Adobe eLearning Suite 2 review

The whole area of computer-based training and assessment is booming and Adobe’s eLearning Suite 2 is designed to provide the definitive all-round solution. The eLearning Suite 2 is built around Adobe Captivate 5, which through its Flash-based output enables online delivery of interactive training materials.

And where previously Captivate felt strangely semi-detached, it is now anything but. Adobe has given the Captivate 5 interface a complete overhaul to bring its working environment into line with other Suite members. With other advances such as support for master pages, object styles and animation effects, Captivate 5 has also become a stronger design platform on which to build.

The other members of the eLearning Suite are all impressive applications in their own right. However, within the Suite, their success is determined by what they can contribute to Captivate 5 and the eLearning workflow.

Top of the list is Photoshop CS5 Extended, which adds its bitmap editing and compositing power to Captivates scalable vector output. New roundtripping capabilities allow you to directly open PSD files for editing from Captivate’s Library panel and quickly update edited files – welcome integration – but Photoshop’s vast power is overkill for simple photo and screenshot handling.

Alongside bitmaps, your self-running eLearning materials are likely to include audio in the form of backing soundtrack, audio effects and voice-over narration. Here, eLearning Suite 2 lets you roundtrip your individual files or your entire project’s audio with Soundbooth CS5. Soundbooth provides professional-level sound editing and other high-end capabilities such as the ability to generate your own unique musical soundtrack. Soundbooth’s advanced power may prove useful occasionally, but again most users will stick with Captivate’s own simpler audio handling.

Moving beyond bitmaps and audio, Captivate 5 can now automatically convert video in a range of popular formats (AVI, MOV, MP4) to F4V (the latest Flash video standard). The eLearning Suite 2 greatly extends the range of formats supported thanks to the inclusion of the dedicated Media Encoder CS5. Suite users can also now roundtrip imported SWF-based Flash animations, interactive buttons and games that they’ve previously created with Flash Professional CS5.