It takes a real savvy buyer to pick the best multimedia tool.



Sally Savvy-Buyer chose a husband. This time, the ever-careful, ever-analytical training-department product purchaser did not analyze every available option and feature, nor did she consult previous users of her intended. She simply fell in love, and that was that — a choice made by heart, not chart.



"You can't go," said the VP of Assiduous Labor and Arduous Tasks when informed of Sally's impending honeymoon. "The CBT authors need new multimedia authoring software."



Sally was ready for him. "No problem," she volleyed. "This will make an excellent trial-by-fire for my new protege, Sammy Second-Banana."



Holding for the caterer on line one and the dressmaker on line two, Sally briefed Sammy. "All they've told me is that they want the state-of-the-art, a real pro's tool set for creating multimedia CBT— and they've assured me that ease-of-use is fairly low on their list of needs." The CBT authors had already turned up their noses at the easy-to-use authoring system Sally had purchased a few months earlier. "We don't need authoring-lite," one author had snapped.



Sally told Sammy that she'd already talked the VP up to a budget of $4,500, and that the CBT authors each had high-end PCs running Windows NT Workstation. Then she shifted her focus to the more critical question of cake (angel or carrot?) as she gently waved Sammy out of her cubicle.



Unbeknownst to Sally, her protege was not Savvy-Buyer material. Both acutely lazy and insidiously ambitious, Sammy had no desire to sort out a tangle of facts, and he figured there was no need to. Sally had given him a research file of ads, brochures, and Web site addresses, and there appeared to be only a handful of players. "I'll just find easy reasons to eliminate products one-by-one until only one candidate is left," Sammy schemed. The strategy would leave Sammy plenty of free time to map out his route to the executive suite.



The Price Is Wrong



Obviously, the quickest way to get started was to cross out the budget busters. Sammy was disappointed to discover that not only did all of the products fit within the budget (which was intended to equip only one author, to start), but that overall there was not a great deal of difference in pricing, product-to-product.



But Sally had warned Sammy about the pitfalls of software pricing: "It's like buying a car," she had explained. "You have to price the car equipped as you'd want it." Some products were packaged as all-in-one solutions, such as Pathlore's Phoenix. But most vendors sold a core authoring environment, plus a range of options, add-ons, and companion products.



Sammy quickly discovered that the options could get pretty complicated. For example, Allen can supply seven different add-ons for Quest — some Allen's own, some from third parties — which add administration; templates; clip art; and third-party editors for bitmap, sound, and video objects. Similarly, Macromedia's Authorware is available a la carte or with a whole smorgasbord of optional tools in an "Interactive Studio." Sadly for Sammy, the products stayed within the budget, even bundled with all of their options.



System requirements were equally ineffective at narrowing the field; the minimum system requirements for each vendor's authoring component were surprising modest (most will run on a 486).



Stumped, Sammy sighed and accepted the fact that he had to actually talk to the CBT authors, to elicit criteria. The authors weren't easy to find. Eventually, he was directed to a door in the basement. As he opened it, fresh air and daylight spilled from the stairwell, and five voices growled, "Close the door!"



"Sorry I Asked ... "



"Hey, guys," said Sammy. "Sally asked me to dig up your new multimedia authoring program, and I had a question. Which way do you want to deliver training: CD-ROM, LAN, or Web?"



"Yes," said the lead author, fixing a suspicious stare on the boy. Sammy forced a chuckle and backed out of the office. "They want all of their options open," Sammy reasoned. On that basis, then, he could eliminate any product that couldn't deliver training everywhere.



Sammy cursed when a look through his clippings revealed that all of the products could output training for delivery on CD, disk, LAN/WAN or Web. They were all the same. ... Or were they? One clip claimed a product delivered Web-based training with "no plug-in necessary" on the student workstation. Did that mean some of the others required the student to use a particular browser, plug-in, or other program to view the training?



A little more digging revealed a wide range of approaches to the student desktop. The output from most programs required a player program or browser plug-in (either one supplied by the vendor) on the student desktop. Macromedia's Authorware outputs executable programs that can run on Windows or Mac workstations without any player, but requires a player for Internet delivery. Conversely, Asymetrix ToolBook II Instructor requires a player to show courses in their native format, but can convert courses to HTML for play in a browser without an additional plug-in or player. Perhaps in this range of approaches lay a way to cross out a few options, Sammy hoped as he hopped down to the basement.



"Hey, guys," Sammy puffed. "Can you tell me what type of computers and browsers the students will have, and what kinds of plug-ins they can use?"



"No," said the lead author. Backing out, Sammy deduced: "They can't predict or control what's on the student's desk." The authoring program that could deliver to the broadest range of workstations would have an edge. At last he had a basis upon which to start narrowing the field.



The Feature Fest



What else? Sammy had heard a buzz in the department about "training administration." The VP of Learning and Unlearning needed a way to track activity in all of the company's training — including whatever CBT the authors would create with their new system. He decided to read up on training administration by checking out two of Sally's old reports ("Tracking Your Training," May 1998, p. 42, and "Keeping Track," July/August 1998, p. 52.)



When Sammy took a look at his candidates, he found that rare products, such as Phoenix, have integrated administration features; nearly all others have optional administration add-ons. For example, Macromedia offers the Pathware LE administration program, and Allen does the same with Manager's Edge.



In fact, Sammy found that all of the products did address administration in one way or another, but that the admin tools themselves varied in features and capabilities. Sammy gave up; it was too much work to eliminate products based on their administration features.



He did discover that multimedia authoring required a way to create and edit the multimedia objects — pictures, sound files, video, animations and so on. Of course, all of the products let you import such objects into courses, from most common multimedia file formats. But how were the authors supposed to create those objects in the first place?



Only a couple of the authoring systems seemed to include any integrated multimedia creation and editing tools. By contrast, most programs depended upon external editors for such jobs. But any of the authoring systems allowed the author to do a little on-page manipulation of imported graphics — scaling, cropping and such — and most products offered libraries of canned clip art, animations and such.



So did the authors want to make their own multimedia objects (and if so, did they want the authoring program's help?), or would they rather have a hefty library of stuff to borrow? He'd have to ask.



"Hey guys, what kinds of multimedia do you want to create in the authoring program, or would you rather use external editors? And do you want clip art?"



"D," quipped the lead author. He paused to savor Sammy's confused expression, then added, "Down here, we make Choice D: 'All of the Above.'" Backing out, Sammy resolved not to return unless he could think of a question that was unanswerable in less than twenty words.



Author, Author



But what did the authors want? Sally had told Sammy that these were real pros, with CBT in their DNA. Certainly they'd used programs that were far more difficult than the latest generation — most had started out writing CBT with general-purpose programming languages like C. Ease of use was not a factor.



Or was it? Sammy pondered. Even an experienced driver appreciates cruise control. "Maybe they fear an easy-to-use product must somehow compromise power," Sammy thought. Few of the options appeared under-powered, and even the most potent packages touted features designed to make authoring easier.



Chief among those features were ways of storing and cataloging training objects — course and unit outlines, design templates, multimedia objects, tests and test objects, and so on. The idea was to promote convenient reuse — authors could create an object once, and then easily find it again, edit it, and put it back in play. Here again was a range of approaches. For example, in addition to its object and template management capabilities, Macromedia offers the option to add multimedia by linking to it as an external file; the approach allows an object to change automatically everywhere it's used, whenever the external object itself is changed.



Other products had different approaches to object re-use; some libraries included design or outline templates as objects; others managed templates in a separate directory. Most programs supplied a library of pre-built templates ready to use; Sammy decided the authors would surely ignore those, wanting to preserve the company look they'd been building for so long. But Sammy figured that once the authors built a few courses to company specs, they'd want to re-use their work — so the ability to create, catalog, and modify custom templates was a must.



The Paradigm Paradox



While exploring all of the other features, Sammy had taken notice of the mode in which the author would actually do the authoring deed — the "authoring paradigm," for lack of a better term.



Most products featured a visual authoring paradigm, through which authors drag and drop objects (text, navigation buttons, media files, etc.) into a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) display. These products placated the power-author by optionally supporting programming (in a built-in proprietary language or through support for objects written in popular languages like C++), so that the uber-author wouldn't feel limited by the visual authoring tool set. Still, each product had a unique look and feel.



In Authorware, for example, authors drag icons that represent objects onto a "flowline" to work with structure and content together. ToolBook Instructor uses a book metaphor to lead the author through course design. KnowDev Builder's interface mimics Microsoft Word.



The Big Answer



Pondering the paradigms, Sammy at last hit upon The Big Question. "Who but the authors themselves," puzzled Sammy, "could possibly decide which authoring paradigm they will use most happily?"



Then he noticed the words "Free Demo" in one ad, and a 40-watt bulb lit up above his heavily hairsprayed head. He rapidly flipped through the materials for all of the remaining candidates, and Yes! — all offered a free authoring demo. At last he had an answer to his own problem, if not yet to the authors'.



Sammy knew that the company frowned upon users picking their own "mission-critical" software. But Sammy had already successfully addressed every issue about which the company could possibly care — price, system compatibility, and synergy with the company's plans for training administration. From among the products that were satisfactory, there was no reason not to let the authors choose for themselves. Sammy chuckled to himself, realizing that his favorite coincidence had occurred: The easy course of action turned out also to be the smart one. "Tell you what, guys," Sammy told the authors. "If you promise to take time out to look at the demos and agree on a program, the choice is yours. Deal?"



Two weeks later, Sally Savvy-Buyer floated back into the office. Sammy was ready. "It came down to what the authors like using, so they're still playing with the demos I got them. In the meantime, I told the VP I had nothing else to do, and he asked me to spend the next few months visiting resorts, to help choose a site for next year's conference. I have to run — I gotta pack for Bermuda. Welcome back!"



