| Can I try AUTHOR™ before I buy it? |
Yes, an evaluation version of AUTHOR™ Standard is available in the Showcase/Downloads section. Simply register and then downlaod an evaluation copy.
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| I'm a computer novice - can I use AUTHOR™? |
| AUTHOR™ was designed for use by novices. You should be able to complete the tutorial in around 3-4 hours which will equip you with the skills necessary to produce AUTHOR™ lessons. |
| How do I learn AUTHOR™? |
| A tutorial is supplied with AUTHOR™ which takes you through the creation of a multimedia module with text, graphics, audio and video. We also provide Beginners and Advanced training classes for groups of 3-5 developers. |
| Can AUTHOR™ lessons run from the Internet? |
AUTHOR™ lessons will run from the Internet in a number of ways:
You may WebBase a lesson for download from a web server. This assumes you have the free AUTHOR Player installed.
You may use AUTHOR Professional to create Windows only executables which will automatically download and run from the web-server. They do not need installation or the AUTHOR Player.
If you have purchased the HTML Output option for AUTHOR Professional you can create a HTML/Javascript version of your lesson that will run on multiple browsers and operating systems. If you want to include video this is usually in WMV format, so you will need the Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox and Chrome and Flip4Mac on OS/X. You may also use Flash video if preferred.
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| Can I use my existing resources? |
AUTHOR™ supports a wide variety of different graphics, audio and video formats. It also supports the importing of plain text, Rich Text format and HTML files. Graphics formats include BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF and TIF. Audio may be in WAV, MP3, WMA and ASF formats. Video can be AVI, MOV, MPG, ASF, WMV and SWF formats.
Different file types and compression rates will contribute to the final size of the lesson, which may be a primary consideration when saving or creating these files. |
| Can I use web-based resources? |
Author allows for web links to be incorporated into lessons. The links can be opened within a browser embedded in your main page or an external browser window can be opened.
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| Is there an educational version of AUTHOR™? |
Yes. The educational versions of AUTHOR™ are lower priced at around 30% of retail. Please contact us for a quote.
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| What does AUTHOR™ run on? |
AUTHOR™ requires Windows 9x, NT, ME, 2000,XP or Vista. It will also run on Apple computers that offer a Windows emulation package.
AUTHOR lessons saved as HTML/Javascript will run on multiple browsers and operating systems. IE 6-8, Firefox, Chrome and Safari.
The Windows Media Player plugin for Firefox and the Flip4Mac plugin for OS/X would be required to play WMV files. |
| What multimedia formats does AUTHOR™ support? |
AUTHOR™ supports a wide variety of different graphics, audio and video formats. It also supports the importing of plain text, Rich Text format, Microsoft Word files and HTML files. Graphics formats include BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF and TIF. Audio may be in WAV, MP3, WMA and ASF formats. Video can be AVI, MOV, MPG, WMV, SWF and ASF formats.
Of course, different file types and compression rates will contribute to the final size of the lesson, which may be a primary consideration when saving or creating these files. |
| How long will it take me to learn AUTHOR™? |
| The included tutorial should take around 3-4 hours to complete and will instruct you in creating multimedia lessons. Advanced use of AUTHOR™ should only take 1-2 weeks to learn. |
| Is a HTML lesson just web pages? |
| No a HTML AUTHOR lesson will look exactly like you designed it and will zoom to the size of the browser. It will not be a series of scrollable web pages, but a fixed screen area that will display the lesson (much like a Flash module). |
| Who uses AUTHOR™? |
| AUTHOR™ is used by Australia Post, National Australia Bank, Orica, PPG, Dunlop, CSL, State Services Victoria and a variety of TAFES and universities. Most AUTHOR™ developers are not computer people but come from a variety of backgrounds. |
| How do I distribute my lessons? |
Your lessons may be distributed by:
WebBase function. This will require the free AUTHOR Player to be installed on the target computer.
Packaging which will create an installable package for CD/DVD-ROM
AUTHOR Professional provides for creating Windows executables or non-installable CD/DVD-ROMs that require no installation or AUTHOR Player. The executables will download and run from the Web.
THe HTML Output option for AUTHOR Professional creates HTML/Javascript lessons that will run in multiple browsers on Windows and OS/X
THe HTML Output option also allows you to specify SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 lessons that can be imported into most Learning Management Systems.
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| Can I use my Power Point slides? |
Not Directly, however it’s relatively simple to save Powerpoint slides as HTML pages or images. You may then use the JPG or GIF files directly and import the HTML text.
You may also run them directly in a browser window that can be imbedded in your lesson screens. |
| How does the licensing work? |
An AUTHOR™ development license allows you to create lessons for the Web with no royalties. The AUTHOR Player is free and may be downloaded from this website.
Packaging allows you to package your lessons to CD-ROM again with no royalties.
The SOE option will create Windows executables and CD/DVD-ROMS with no royalties.
The HTML Output option creates HTML/Javascript lessons with no royalties.
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| What are the implications of distributing lessons on my organisation's computer network? |
Author lessons are packaged into a single compressed file. The size of the file depends on the amount of content in your lesson. Textual information will be compressed and the use of compressed graphic (e.g. JPG), video (e.g. WMV) and audio formats (e.g. MP3) will minimize the size of the lesson.
You may choose to provide the lesson as just content (which will require the AUTHOR Player) as an executable that can be run from the Web or as a HTML/Javascript module.
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