Android on mobile devices

Report · Dec 20, 2016

I have been testing a trial version of Captivate 9 for the last couple of weeks. I have been e-learning development mostly in the health professions sector for about 12 years. During that time, I have been using Articulate software ... StoryLine since it came out about 5 years ago. However, our needs have changed as many of our users are now on mobile (students and health professions). So we need a tool with easy-to-use and effective responsive design capability.

I really like a lot of things about Captivate 9. However, to make sure it works for us, I have been using the trial version to redevelop an eight-year old module. I have managed to get most of the functionality to work as I wanted. Yesterday I published the Captivate version of a responsive course to test on various mobile devices.

The course worked fine on IE, Firefox and Chrome browsers. It also worked well on my iPad and not too bad on my iPod Touch (some alignment issues). BUT it did NOT work on my Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet (Android). I tried publishing a non-responsive course but got the same results (fails to load).

Can someone confirm that Captivate 9 output works or does NOT work with Android devices? Or is there a feature that needs to be turned on? Is this a limitation of the trial version? This is a critical requirement for us as more of our users have Android mobile devices than Apple products.

Thanks,

Russ

Report · Dec 20, 2016

For the record...You do NOT require Responsive Design just because you want your courses to be available on mobile devices. That's a common misconception. If your target audience will mainly be using desktops and tablets in Landscape mode, then normal HTML5 projects would be fine.

You only really start getting into Responsive being an absolute necessity when you need to accommodate Smart Phone sized screens with the possibility some users will want to view the content in Portrait mode as well as Landscape. And even THEN you need to remember that a lot of course content types will NOT be suitable for Responsive delivery because the content is inherently fixed in size and landscape to boot (e.g. screen capture simulations).

Captivate's HTML5 output should work on Android devices as well as iOS devices. To find out why yours is NOT working:

Create a very simple project with one or two slides using one of the default Captivate Themes. Publish that to HTML5 and test from your server on Android. If it works, your issue must be somewhere in your current more complicated project and you need to isolate that slide.
Try using a different Android device other than your own. The issue might just be something on your particular device or browser setup.

Report · Dec 21, 2016

I'm not wanting to do Responsive Design because it is the latest trendy fad. The feedback we receive from our users is that a significant number of them are (or are wanting to) access our nursing resources from their iPhones or mobile phones. Unless they own a laptop or tablet, this is the way they learn online. Long gone are the days when students visit computer labs at their colleges or the library to learn.

I did what you suggested. I created a short 4 slide course with some simple text, intro music and published it to my web server. As I indicated, I was able to view the course on all three browsers - IE, FF and Chrome with any issues. The courses worked well on the iPad and iPod Touch.

However, the the course would NOT play on my Samsung Galaxy 10 Android tablet. It seems to load but the wheel simply kept spinning. So today I went and purchased another Android tablet - Acer Iconia One 7. Upon testing, the course played just fine on this device.

So the issue appears to be with the Galaxy 10 (Android version 4.1) as compared with the Acer (Android version 5.1). My guess is that the Captivate output may have problems with older Android versions. What I don't know is how older Android devices our users have, and whether this will be an issue for them.

I have left the test course up on my website if anyone else wants to test their Android device. The course is located at https://www.learninglpn.ca/learn Since it was created with a trial version, it will disappear in mid-January. I would be interested in hearing what experiences others have had using Android devices with Captivate 9 published content. I can't decide whether to go ahead and get CP9 or wait and see what Captivate 10 brings.

Report · Dec 21, 2016

So what you have established is that the issue is NOT with the Captivate content, and not even with Android devices per se, but with perhaps one or more specific versions of either the Android OS or the browser on that OS not being able to play the content.

Have you tried using a different mobile browser on your Android device to see whether the issue is just with the browser?

Report · Dec 22, 2016

I'm not sure that things are that simple. For example, when I publish the exact same test course in responsive design using Lectora Publisher 17, the course loads and works fine in all of the browsers and mobile devices INCLUDING my Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet. So it seems the Lectora output is more Android friendly than is Captivate.

As a developer, I'm not worried about how to get Captivate content to work on my Galaxy 10 tablet. My main concern is select and utilize an e-learning development tool that maximizes access to our courses and educational resources on as many mobile devices as possible.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions.