Articulate Storyline is one of the newest entrants in the world of rapid e-learning development tools. In today’s blog post, I’ll give you the A to Z of Articulate Storyline.

A is for Articulate
Articulate Global is best known for being the company behind Articulate Studio, one of the most popular rapid e-learning development tools in use today. They also offer Articulate Online, Screenr, and now Storyline.

B is for Buttons
Storyline includes buttons that you can simply drag into your project. You can then customize them by applying a quick style or adding an icon (that is also included as design option).

C is for Characters
Storyline includes a selection of illustrated and photographic characters in a variety of poses and expressions. You can also buy additional packs of photographic characters to compliment the one model that is included.

D is for Drag and Drop
Storyline provides you with the option to convert a slide into a Drag and Drop interaction. There are also sequence drag and drop and matching drag and drop quiz slides available.

E is for Engage
Storyline allows you to import your existing Articulate Engage interactions into your project.

F is for Forum
One of the best features of Storyline is not actually something the software does, but rather the incredible community that shares a wealth of information and resources with one another. This community is made up of both official Articulate staff, and a friendly and passionate user base. If you haven’t visited the forum yet, I suggest you take some time to browse the topics. You are guaranteed to learn something new!

G is for Glossary
Storyline provides a glossary option that you can display in the navigation/menu panel of  your project.

H is for Hot Spots
Storyline allows you to add hot spots to your slides in oval, rectangle or free form shapes.

I is for Interaction Templates
Storyline includes several useful interaction templates such as tab interactions, markers and sticky notes among others.

J is for JavaScript
Storyline includes support for JavaScript via the Trigger Wizard. This will allow you to potentially do some advanced development.

K is for Kuhlmann
Tom Kuhlmann runs the Rapid E-learning Blog and releases helpful posts and examples on a regular basis. Visiting his blog often is a great way to improve your Storyline skills.

L is for Layers
Storyline includes the ability to add multiple layers on your timeline. This simple feature unlocks a large number of possibilities since each layer has its own timeline and can be displayed or hidden with a trigger.

M is for Mobile Learning
Storyline is a great tool for developing mobile learning. It publishes to HTML5 and allows for publishing to the iPad via the Articulate Mobile Player.

O is for Options
Storyline provides a large number of options that will allow you to develop highly interactive content. Whether your goal is to develop soft skills courses, software demos or interactive games, Storyline has the features you need to accomplish this.

P is for PowerPoint
Storyline includes the ability to import your existing content that is in PowerPoint format.

Q is for Quizzing
Storyline provides you with multiple graded and non-graded quiz options including True/False, multiple choice, short answer, likert, free form, drag and drop and more.

R is for Recording
Storyline allows you to record your screen. This is helpful for developing software training. You have the option to insert the recording on a single slide as full motion video, or as step-by-step slides in view, try and test modes.

S is for States
Storyline allows you to assign states to buttons and other objects on your slide. An example of how this can be used is by adding hover, down, visited and disabled states to your buttons.

T is for Triggers, Timelines and Tin Can API Support
Storyline provides you with the ability to create triggers. They open the door to interactivity by allowing you to do such things as jump to slides, jump to scenes, submit interactions, execute JavaScript and more. The Timeline allows you to control the duration that objects appear on your slide and the overall length of your slide. Finally, Storyline provides support for the Tin Can API so that you are ready to track your learner’s experiences.

U is for User Friendly
Storyline has a very user friendly interface that is similar to the one used in Microsoft PowerPoint. This gives is a fairly short learning curve.

V is for Variables
Storyline provides support for variables. This combined with triggers, is by far one of the  most useful features of Storyline. Variables can do things such as capture a learner’s name, compute a score or keep track of which slides in your project have been visited.

W is for Web Objects
Storyline allows you to insert web objects into your slide. This essentially allows you to display a web page in your published slide.

X is for “X-Factor”
Storyline gives you the ability to creates content that has the special, “X-Factor” which will keep you learners more engaged and interested.

Y is for “Yes, you should buy it”
If you are looking for a tool that is easy to use, has a great community support, publishes to Flash, HTML and iOS, then Articulate Storyline is an option that I strongly recommend.

Z is for Zoom Region
Storyline allows you to quickly add zoom regions to your slide that can help you to bring emphasis to key areas of your screen.