Apple has had some memorable ads over the years, the 1984 Super Bowl ad for the original Macintosh of course being the most famous. But the Think Different ad was probably my favorite of all. Not because it pushes any particular product, but because it celebrates a particular mentality: that of using bold, unconventional, creative thinking to push the world forward while most are content to let it stay right where it is.

Are we doing this in the eLearning world? Are we questioning current convention – including popular theory and common academic argument? Are we challenging policy, even at the often very personal risk of managerial disapproval? Are we pushing against the status quo, or are we settling for the “Well, what can one person do?” attitude? Are we fighting for change? Are we thinking differently?

If not, shouldn’t we be?

The term “Mac-like” is often bandied about when talking about software, including in my own ruminations here on eQuixotic. And while most Mac users will see the term and nod in contented understanding, those new to the platform (or those still peering over the fence curiously) may not yet “get it.” And frankly, it’s a hard thing to define or quantify. As far as being Mac-like, there’s not much about Windows that precludes a Mac-like experience in its applications. Windows itself has become increasingly more Mac-like – cosmetically – over the years, though of course the real essence of being Mac-like is still mostly absent on the Windows side and goes deep into the guts of the system itself. But from an application standpoint, one could certainly develop an app for Windows that is in many ways Mac-like. Unfortunately I’ve seen very few examples of this, but it can be done.

Being Mac-like means making the experience not only as painless as possible, but as enjoyable as possible. Can’t work be, dare I say it, fun? Of course it can. Sure, some may dismiss this as shallow cosmetic pandering, but such dismissals tend to be naive and uninformed, typically vocalized by hostile non-Mac users (or those who simply enjoy pain (sickos)).

Let’s examine the topic visually, with a good illustration of Windows-like vs. Mac-like software design: TechSmith’s Camtasia.

Here is Camtasia for Mac:

And Camtasia for Windows:

Note the minimalist appearance of the Mac version, where your content is the focus and the interface does its best to get out of your way. Icons are small and refined, if they exist at all (relying instead on menu commands and keyboard shortcuts). The content is the star here, and the stagehands sit, ably, just outside the spotlight – there when you need them, inconspicuous when you don’t.

The Windows version, on the other hand, does its best to distract (and tire) your eye with circus-like intensity, full of bright garish colors and large, crude icons and visual elements. Everything screams “Look at me!” There’s no soloist on this stage, but a big band of trombones, tubas and drums all clamoring for your attention.

Lest you think I’m being unfair to TechSmith, Camtasia for Windows merely fits the modus operandi of most other Windows apps I’ve used since I’ve been using Windows (1992?). My apologies to TechSmith for using them as the poster child in this particular example. (Can we still be friends?)

Of course there is more to being Mac-like than what a simple screenshot can capture – the way menus work, the way things interact with each other, the way content is brought in and brought out of an application, and on and on. But the screenshots above paint a good introductory picture of the opposing philosophies.

If I’m going to spend many hours a day on my computer (and I am), I much prefer staring at option #1 than option #2. And I appreciate a good developer who appreciates that. Thank you, TechSmith, for going this route with Camtasia for Mac. The destination should be the priority, but the journey need not be neglected.

I mean hey, this thing will effectively get you through your 2-hour commute to the cubicle farm every day:

but do you really want it to?

My love (and tough love) for Lynda.com online training runs deep, but I’ve always longed for easier, more convenient access. Wouldn’t it be cool if, say, I were able to view Lynda.com training on my iPhone? Why, yes it would. And now, yes it is!

Lynda.com courses are now (finally!) viewable on the iPhone (via Wi-Fi or 3G), providing a new way to turn unproductive time into self-development time. Sure, it’s fun to while away the hours in the doctor’s or DMV’s waiting room playing Fieldrunners, but wouldn’t you rather be learning Photoshop CS4?

It’s disconcerting that we’re already two-plus years into the iPhone Age and this is just now happening, but I’ll take it. It would be nice to see online training stay a little (lot) more cutting edge. Sadly, we’re back to the cumbersome browser-based navigation I griped about in my original review, but it appears help is on the horizon: a native Lynda.com iPhone app due “early 2010.” I swooned! Here’s hoping “early” means, well, early and not August (software developers often appear to use a different English dictionary than I).

In related news, Lynda.com is also rolling out parallel Flash-based content, so you’ll be able to view the training material using either QuickTime or Flash on your desktop machine.

If you haven’t checked out Lynda.com, you really should. I consider their training content required curriculum for anyone in the eLearning and/or presentation design field. At $250/year for all-you-can-eat access ($375/year if you want the exercise files), it could be the best money you spend (aside from, ahem, an iPhone of course).