Sally could only laugh, her honeymoon-high intact. Her first and only protege had proved a lousy buyer. But he was savvy. Oh yes, he was indeed.



Ned Snell is ITT's course critic and the author of over a dozen books. Write him at nsnell@bitstorm.net.



Sammy's CBT-Authoring Chart



1. Product: Quest 6.0

Allen Communication

800-325-7850

www.allencomm.com



Pricing: $2495. Complete "Developer's Suite" with all options available for $2995; education and quantity discounts available.



Requirements: 486 processor, Windows 95 or NT 3.5 or higher, 8 MB RAM. Recommended: Pentium 90, 16 MB RAM.



Student Desktop: Quest Internet Player plug-in.



Authoring Paradigm: ANSI C-based language (no proprietary scripting language Outline-based authoring through "Title Design" view.



Integrated Media Authoring: Animation, vector-based graphics editing; Developer's Suite adds tools for editing bitmaps, sound and video.



Object Management/Library Features: FastTrack library provides storage/reuse of templates, media elements and course structures.



Demo Avail?: Evaluation copy available for download from home page or on CD.



2. Product: ToolBook II Instructor 6.0

Asymetrix Learning Systems Inc.

800-448-6543

www.asymetrix.com



Pricing: $2,495. Custom pricing available.



Requirements: 486/66, Windows 3.1, 95, NT 3.5 or higher, 16 MB recommended



Student Desktop: Native format requires runtime player (8 MB required); no player required for Web delivery.



Authoring Paradigm: Proprietary "OpenScript" scripting language with English-like syntax. Book metaphor for design process.



Integrated Media Authoring: Editors for audio, icons, cursors, bitmaps, menu, color palettes.



Object Management/Library Features: Includes drag & drop management of prescripted objects; over 1,000 objects included.



Demo Avail?: Trial version available on CD.



3. Product: Everest Authoring System

Intersystem Concepts, Inc.

888-8-AUTHOR

www.insystem.com



Pricing: $1,995. Full suite (including administration and 1-year priority support options) $3,395.



Requirements: 386 processor, Windows 3.1, 95 or NT 4; 4 MB RAM.



Student Desktop: ERUN player program; 4 MB required.



Authoring Paradign: Enhanced A-pex3 programming language and support for Visual Basic or C/C++ scripting.



Integrated Media Authoring: Can edit animations; scale images; add page transitions and backgrounds.



Object Management/Library Features: Objects can be cataloged for reuse and sharing; can be duplicated or attached.



Demo Avail?: Full authoring program available free (without player).



4. Product: Authorware 4

Macromedia

888-945-3430

www.macromedia.com



Pricing: $1,999. Complete Authorware Interactive Studio with options and add-ons: $2,999.



Requirements: Windows: 3.1, 95, NT 3.51 or later; 486 66MHz; 16MB RAM. Mac: 68040, System 7.51, 16 MB RAM.



Student Desktop: No player required for CD-ROM/LAN delivery; for Internet/Intranet delivery, Shockwave required.



Authoring Paradigm: Authors script by dragging object icons onto flowline; script support; logical separation of structure and content.



Intergated Media Authoring: Can edit animations; Interactive Studio adds images, sound, animation, and video editing (with streaming).



Object Management/Library Features: Authors can build reusable structures called. Product includes clip art and authoring extensions.



Demo Avail?" Working model available at www.macromedia.com/learning/productinfo/tryit/.



5. Product: Phoenix

Pathlore Software Corp.

888-728-4567

www.pathlore.com



Pricing: $2,995 for single user, including authoring, administration and delivery capabilities. Enterprise pricing available.



Requirements: Any Windows system, 32 MB RAM. Enterprise version also runs on PC-DOS and mainframe.



Student Desktop: Phoenix plug-in, available for Netscape and Internet Explorer. 1 MB disk space required.



Authoring Paradigm: Integrated course design and computer-managed instruction capabilities; "Author Assist" for outline-based authoring.



Integrated Media Authoring: None.



Object Management/Library Features: Content stored in a SQL database. Object and template management in libraries. Clip art, templates included.



Demo Avail?: Online demos available at www.pathlore.com/demos.



6. Product: KnowDev Builder

Innovative Knowledge Products (iKP)

888-566-9457

www.ikp.net



Pricing: Enterprise Edition, $3,850 per user.



Requirements: Pentium processor; Windows 3.x, 95, NT or 98; 8 MB RAM.



Student Desktop: KnowDev Student program, available for Windows 3.1, 95, 98, or NT; 8 MB RAM required.



Authoring Paradigm: Menu- and object-driven authoring; designed to look and feel like Microsoft Word.



Integrated Media Authoring: None



Object Management/Library Features: All training is "granularized" for reuse of units, tests and courses, catalogued through integrated library program.



Full Text COPYRIGHT



COPYRIGHT Bill Communications Inc. 1998