New to Captivate 2019

[Captivate 2019 Newbie]

Hello all,

I am new to Captivate 2019 and I already wanting to uninstall it! It seems to have been coded in the early 2000's (maybe late 90's) and the more I use it, the more I want to remove it. Its vastly different and disappointing compared to today's modern eLearning products. I come from using Articulate 360/Rise and this is night and day in comparison. Is there anyone out there using Articulate 2019 and can relate to this or is it just me because I am new and haven't gotten used or accepted this setback? I have used many of the Adobe Creative Creative Suite products and love them! In fact, this is like a totally different product as it has none of the looks and feels of other Adobe products.

Its sad because on paper, its appears to be a great product for the capabilities and features it offers but the UX is horrible - non intuative poor layout/design, no intergration with other Adobe products and crashes peridically (and I am on a late model very well spec'ed Alienware system)

The good part is I am on a free 30 day trial and am getting to learn all the quirks. I would love to hear if what has kept other users not moving onto to modern eLearning authoring products. Also, is there another method to contact Captivate tech support (for pay) or is it only this community forum?

Looking for any reasons why I should hang in there and stick with Captivate 2019!

[Lilybiri]

Did you read this post:

https://www.matthewbibby.com/storyline-hell/

Matthew is a great Articulate expert, but you'll be astonished when you dare to read this.

Please, no one pushes you at using Captivate. This Adobe forum allows all types of ranting, which is quite different in other forums. Personally I prefer an outdated UI in a tool which has all the features I need. But that is my choice, no one forces you to have the same opinion. Good eLearning courses can be realized with all tools, and depend more on the skills, experience and insights of the developer than on the used tool. You have to feel yourself which tool you want to help you in the development.

If you really want to know why we like to use Captivate, do not start a conversation the way you went at this moment. Just one first comment: Captivate has a great roundtripping workflow with Photoshop. In the recent MAX conference I did see that the same workflow has been introduced now between PS and InDesign. Captivate has this 'new' collaboration since almost a decade:

https://blog.lilybiri.com/roundtripping-with-adobe-photoshop-in-2020

FYI I use Capture, Audition, Illustrator, Photoshop, Animate, Rush in collaboration with Captivate, I am not only a Captivate freak.

[Stagprime]

I am always surprised by how many people complain about how the UI is not modern looking.

I absolutely love Captivate because I am able to create all sorts of interactive things pretty easily but it isn't the look of the UI that allows this - it is the capability of the software. Captivate is an extremely capable tool. Are there things I would change - sure - but overall I am quite satisfied with Captivate. 

[globaltravelguy]

Thanks all for the insight and forgive me for my brutal honestly based on my first impressions, I will hold back on any critical feedback on here as I don't want to upset anyone. I was hoping there were others like me that used other products (again such as Articulate Rise) so I can get to compare but looks like I might be the only one so far. But trust me, if you take a stab at Articulate, you will understand where I am coming from and my frustrations.

And I stand corrected (this is what I get for speaking prematurely) - just found out there is an entirely new version coming out next year (currently called Project Charm). Based on the beta reviews and screenshots, this may be what I am looking for. Definately looking forward as I am sure most are here. 

Thanks for the link - will review it.   

[RodWard]

I have used both Adobe Captivate and Articulate Storyline for many years with numerous different clients.  (I have not as yet used Rise but I am familiar with its functionality.)  All of these tools have strengths, weaknesses and bugs.  If you are looking for an e-learning authoring tool that doesn't have these three things, you need to get out of e-learning and find another industry.

Having used both of the leading tools, I always come back to Adobe Captivate because I find it to be more powerful and more flexible.  But that's just my preference. I agree that the Captivate learning curve is MUCH steeper than for Storyline (mostly because the Storyline UI is a clone of PowerPoint and Captivate has deeper functionality).  But the benefits of learning the ins and outs of Captivate seem to pay off in the long term, if you can stick it out.  Your mileage may differ, but that's consistently been my experience over almost 20 years working in e-learning, and about 17 of those years working with all versions of Captivate.

I would warn you that even when Project Charm DOES eventually get here, if Adobe's past history with radical new releases of their software is anything to go by (anyone remember Captivate 5??), then the next version of Captivate is likely to be riddled with issues.  I would be very reluctant to just dive in and recommend my clients immediately transition over to it.  I would be waiting and watching the user forums to see how everyone else that DOES do that is faring first. 

Like Stagprime I also find rants about software interfaces preferences to be of very little value.  I'm more focused on the output of the product, because that's really the only part my clients and their end users care about.  As long as the tool allows me to deliver what those two groups are happy with, I still have a career.

Having worked in this space now for two decades I've seen a lot of tools. Right at this point the two front runners are Captivate and Storyline, with Lectora trying to catch up.  There is no tool out there (that I have seen) that beats everyone else hands down.  They are all compromises to some extent. 

I usually don't get to choose which one I use because I'm just a contractor and the client has normally made their decision about tools before I am brought on board. But I would have to say that in many cases I got the job BECAUSE I was able to use any tool they had to create learning they were happy with.

I suggest that concentrating on your Instructional Design creative skills is more important than the tool you use.  A poor tradesman always blames his tools.

[Captivate 2019 Newbie]

Apologies for hurting your feelings, try not to take the criticism about my observations personally. My goal is to understand some of the nuisances with this product. Hopefully if I get to use this product for almost 20 years like yourself I will get to your level of mastery. Everyone has their learning curves and I am working on overcome my bias with this product. 

in full fairness perhaps my initial post was harsh and apologies for any offense to those using it. Going to go in with a new perspective going forth and looking forward to connecting with those that can enlighten me by sharing their insight.

[RodWard · Accepted solution]

No offense taken.  Those of us that have been on this forum for many years have seen lots of posts that complain about Captivate.  As has been pointed out, the Storyline user forum also has similar posts about their product.

[Suroky5]

I totally agree with everything you have mentioned here!  Captivate 2019 looks and feels like it is from the 90/00s and the end result is so outdated compared to the competition or other Adobe products.  I am still putting variables on text to make it sharp in Captivate! how ridiculous is that in 2023!!! Flashing SVGs as another example. These problems were dealt with by other software over 15 years ago.  My background is a 3D multimedia developer (20 years) and I  use a variety of software packages to create  assets and elearning.   Unfortunately, most of my work is security cleared, like many other people, as such, we are unable to use the cloud based software like Articule/Rise and stuck with Captivate.  Adobe definitely have the skills and teams in other departments to create a modern looking elearning software package -  The awesome Adobe XD, After Effects, InDeisgn etc is proof of this.   So why can they not create a similar elearning software?   People need to stop accepting mediocracy and demand more from their subscriptions.  Project Charm is now a year late and some early reviews from Beta testers are not very positive. I cross my fingers and hope. 

[Stagprime]

... some early reviews from Beta testers are not very positive.

Interesting...