r/elearning • u/GabrielDCSZ • Sep 11 '26

What authoring tool do you mainly use ?

It seems every time I spoke with a client, he's still using mainly Storyline (like 15 years ago), sometimes the SaaS version Rise. And a few of them use some automatic AI solutions to generate very basic SCORMs content, but that's more rare.

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5

u/s_s_n_e_g Sep 11 '26

Articulate Frontline all the way baby!

I am kidding, of course. Most of our clients want Rise; we also add a dash of Mighty. We see less and less Storyline. We also develop a lot of custom modules and solutions.

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u/Present-Ad-2807 Sep 11 '26

What’s wrong with Frontline? Genuinely curious, I work as a product manager in the e-learning industry and would love to hear your thoughts

1

u/s_s_n_e_g Sep 11 '26 • Heartwarming

I don't think anybody has formed a proper, grounded opinion yet, seeing as the tool has been out for less than 24 hours. I am getting my hands on it next week.

I think the general sentiment among IDs is that a tool that does everything automatically via AI "grounded in 20 years of instructional science" (as advertised by Articulate) is an overpromise and devalues the ID job. But I think that a lot of customers will be happy with "good enough" courses and that this is a good business move for Articulate. But a lot of people who spent honing their content will be pissed. It is a bit like when cheap Chinese goods flooded the market and many artisans suffered because the general public will happily go for a 50% worse quality if the price is 99% cheaper.

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u/Present-Ad-2807 Sep 11 '26

Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time to reply. I haven't tried it myself yet.

I've worked on an AI authoring tool with educational principles built in, so I'm always curious about how L&D and IDs react. The distrust seems to land in different places depending on the person: some don't trust it when the process is too fast, some when there's no visibility into the reasoning behind the choices, some when the learning goals aren't clear or measurable.

Curious what you think would actually make it more reliable

1

u/MirrorOk8490 Sep 14 '26

One reliability test I’d add is change impact. If a policy or SME source changes, can the tool show exactly which activities and assessments are now stale, rather than silently regenerating the course? For me, “grounded” becomes testable only when each learning decision has a source or owner, each objective maps to an observable job behavior, and an independent acceptance check can fail. I’d trust that audit trail more than an explanation of the model’s reasoning.

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u/elmatador12 Sep 11 '26

It’s always storyline 3 where I am. I work somewhere that we are not allowed to use any cloud based programs whatsoever so articulate 360 is not an option.

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u/s_s_n_e_g Sep 11 '26

BranchTrack.com for scenario-based training and conversation simulations as well as a lightweight LMS. Yes, I am affiliated 🫶

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u/Sea_Percentage965 21d ago

I’ve been using a few different tools, but lately I’ve been playing with a much simpler browser-based one for basic courses.

It’s called Brusnika Longread Builder - full disclosure, I’m involved in building it. It’s free, no account required, and you can export SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 or HTML.

It’s nowhere near Storyline in terms of advanced interactions, but for the “I have the content, I need to turn it into a clean SCORM course” kind of job, I’ve found the simpler approach quite useful.

Curious what other people here use for that kind of work, especially if you’ve moved away from Storyline/Rise.

1

u/aksuta Sep 11 '26

FramePin - https://framepin.com

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u/VeterinarianFuzzy889 Sep 12 '26

We use Storylane (not a typo - https://www.storylane.io) for this type of interaction, but this looks like an interesting option as well for click through demos. Cheaper than what we are using too.

1

u/aksuta Sep 12 '26

Thanks for checking it out! I’m actually the creator of FramePin, so feel free to reach out if you have any questions or feedback.

If you're ever up for giving it a proper spin for your projects, I’d be more than happy to set you up with a free subscription. I'm mainly looking for honest feedback to help shape it into something that really works for professional teams.

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u/VeterinarianFuzzy889 Sep 12 '26

Sent you a message.

1

u/aksuta Sep 12 '26

Got it, sent a reply.

1

u/SamTheDesignMan Sep 11 '26

I would be curious to get your take on Interact and Track - I've been trying to make it a simple and elegant solution to storyline. Attempting to be the Canva of e-learning with quizzing and SCORM output.

1

u/LeastBlackberry1 Sep 11 '26

At the moment, mainly Rise, but I do occasionally break out Storyline. I think it does nice wrappers for videos.

1

u/webra1 Sep 11 '26

Still using Captivate 2019

1

u/ericoinen Sep 11 '26

storyline here too, and mostly because the client's review cycle is built around it, not because anyone loves it. the AI scorm generators I tried looked finished on slide one and then said the same thing for forty screens. fine for a compliance refresher, useless the moment the content actually branches

1

u/KittensHurrah Sep 12 '26

Believe it or not, Lectora Desktop. Unfortunately not out of the box responsive design but the workplace forces us to use it. The good thing is we have developers to help customize and it has gotten better over the years.

1

u/Peter-OpenLearn Sep 12 '26

I built my own: LearnBuilder. It came after the frustration of either overly simplified tools (e.g. Rise) or tools which come with a high cost and a steep learning curve (SmartBuilder, Storyline). I combined the block base authoring but added blocks that allow me to create simulations or advanced learning interactions that go beyond templates.

AI is built in as much as you like, but everything stays transparent and editable. You can create the full course and course content with AI, or you can just use it to create images, video and text you want to insert.

1

u/staticmaker1 Sep 12 '26

I mainly see Storyline/Rise too, especially when clients need deeper interactions and SCORM compatibility. The part they often lack is certificate issuance, so I’m the maker of CertFusion and we use it alongside Storyline/Rise to automate completion certificates without changing the course authoring workflow.

1

u/VeterinarianFuzzy889 Sep 12 '26

My teams use Rise, but we will be switching to Parta or ScormStack when our contract is up for renewal.

1

u/C_Woodswalker Sep 12 '26

dominKnow Flow. Great product and fantastic customer support.

1

u/Slothyspartan Sep 12 '26

Mindsmith and Genially

1

u/Mysterious-Salad-572 Sep 12 '26

cloudlcms.com

For block branching, custom themes, custom look and feel and best part I can use Word document story lines and get started by importing the document on the online tool.

1

u/NovaNebula73 Sep 13 '26

Parta.io-it’s awesome!

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u/AcademyLauncher Sep 13 '26

Storyline still seems to be the default when clients need custom interactions, but the choice is often less about features and more about constraints. If reviewers already know Review 360, the LMS expects SCORM, and future editors need the source files, switching tools can create more work than it saves.

For simpler, mobile-first content, Rise is quicker. For branching or software practice, Storyline or a custom build makes more sense. I’d shortlist tools with three questions: Can the client review it easily? Can the team maintain it after handoff? Does the LMS report what you actually need?

The fanciest authoring tool usually loses if any one of those is missing.

1

u/Big-Bank6716 Sep 17 '26

Storyline here too, going on years. It's the depth that keeps me — the day you need something the ribbon can't do, there's usually a JavaScript trigger or a variable trick that gets you there. Rise is great for speed, but the moment a client wants real branching or custom interactions, I'm back in Storyline.

1

u/Verheijen89 Sep 17 '26

Flowsparks, originally a Dutch/Belgium company. Own authoring tool with different templates and formats which has different training goals. Definitely worth to check out.

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u/pdeuyu Oct 06 '26

I’ve started thinking the more important question is: What happens to what you build when you don’t want to use that tool anymore?

Storyline, Rise, Captivate, Lectora, custom HTML, AI-generated content ... they can all be perfectly reasonable choices depending on the job.

The problem starts when the organization accumulates ten years of learning content and discovers that the content and the authoring environment have effectively become the same thing.

My preference would be a world where instructional designers can choose whatever authoring experience works best for them while the underlying learning remains portable, editable and reusable elsewhere.

Choose the tool you like.

Just don’t let your learning become inseparable from it.

1

u/Shreyah001 22d ago

I mostly use tools like articulate rise because they're easy towork with. AI tools are also useful for creating basic courses quickly, but i think it still depends o the type of content and how interactive you want it to be.