OmniOutliner for eLearning Storyboarding
July 24, 2009
If you’re lucky enough to do eLearning development on a dual Mac/Windows setup (as I am, running Windows XP via VMware Fusion on a 24″ iMac), you can appreciate the immense value of being able to pick and choose the best applications from either platform to most effectively accomplish your tasks.
As you may know, I’m a huge fan of the Articulate development suite, which is, sadly, a Windows-only proposition. Articulate works exclusively with PowerPoint (the Windows version only, obviously), a tool I have learned to enjoy despite its annoyances (including its mostly-horrific template and clipart collection). PowerPoint 2007 is a substantial improvement over the 2003 version and much of my antagonism toward the application has been softened by the 2007 version’s enhancements. I still yearn for the perfect love child of PowerPoint (both Mac and Windows) and Keynote (Apple’s PowerPoint equivalent), but as we well know, we will certainly always be torn between two (or more) software tools that target the same need but suffer from competing weaknesses.
I do most of my development work using Articulate and PowerPoint and have experimented with various approaches to storyboarding. My initial tool of choice was Word, which was short-lived. I found storyboarding in a word processor to be a frustrating experience. Shuffling my content around was cumbersome, and after all was said and done there was still the tedious process of transferring all of that content to PowerPoint.
I then shifted to doing my storyboarding work in PowerPoint, which felt more natural than Word for setting up my course structure, but was ultimately still awkward and inefficient. There had to be a better way. And I think I’ve found it.
It’s OmniOutliner from The Omni Group, an application I dabbled with years ago but never thought of using it for my storyboarding work (duh). Until now.
OmniOutliner makes it easy to lay out your course structure in an outline format, with sections, topics and subtopics than can be expanded and collapsed, added and deleted, and moved around with ease and finesse.
And while OmniOutliner is a joy to work with for establishing my course structure, the best part is I can export my final outline to Keynote, which in turn can export it to PowerPoint. So no more cutting and pasting. I just lay out my course outline, export it, and I’m ready to start building my course.
I’ve even started writing my narration script for each slide in OmniOutliner – it’s easier for me to work when I can see everything at once, which you can’t do once you’re in PowerPoint (and writing my narration script in Word and moving it to PowerPoint involves all those copy/paste finger gymnastics that I loathe).
One thing to note: when exporting to Keynote/PowerPoint, your sub-levels will appear as bullets on each main level slide. Which may be ideal depending on the particular course you’re working on. But if it’s not (i.e. you want your sub-levels to appear as separate slides, not bullets), you should flatten your outline by selecting everything (Command-A) and then outdenting (Shift-Tab) until all your topics and subtopics are on the same level before exporting:
OmniOutliner is Mac-only (sorry WinPeeps). There may be a good Windows-based equivalent, but I have heard public grousing that outlining software on the Windows side is inferior to that found on the Mac platform (hey, we don’t get Articulate, so I guess we each win one).
OmniOutliner is $39.95 and OmniOutliner Professional is $69.95. I coughed up the extra $30 for the pro version, because don’t you inevitably end up regretting not doing so? I always do.
Sidenote: I am aware that you can write in outline format in Word and export to PowerPoint, similar to what I’m doing in OmniOutliner, but I found that approach less than satisfying and distinctly more clumsy. If you’ve found a Word-based storyboarding technique that works well, I’d love to hear about it in the comments section.
ADDENDUM: Tom makes an excellent point in the comments – what’s the difference between doing this in OmniOutliner and just doing it in Outline view in PowerPoint? Well, just by looking at the two screenshots I provided above, not a whole lot. Like a narration script typed up in Word and one typed up in Notepad – they both look the same, so why use the expensive (and more complicated) Word to get there? Why, lots of reasons.
I’m no OmniOutliner expert (I just started using it), and I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with more relevant examples after getting a knack for the application, but here’s a quick sample.
Layout for a branching scenario for Topic 1:
Topic 1 now neatly folded away so I can see the overall structure of my course again:
As far as I know, PowerPoint only allows you a flat hierarchy of slides in Outline view. If PowerPoint Outline view is more capable than what I understand, I’d love to know about it.
