.

Step 2: Create an e-learning course using any combination of Articulate Studio ’09 products. Judges are looking at the following criteria:

• Effective use of Studio ’09 products and features
• Effectiveness of course content to transfer knowledge
• Use of compelling media (graphics, audio, video, etc.)
• Broad use of authoring tool features
• Bonus for integrating Presenter ‘09, Quizmaker ’09, and Engage ’09 into one course, but we’ll also accept courses authored using a single Articulate tool or combination of our products

Step 3: Submit your files to enter the contest.

That’s it!

If you don’t have a course you can share, create one. It can be about anything. The subject matter isn’t that important. We’re just looking for great courses.

Check out the previous winners.

Got great Articulate authoring skills, but don’t have any non-confidential courses that you are able to share? Create a new course on a topic you’re an expert on! Choose a subject that’s fun to you such as gardening, running, technology, rock climbing… whatever!

Here are some some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Sure-fire method to negotiate a salary increase (Presenter ’09 branching and our new Quizmaker ’09 free-form design features might be useful)
• Tips on creating a compelling blog
• How to stick to an exercise program
• Cool things you didn’t know you could do with your iPhone (Presenter ’09 annotations and Engage labeled graphics would be useful for this course)
• Lessons learned from your favorite TV show (Video Encoder ‘09 should come in handy here)

You’ll have the opportunity to win:

• Grand Prize: $1,500
• 2nd Prize: $500
• 3rd Prize: $250

All prize winners will also receive:

• Two licenses of Articulate Rapid E-Learning Studio ’09 Pro donated to the school or charity of their choice.
• Fame, prestige and recognition by being featured on our website.

Winners will be announced at a special Articulate event on March 9, 2009. Stay tuned for more information on that in this blog! Enter as many items as you like before the submission deadline of February 18, 2009.

Next Steps:

It’s easy to get started. Just review the official rules, create your e-learning course, and then submit your content.

It’s been an exciting year for Articulate: We released our Studio ‘09 products (along with a redesigned website); we won the Best of Elearning! for the 3rd year in a row; we were named an ABA finalist as Most Innovative Company for the 2nd year in a row; we were named among the ASP 10 Best Support Sites of 2008 for the 2nd year in a row; we hosted our first-ever user group conference, which sold out in no time; and much more…

Oh yeah, and we’re still the #1 privately-held elearning software company in the world.

All these accolades translate into lots and lots of customers, which means we need help supporting everyone. In fact, we like to hire our customers, so if either of these jobs interests you, we’d love to hear from you:

• Customer / Software Technical Support Engineer
• Customer Support Representative

Both jobs are 100% telecommuting positions. Follow the links above to learn more about each opportunity and how to apply.

Best of luck, and we’ll look forward to reviewing your application!

On Saturday, October 25, 2008 we upgraded Articulate Online for hosted customers to version 1.10. Full release notes are available in the Knowledge Base.

Two updates are worth pointing out:

• Articulate Online now supports Flash Player 10 for Presenter 5 content: All Presenter 5 content hosted in Articulate Online accounts has been updated to support Flash Player 10. You can learn more about this issue in my previous blog post. Presenter ‘09 content continues to work as expected with Flash Player 10.
• Articulate Online now allows a much-requested feature to include full user profile information in exported CSV/XML reports: Want more than just basic user details in your exported reports? Enable this new feature and your reports that contain user info will provide you with comprehensive user data. Learn more in this Knowledge Base entry.
  

Existing and new Articulate Online hosted customers needn’t do anything to take advantage of these and other enhancements. You will see these changes reflected in your account the next time you login.

Enjoy!

Update (10.30.2008): The updater now supports Presenter 4.

Today Adobe released Flash Player 10 out of beta. If you or your users upgrade to this latest version of the Flash Player, you may not be able to properly view presentations created with Articulate Presenter 4 or 5.

What’s the issue?

A Flash file used to play your presentations (stealthray.swf) cannot accurately detect the version number of the newly released Flash 10 Player.

How do I know if I’m affected by this issue?

If your presentations look like this:

…then right-click on the presentation and see if it says “About Adobe Flash Player 10…” It will look like this:

If it does, then you’re using Flash Player 10 and are impacted by the Flash Player update.

What should I do to fix this?

You’ll need to do the following to fix your Presenter 4 or 5 presentations (your users need not do anything except restart their browsers and/or clear their browser cache after you’ve run the updater):

1. Download and install our new Articulate Updater for Adobe Flash Player 10, which will update the stealthray.swf file to correctly detect the Flash Player 10 version number.
2. Review FAQs about this updater in the Presenter 5 Knowledge Base: Why are my presentations not loading with Flash Player 10?
3. Run the updater (look for the Flash 10 Updater icon on your desktop) on all your local and Web-based Presenter 4 & 5 presentations. The updater is really easy to use and will walk you through the process:
   
4. Clear your browser cache (and instruct your users to do the same) and view impacted Presenter 4 & 5 presentations; they should play just fine now.

Important notes:

• Studio ‘09 (including Presenter ‘09) and other Articulate products (such as Quizmaker 2.x and Quizmaker ‘09) are not impacted by this Flash 10 issue (Engage 1.x authoring tool is the only other impacted application; the updater will also address the issue with it)
• The updater will also update your installed Presenter 5 files, so new presentations will not need to be updated
• The updater will update your installed Engage 1.x authoring tool, so that you can launch and use the application as expected

Learn more in the Knowledge Base and contact Articulate Support with any questions or concerns.

Now that the best elearning software just got even better with our recent release of Studio ‘09, it’s time to take your voice to the ballot and cast your vote for Elearning! Magazine’s annual “Best of…” contest.

If you take a look at our virtual trophy case, you’ll see that thanks to readers like you, our tools have been named the best around 3 years in a row.

Ready to help us secure a 4th consecutive win?

Please take a moment now to cast your ballot for the Best of 2008. The deadline is Saturday, November 1, 2008, and here are the categories where we’d appreciate your support:

• Best Presentation Tool: Articulate Presenter
  
• Best Web Authoring Tool: Articulate Presenter

  

• Best Assessment Tool: Articulate Quizmaker

  

You don’t even have to vote in every category, so that makes voting even faster. Thanks for your support!

Your vote makes a big difference to your colleagues in our field:

Approximately 49% of e-learning professionals seek advice from peers when sourcing solution, according to Elearning! Magazine’s User Survey.

The Best of Elearning! Awards was created to share what over 150,000 e-learning professionals recommend. In its 4th year, the Best of Elearning! Awards is the exclusive reader’s choice awards in the e-learning market.

Please vote today.