Toolkit: Adobe Presenter 10

It seems only yesterday that Adobe released Presenter 9,though it was actually last autumn. While some may find these releases toofrequent, I love the fact that I don’t have to wait that long to see a releasethat takes advantage of the latest platforms and technology.

In this review, I’ll let you know what I like about the newversion and what I think Adobe should consider in the next version.

So what’s new?

I can see 10 main new features in Adobe Presenter 10.

1. Publish to HTML5

It’s about time that Presenter is able to publish to HTML5,as many other PowerPoint-based tools have already been able to do so for sometime now. Having had to wait is not necessarily a bad thing, though, because Ithink Adobe got this one right.

For the last couple of versions, Adobe has provided a freemobile player app to use on mobile devices, so that learners are able to accesslessons published from Presenter in Flash format. Now you can instead publishdirectly to HTML5 and allow learners to access your lessons on their mobiledevices without an app. You can include any PowerPoint objects as they are nowfully supported (as far as I’ve been able to discover) and of course Presenter-specificobjects too. As you can see (Figure 1), Presenter lets you publish to SWF(Flash) or to HTML5 or to both versions at once. Publish to both and giveeveryone the same link. Behind the scenes, the Presenter-published file will automaticallynavigate to the Flash version for those browsers that support it and to theHTML5 version for those who don’t.

Figure1: Presenter gives you publishing format choices

Whyhave both rather than just HTML5? Well, for one thing, some browsers stilldon’t support HTML5 well. Older versions of Internet Explorer, still standardin many organizations, may be able to run Flash sites easily but not HTML5.Secondly, HTML5 is usually going to include more files and be bigger overall byits very nature; and compressed Flash files download faster.

2. Quizzes and progress tracking in HTML5

Presenter 10 also fully supports your quizzes and quizquestions in HTML5. It ensures and saves learner progress in your LMS when youpublish to AICC, SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, or the Experience API. 

3. Presenter Video Express

Adobe remade this and now includes sample videos created inPresenter 10.

Adobe added several new themes, and toggling betweenPresenter, Screen, or Both now can happen with one click.

They improved other features, including trimming videoportions, extending different views, panning and zooming, and more. You can nowadd multiple instances of lower-third text (familiar to all video pros). (Alsosee “Improved User Interface” below.)

4. HD video regardless of hardware

High-definition video is easier to have now right on yourcomputer. The video editor gives you several options to improve the quality ofyour video file such as removing noise and balancing colors.

In addition, you can now capture the screen at fullresolution if you like.

5. Video analytics and learner interventionimproved

If you liked the AnalyticsEngine in the prior version of Presenter, you’ll like the current one evenmore. The analytics are now more complete, so you can check the AnalyticsDashboard to see metrics that will tell you how engaging your videos andpresentations are, how long they spent in any particular slide or section, andwhich modules they took and which they tended to abandon.

You canalso use this information to direct individual learners to other portions of yourcourse or resources outside your course to help them catch up when you see thatthey are falling behind.

6. Collaboration

Adobe improved this cool feature in version 10. Now you can letlearners comment on any portion of your lesson or post questions that you orother learners can answer. You can act as moderator and track who isparticipating, and even reward those learners who participate a lot by givingtheir comments from one to five stars.

The instructor can also add questions and then moderate theresponses learners give to those questions.

7. Tablet support

You can now offer several new features to learners using atablet when they point its browser to a Presenter-published website:

1. A new visual table of contents ribbon isaccessible at the bottom that allows learners to browse through and jump to anyslide.
2. Learners can turn speaker notes on and off.
3. Tap the screen to show or remove the table of contents.
4. Swipe left and right to move from slide toslide.

8. Improved user interface

I can see improvements in several interface areas ofPresenter. The one I like the best is the improved method for switching betweenpresenter (you on a webcam) and screen when creating your screen videos. Thereused to be four buttons, there are now three (Figure 2): Presenter alone,Screen Alone, and a toggle button that places the Presenter to the left or theright of the screen playback.

Figure 2: It is now easier to understand how to switch between viewswhen creating screen videos

In addition, when you switch the layouts, you can now justdrag the start- or end-point of the layout on the timeline easily. The sameidea for pan and zoom: You can now just move the pan/zoom icon on the timelineto change where it starts.

9. Pause and resume

Call this bookmarking if you like. When you exit a lessoncreated in Presenter 10 and return to the LMS, you can continue the next timefrom where you left off. This works even if you were on your desktop computerand then switched to your tablet later. That’s pretty cool.

10. SRT (Subtitle) ClosedCaption files

SRT files areinterchangeable with other applications that use them. They are a standardformat for closed captions. Presenter now lets you save all your closedcaptions to an SRT file, which will contain each closed caption with its timestamp.

What’s missing?

It’s hard to find fault with a product that still costs only$15 a month under its subscription plan; but that doesn’t eliminate my need towish for more nonetheless.

1. More video-editingabilities. This may seem a bit of a cheeky request because there are plentyof strong video editors out there, but I’d love to see the ability to addtransitions between scenes, selecting from a myriad of cool ones.
2. Improved characterinterface and more characters. It would be cool if Presenter were to letyou edit the illustrated and photographic characters before putting them on thescreen so we could choose to have only the head, for instance, and thenposition it or change its expression, especially in the case of the illustratedcharacters.
3. More learninginteractions. The more, the better! These make it so easy for developers toadd interactivity and such into lessons. Speaking of these interactions, Inever use the gaming ones myself, but I suppose others do find a use for them.I’d like to see more of those geared toward adult learners.

Is it worth licensing?

Yep, you can’t go wrong at the subscriptionprice or even if you were to buy the full installed license. I highly recommendusing the subscription model as you will get new versions and updates of Presenterevery time they release them. I know a lot of people are using and loving thisproduct, and I am among them.