And if it isn’t, I think you can see the advantage an outlining tool like OmniOutliner could provide when you’re dealing with a course with hundreds of screens, including branching scenarios with hidden screens.
Thanks Tom – you’re right, the original post didn’t make much of a compelling case.
Posted in Apple, Things I Love, eLearning Development Tools
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July 24th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
I’m confused how this is different than using the outline mode in PowerPoint. It looks almost the same
July 24th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
I agree Tom, from these static screenshots they do look the same. I imagine a screencast would better illustrate the differences. I guess you’d have to get some hands-on time with OmniOutliner to see where the process is easier to manage (or, depending on your needs, maybe not) than PowerPoint’s outline view.
Of course first you’ll have to get a Mac…
July 24th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
One of the primary differences to me is OmniOutliner’s ability to lay out your structure in a hierarchal format, with indents and color coding to help you form your structure, and the easy ability to expand and collapse sections to make it easier to review and organize.
PowerPoint gives you the “flat” view only (as in my second screenshot) – no slide subsets. This can get confusing in a hurry, especially when working with branching scenarios. Apple Keynote allows you to indent (or do multiple indents) of slides in the outline view, but I have not discovered a way to do this in PowerPoint. If you know of one, please share!
July 24th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Hit tab to go down one level, shift+tab to come up one level.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Chris,
I just found your blog tonight via @cammybean, and you and I are like twins in terms of e-learning design and development approaches. It’s like looking in a mirror! (MBP laptop, 15″, running WinXP via VM Ware Fusion. I salivate over your 24″ monitor!)
I appreciate Tom K adding that extra tip in PPT, how to go down a level. I do use his tip on maximizing PPT 2007’s Outline Mode.
But, OmniOutliner looks promising.
Like you, I love Articulate’s suite of products, and bemoan their single-operating-system limitations. About once a month, in their feature request, I submit my wish for a Mac version of their Studio.
However, Tom’s always great for coming up with fantastic workarounds.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Tom, for some reason this does not work for me. If I tab on a slide in Outline view, the indent simply adds a bullet point to the selected slide – it does not indent the entire slide. I cannot seem to replicate what I’m doing in OmniOutliner in PowerPoint Outline view. Can you send me a screenshot of what you’re doing?
July 25th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Chris,
Great discussion, thanks for initiating it.
Outlining is a critical step and one I advise clients to do all the time. Word is useless. I’ve advised people to use the PowerPoint outline feature because it “sort of” works. At least they can rearrange slides easily. But to your point, I can’t figure out how to indent another slide and make it a sub-slide; it automatically becomes a bullet point. Sub-slides are critical to visualizing your course.
I’ve used mind mapping applications as a way to plan my courses. These work great in the planning stages but that whole integration into PowerPoint becomes a multi-step process. At least it lets me throw a bunch of stuff at it, walk away, and come back to re-think and organize it. There are lots of different mind mapping tools out there but I won’t go into those here.
I’ll take another look at OmniOutliner for this purpose. Ideally, I’d like to see integration with an iPhone app too and I’m surprised Omni Group hasn’t done this already. It does sound like getting the outline into PowerPoint is a bit convoluted too though.
Tom, we’d love to have an Articulate solution for the Mac. You guys could do wonders in this space and decrease your dependency on Redmond breaking your software with their latest whims for PPT. The Mac crowd is HUNGRY for a premiere authoring tool and we’d love to see you guys do it. You’ve got rabid fans and if you combined that with Mac fanboys, the world better watch out.
Scott
July 25th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Scott, I agree – it’s too bad you can’t export directly from OmniOutliner to PowerPoint, but exporting to Keynote and then from Keynote to PowerPoint is a quick and easy (if extra) step.
Yes, an iPhone version of OmniOutliner would be awesome. If Omni doesn’t do this, perhaps there’s an opportunity there for someone else. I love Cultured Code’s to-do app for iPhone (and Mac) called Things. I’d love to see an outliner and/or mind mapper app that followed their design philosophy. I wish I’d had the foresight to start learning iPhone programming a couple of years ago – I could be a rich man right now.
I’m glad to hear that PowerPoint really doesn’t seem to allow sub-slides and sub-sub-slides in Outline view as I thought I was just being dense or crazy. Unless Tom has a special insider build or has access to a super secret PowerPoint feature the rest of us don’t.
