Adobe Presenter - Not perfect, but it's my "go to" solution for some great reasons!
Overall Satisfaction with Adobe Presenter
Adobe Presenter is an extraordinarily flexible and dynamic solution for creating learning output. At Ebix, Inc., we use it in two ways. One is as a hyper-rapid e-learning development solution for our internal audiences. In this capacity, the quality of output is excellent, though not at the level of, say Captivate or Storyline. It's advantage, however, is its speed. I developed a method for creating interactive on-demand e-learning training that goes from storyboard to final output in an unheard of 5-10 hour development turnaround. This creates obvious advantages, among them creating a multiplier effect that dramatically cut training costs while improving the efficiency of our training development resources.
The second use is external. We're able to create on-demand help that we can publish to HTML that has built-in Responsive Web Design capability. This means clients can view our training on any device of any size, anywhere they have an internet connection, and it looks great. Also, because it is originally built in PowerPoint (Presenter installs as an add-in), we can be more creative and engaging in our help content versus standard help modules.
- Because it integrates with PowerPoint, it is possible to go from planning outline to storyboard to final output withing a single document and as part of a seamless and logical design process.
- Its ability to create videos that capture screens along with web-cam recordings, then edit them within the solution means higher level training recordings can be created versus, say a recorded WebEx training session.
- Presenter's ability to create quiz elements similar to Adobe Captivate, add interactions, and interface with Adobe's LMS means it is capable of functioning as a complete e-learning development environment. .
- If up front cost is a consideration, Presenter wins hands down over many better known training development and e-learning solutions.
- Among its strengths, Presenter is outstanding at demonstrating software. However, it has zero native simulation capability. For that, you also need Captivate. While it's designed to work with that solution, I've yet to find an efficient application in a real-world training environment.
- Presenter is a deceptively unintuitive solution. If you know PowerPoint (and who doesn't?), it feels like home. However, it has nuances that aren't readily obvious. For example, it's video recording capability is both built into the PowerPoint add-in and is accessible as a standalone. How they behave is similar but not identical..
- Support is surprisingly weak. The version I have is once removed from the latest. I recently discovered that it has a bug. I was surprised to learn that reporting it to Adobe is impossible since the web page where this occurs does not include Presenter as an option. Are they aware and was it corrected? I don’t know. Fortunately, it's not critical, but it does raise several concerns.
- Training and on-demand help is also weak. While there are some standalone videos and other help resources on the internet, what’s freely available isn’t complete. As a result, ramp up took several months longer than it should have. Much of my learning was through experimentation and web searches. Those searches were at times frustrating since the community of users doesn't appear to be as great as other training development solutions. The best training I found was on Lynda.com. I highly recommend either Lynda or a similar site if you get Adobe Presenter.
- The net impact is extremely strong due to it's relatively low cost, high flexibility and extremely rapid development capability.