Captivate review
October 07, 2022
Captivate review
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Captivate
I use Adobe Captivate to build customized eLearning for companies. Sometimes the units are for a wide audience such as for new hire orientation, while other times the lessons are for a small and specialized group of roles. It's been shown that when adult learners have some control over their progression, that they are more likely to engage with the material. So I strongly appreciate that I can use advanced features to build flexibility and user choices into the lessons. I also frequently use the multi-state potential of objects to visually show progression through a sequence.
- Multi-state objects, changing states upon triggers helps make otherwise dry content much more dynamic.
- I really appreciate that I can respond to knowledge check questions with visual feedback, audio feedback, or forced review of relevant slide.
- I really, really appreciate that Captivate is very flexible and gives me control over so many aspects. I can be as creative as I want which helps me build more appealing lessons.
- I appreciate that Adobe includes users in the feedback loop for new versions. But I would like for more explanation on new features, how to use, where feature parameters have been moved to, what features have been renamed to, etc.
- Currently bulleted lists are animated as a block. If I want bullet points to animate synchronized with narration, then I have to create separate text blocks for each bullet. The end result is that copying my text from my notes is no more faster than typing. The workflow is either copy one short phrase and paste into a new text block vs typing the phrase. And then do the same thing for each bullet. (Sigh...)
- I've had several situations where I'd like to have something travel on a path. For example, if I have a line graph, it would be nice to draw the line's path, but have it grow over a few seconds, or even haltingly. I once used an AA to show this, but it took quite a while to write it out (especially because writing it out is selecting each action from a drop down list). I had several states of the line graph and in each state I had the line grow another unit with a yellow highlight, proceeding down the line's path. So the AA sequence was delay by 1 second, change state to 2, delay by 1 second, change state to 3, delay... and on and on. The AA was a dozen or so lines long.
- I saw a webinar a while back about lottie files. It seems that they could make a lesson more dynamic. Could Adobe add the ability to incorporate lotties into a lesson?
- Advanced action capabilities
- SCORM compliance
- Asset library
- Overall positive; I've had 2 projects that depended entirely on my work with Captivate.
At the time Storyline seemed easier to use, but I was already committed to a project and investing time in learning Captivate for it. I also felt some loyalty to Adobe because I had received free Creative Cloud courses through the Adobe Education Exchange.
Do you think Adobe Captivate delivers good value for the price?
Not sure
Are you happy with Adobe Captivate's feature set?
Yes
Did Adobe Captivate live up to sales and marketing promises?
Yes
Did implementation of Adobe Captivate go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Adobe Captivate again?
Yes
Using Adobe Captivate
1 - Instruction designer, elearning developer
1 - Persistent, committed, patient, attention to detail
- New hire orientations.
- Specialized topics - safety, DEI, equipment, etc.
- Blended/hybrid learning.
- VR projects.