I love seeing creative ways of explaining new concepts, and a great example of this is Epipheo Studios‘ recent intro to Google Wave.

Simple, engaging, informative and entertaining: it’s a great example of eLearning done right. It’s nice to see folks like Epipheo and Common Craft hard at work creating un-sucky eLearning.

Alas, some might argue that this isn’t really eLearning at all, but simply marketing – an argument with which I would strongly disagree.

Have a look at some of their other work as well. Great, great stuff. I don’t know about you, but as a learner I’d find my yearly corporate eLearning courses on mandatory topics (ugh!) much easier to swallow if they showed even a glimmer of this kind of passion and creativity.

And note the casual (and familiar) narration style. This guy sounds like…well…someone you actually know rather than someone trying to sell you something on late night TV (”Call right now and get a bonus set ABSOLUTELY FREE!“)

Imagine how different the impact of this would be had it been done using bullet points and a typical eLearning narration style from a poorly-chosen voiceover pro (or worse – one of those abominable robovoices).

This is eQuixotic Hall of Fame material, no doubt. Nice work guys.

Thanks to my new friends at Brave New Code and their fantastic (and free!) WordPress plugin, WPtouch, eQuixotic will now look tastier than ever on your iPhone, iPod touch, or Android mobile device. Pinching and squeezing is cool and all, but sometimes mobile-specific is even better.

So what do you need to do? Why, nothing at all! Visit eQuixotic via your computer and you won’t know anything has changed. Drop by on your Apple or Android pocket device and it’s a whole new look.

And thanks to Brave New Code, setting it up was a snap. Seriously. I’m no code monkey, yet I still figured it out in minutes (thanks to their fantastic instructions). I so love polished software (and the people who make it).

Thanks guys! (Donation on the way.)

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.

I’ve posted a couple of times on Bee Docs’ beautiful app, Timeline. I bought a copy of the app a while back, and was pleasantly surprised when I recently received a handwritten thank you card from the developer. It’s significant to note that Adam has no idea that the Chris of eQuixotic is the same Chris that he emailed this thank you card to (as I blog in anonymity (and, in fact, near-utter obscurity)), so this couldn’t have been his way of saying “Thanks for mentioning Bee Docs on your blog.” No, he was simply thanking me for being a customer.

I can’t remember the last time I got a thank you card from Adobe, Microsoft, or Apple. Probably because it was…never ?

I’m a huge fan of indie software developers, particularly on the Mac side of the fence, where their offerings are often of the highest quality, have innovative features not seen in software from the “big guys,” and have surprisingly low price tags.

Pixelmator, VectorDesigner, Amadeus Pro, Layers – these are wonderful, affordable apps that see frequent use in my eLearning and presentation development work. Oh, and of course I can’t forget my blogging tool of choice: MarsEdit.

Many of these developers are dedicated to the point of obsession about updating their apps – and not just fixing bugs, but adding completely new features – without any upgrade charge. It seems every time I launch VectorDesigner, for example, there’s an automated (and free!) update waiting for me. It feels like Christmas each time I click an application icon to launch it.

And the level of personal attention some indie software developers provide is phenomenal. When Layers was released recently, I had an extensive email exchange with the developer regarding a glitch in the software and some feature enhancements I’d like to see. Not only did he immediately confirm the glitch through testing, but he provided me a link to download an updated version of the app within a day or so. Simply stellar.

I’ve had similar online conversations with other developers as well. Enjoyable – and incredibly refreshing.

So before you pull the trigger on your next multi-hundred-dollar software purchase from some faceless megacorp who couldn’t care less who you are, give your indie software developer a good once-over. You may be pleasantly surprised with what you find. I’ll be blogging in more detail on many of these tools in the future.

And Adam, I haven’t had the opportunity to play with Timeline much yet, as I haven’t had a project that required its use. But rest assured there will be a need, probably soon. And Timeline sits in my quiver, at the ready, to wow my customers and make me look like a genius.

And thank you for the thank you.

After what seemed like an endless wait, my favorite eLearning development apps have finally been refreshed. Articulate Studio ‘09 was released last night, including all-new versions of Presenter, Quizmaker, and Engage, as well as a new app, Articulate Video Encoder.

In addition to fixing the niggling flaws with the previous versions that bugged me (for one, notes text can now be formatted – something users have been pleading for forever), they’ve added some amazing new features (branching, yay!) that, in concert, simply leave other eLearning development apps I’ve seen in the dust. In the coming weeks I plan to look at some of these new features in detail, so stay tuned.