I’ve not been able to find anything via Google regarding sub-slides in PowerPoint either. I think Tom may be looking at indents that appear as bullets on a single slide and not indenting (subgrouping) entire slides themselves?
July 25th, 2009 at 10:35 am
@ Jenise: welcome aboard, glad to have you! There need to be more of us. And it appears we’re growing in numbers – if only we had a good place to congregate…
July 25th, 2009 at 10:36 am
@Scott,
And, don’t forget the rabid Articulate fans who are Mac fangrrrls!!
Articulate and Mac, with iPhone/m-learning functions… (”Publish to iPhone)…. ah!
I’d be the happiest designer/developer on Planet Earth. Or, the 3rd happiest as Chris and Scott would be in line ahead of me.
@Tom,
Is there another “trick” to make PPT 2007 “sub-indent” w/out creating bullet points?
July 25th, 2009 at 10:42 am
@Chris,
Love your blog! Let’s congregate on Articulate’s forums, but making sure we play very, very nice.
Their support team is #1 in my book, and we want to maintain these awesome relationships. Articulate Support has gone over and above when I’ve needed them.
Start “Mac” topics on their forum?
I, too have been thinking this year about Articulate’s dependence on MS PPT.
I do love what MS added to PPT 2007… really great enhancements, but I’d like the option to use Keynote with Articulate as well.
As for Keynote, I want to buy it, but I hear the newest version does not publish to SWF anymore. Do you know how I can ethically purchase the previous version?
July 25th, 2009 at 11:15 am
@Janise, how can I possibly forget those fangirls?
And wow, wouldn’t a publish to iPhone/iTouch be great? I hear Lectora does it but I haven’t tried it myself. Makes me wish there were a simple HyperCard type development system for the iPhone. I’m not a programmer so I’m sort of lost in all of the development tools. Right now I lean towards mobile friendly website design for iPhone access.
The SWF export from Keynote ‘08 didn’t work that well IMHO. I don’t think you’d get much out of it. That’s probably why they removed it from ‘09. I tried to create a Flash based type tutorial with it once and quickly gave up.
Articulate still reigns supreme here. They do have the best support and the most Mac-like fans. Staying together on their forum would keep our voices strong. It’s a good suggestion, Jenise.
@Chris, I’m glad you still can’t find Tom K’s suggestion. I looked myself and came up empty too. I chalked it up to old age but now that the younger guys validated it I feel better.
@Tom, are we missing anything?
July 25th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Janise, I agree with Scott – Keynote 08’s export to Flash feature was a failure. It just didn’t work.
Regarding Articulate for Mac – their apps are so tightly tied to PowerPoint, particularly the 09 Suite and PP 2007, that I think the odds of an Articulate app for Mac are slim at best. I don’t think PP for Mac offers the type of external app integration that the Windows version does, and Keynote almost certainly offers none.
I’m not holding my breath.
That said, Adobe is working on Captivate for Mac and TechSmith is working on Camtasia for Mac (and perhaps someday SnagIt). So the Mac platform is not being completely ignored in the eLearning development market any longer. And for that I’m thrilled.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Scott & Jenise, I just created an “Articulate for Mac Please?” avatar for my eQuixotic user profile in the Articulate forums. Feel free to copy it and use it as your own. Perhaps we can make our voices heard, um, visually…
Here’s a link to one of my posts if you want to have a look at the avatar and perhaps “adopt” it. It’s potty trained and doesn’t chew on furniture.
July 25th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Camtasia for the Mac will fill a different purpose. It’s more screencasting – not e-learning authoring. Captivate holds lots of promise for us Mac users. However, I’d rather see a small company like Articulate develope a solution instead. The Mac market gets lost inside Adobe. Need I say Flash for iPhone?
I agree that Articulate is closely tied to Microsoft and PowerPoint. It also presents a strategic risk to them. Ideally a company would want full control over their destiny and not be tied to a Redmond API. A standalone app provides that. They’ve got a great start, staff, and support. They could create a separate app with the market need features – both Windows and Mac. Just look at Qarbon for a cross-platform example.
I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Adobe’s Captivate in the meantime.
Scott