Easy to use, but many pitfalls for advanced users
March 19, 2020
Easy to use, but many pitfalls for advanced users
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with iSpring Suite
I use iSpring to develop online courses that we use to train internal employees, but mainly to offer online courses to our customers for purchase. Our company provides customers with on-site training but this allows us to develop flexible web-based alternatives.
- User friendly because it plugs directly into PowerPoint.
- Allows for SCORM and xAPI publishing.
- Provides different ways of developing quizes for engagement as well as more structured certification exams.
- Keeping the project files intact is nearly impossible. I'm constantly recreating courses because they mysteriously become unmapped (audio, synchronization, videos, quizzes are detached and disappear).
- To create a segment that combines presenter video with slide animation and or video, the course publishes in a different frame template with a really tiny font that doesn't match the same template used for the rest of your courses.
- Navigation features are limited and there's no way to add a "finish" button to the end.
- Navigating through an interaction is not user friendly.
- When the software updates, many things created in the software like quizzes, interactions, audio, animations just disappear or become warped and have to all be adjusted.
- I have not had any luck publishing a file to xAPI - it skips and doesn't play well.
- It doesn't adjust the timings in autoplay so you could have a 10-minut video that will automatically stop at 10 seconds.
- There's no way to level the volume between interactions, slide audio and videos.
- If you purchase the "extras" package with templates and characters, it's super limited and not worth it at all.
- 8/10 I open a project, I get an error notice that PowerPoint has run into errors with the iSpring plug-in and suggests that it be disabled. I've used this on 7 different devices and this has happened with them all.
- It's very slow, especially if you have embedded videos into the slides. It takes minutes to open/save things like interactions, narration manager, quizzes, etc. Publishing can take up to 30-45 minutes.
- The quizzes and interactions don't have any pre-designed style templates.
- I don't think using iSpring over a different provider like Articulate or Captivate has created any real cost savings.
- It is slightly less expensive than it's competitors.
- iSpring Suite
I have used all iSpring authoring tools because I have the Suite which includes the Presenter, Visuals and Quizmaker. I have also used the Converter, but haven't had use for it lately.
Do you think iSpring Suite delivers good value for the price?
Yes
Are you happy with iSpring Suite's feature set?
No
Did iSpring Suite live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of iSpring Suite go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy iSpring Suite again?
Yes