Quizmaker, once the ugly duckling of the Articulate family, got the most extensive makeover of all. I was once somewhat embarrassed to include the inevitably janky-looking Quizmaker quizzes with my beautiful Presenter and Engage-based courses, but no more. Quizmaker now provides complete control over the look and feel of your knowledge checks, allowing visually seamless integration with the rest of your content. Quizmaker, girl, you look good all growed up!

These are slick (and fun!) apps to work with, the learning curve is minimal, and they produce beautiful output. Win, win, and win. The new versions are more gorgeous and easier to use than ever. And the price (for eLearning development software) can’t be beat. What more can one ask for?

If you’re already an Articulate user, get your upgrade orders in. Trust me. And if you’re not, what are you waiting for?

Articulate apps are about the only reason I fire up Windows in VMware on my Mac any more. Now if only we could get a native Mac version…

Guys?

Disclaimer: I’m Chris of eQuixotic, I am not paid in any way by Articulate, and I approved this message.

I have to say, I’m a sucker for a beautiful font. And there are plenty of them out there. But it’s often hard to find one that hits the sweet spot. In my case, something new, but old. Modern, yet classic. Cutting edge, yet comfortably familiar. Something that catches the eye, but doesn’t overpower.

They say no one ever got fired for using Helvetica, and that may be true, but I still try to steer clear. And (heaven help us all) we’ve seen plenty of Comic Sans (the font with its very own hate site, and rightfully so) in eLearning courses and presentations.

I’ve been through my Tw Cen MT, Futura, and Century Gothic phases. I enjoy Avenir and Akzidenz-Grotesque. But in the end, none of them have ultimately cried out “I’m you, baby!”

Proxima Nova says “I’m bold, but not brash. Sophisticated, yet lighthearted. Chic, while timeless.”

Yes, if I were a font, I’d want to be Proxima Nova. Check it out at Mark Simonson Studio.

eLearning and presentation designers don’t have to be limited to the fonts that came with Windows, you know…

(And for those of you who work for organizations oppressive enough to mandate a single typeface for all your eLearning and presentations – I’m sorry).

I’m a gadget freak. I’ll admit it. And my favorite gadget of all time is my Apple iPhone. Period. Frankly, it’s the device I’ve been waiting for these many years (and through one tragically horrible cell phone or PDA after another (may you rot in Heck, miserable, despised little Sony-Ericsson T610, bane of my pre-iPhone life)).

Is it wrong to be deeply in love with a handful of glass, chrome, aluminum, silicon and plastic? Perhaps. But I don’t care. It’s real, baby, even if you don’t understand it. We have something…special.

OK, I’m veering off course now. Correcting…

Even if you’re not a gadget freak, you’ve probably heard that Apple recently announced its second version of the iPhone. Cheaper, faster, GPS inside, yada yada. Yes, it will be cool. Yes, I will be buying one. As will a bajillion other members of the horrible-gadget-oppressed masses.

But the bigger news to me does not involve the hardware, but the software (which applies to the current iPhone as well). A couple of months ago Apple announced the App Store, which will feature 3rd party software offerings for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The App Store will provide a convenient (if restrictive) way to browse and purchase (or download for free), directly from the iPhone/iPod itself, what I expect to be a mostly-stellar offering of touchscreen-based applications.

Will eLearning applications be among them? Heck yes they will!

Modality Learning announced (onstage at the Stevenote, no less) several apps that will be available when the App Store launches, including Brain Quest for kids, a variety of educational apps for medical students (as seen in the image at the top of this post), and Frommer’s travel guides.

Expect an avalanche of other educational software to follow from other developers.

The eLearning potential for that big, beautiful, buttery smooth touchscreen you can carry anywhere is so enormous, it makes me hyper like a 3rd grader hopped up on Sugar Smacks. Wait, I’m always that hyper. But I digress…

Will Apple be the ones to finally put legitimate eLearning in our pockets? My money says yes. Hey, it’s not a smart move to bet against El Jobso these days. And heaven knows no other pocketable device thus far has given mobile eLearning real legs.

I can’t wait to see the possibilities. And, perhaps, create some of my own.

The future of mobile eLearning truly begins July 11. Mark your calendars.

Now, who is going to step up to the plate and develop a great eLearning authoring tool for the iPhone? Since my favorite eLearning software company is beholden to Microsoft PowerPoint (the Windows version only, no less) and Adobe Flash – neither of which are currently allowed to play in the iPhone Garden – is another contender ready to bring the goods?