Lectora Reviews

“powerful but buggy

Pros

When a project needs complex interactivity or a larger build, Lectora works well. It offers a lot of customization and can produce perfect and professional-looking results.

Cons

One thing that gets annoying with this tool is that it can be buggy at times which breaks up the workflow and slows progress on projects. The learning curve is also fairly steep especially once you get into the more advanced features so it can feel overwhelming now and then. And while the responsive design tools are useful, converting older courses that were built for fixed page sizes into something truly mobile-friendly is not very easy. Because of that, updating legacy content ends up being more difficult than it should be.

“Great features and integration

Pros

One thing that really works well with is its powerful set of features while still being simple to use. The pricing is also a plus and it integrates nicely with other products.

Cons

That said, it still offers only about three quarters of the feature set you get from the biggest players like Captivate and 360.

“Easiest Tool to Meet Current and Future eLearning (Accessible & Responsive)

Pros

The standout feature of Lectora is its unwavering commitment to accessibility. It effortlessly helps meet DHS Trusted Tester requirements. I also love the option to develop truly responsive courses, rather than just having a responsive player that shrinks content, as that wouldn't be accessible.

Cons

The new interface's QuickLaunch Toolbar can be challenging to navigate as it has a very dark color that blends in.

“The best content library

Pros

It comes with a great library of elements you can pick from and add into your e-learning projects which is definitely helpful during course design.

Cons

Rendering can be inconsistent across browsers. Plus it doesn't always work nicely with Internet Explorer and some features may work one way in Mozilla and another in Chrome.

“ideal variables and flexible actions

Pros

The thing that really makes Lectora stand out for me is how much I can do with variables. The built-in ones already cover a lot but I can also create as many additional variables as I need and reference them while building actions. That flexibility lets me build pretty much anything I can think of.

Cons

A while back it changed the way audio events can be added and that has been frustrating. I used to be able to open the audio file, click directly on the waveform and place a trigger at the exact point I wanted. That option is gone now and the current method just doesn't seem the best.

“powerful interactivity toolkit

Pros

With Lectora the only real limit is how well you can design the process you want to build. The toolset is all there and I have been able to create interactive elements and workflows that I honestly couldn't have imagined pulling off in other authoring platforms.

Cons

The interface hasn't really been refreshed in years. That does make things easy to locate but visually it definitely feels pretty outdated.

“Removes stress!

Pros

It creates content quickly and without hassle, while still offering an impressive level of flexibility and functionality.

Cons

This software isn't free but honestly no authoring tool can do everything. This tool has very few limits and I cannot really think of any. That said if all you need is a simple page with some text, an image and a few basic clicks, you'd probably be better off using a free option or just building it in Google Slides.

“feature depth keeps us competitive

Pros

There are so many layers to the features that I am still discovering new things week after week. That depth really helps us keep our offerings fresh and stay competitive.

Cons

A few features definitely take time to learn but that's true with any powerful platform. The more advanced the functionality, the more time you have to put in to get the most out of it and that feels like a fair trade-off.

“versatile course authoring powerhouse

Pros

One thing that really stands out is how powerful this development tool is for building online courses. It lets you integrate a wide range of technologies so adding functionality through PHP, JSP, JavaScript, HTML and more is very doable. At the same time, it still keeps the convenience of a visual editor which makes the whole authoring process much more approachable. Another feature I really appreciate is the ability to preview and edit mobile applications in both portrait and landscape modes, whether it's for tablets or smartphones.

Cons

The more advanced features definitely come with a bit of a learning curve especially for people who are not used to software development. That said, if you do not need those advanced capabilities, even users without an IT background can still put together SCORM modules within just a few hours using it.

“Top tool for adaptive courses

Pros

The interface is very user-friendly while still giving fast access to the more advanced features. I usually begin with either a blank page or a corporate template and that gives me full control over both the design and the programming side. Plus being able to add actions to objects is extremely useful and the properties ribbon puts all the information I need within quick reach. There are usually several ways to accomplish the same task which makes it simple to test different approaches and figure out the best one. Building exams, surveys, knowledge checks, progress bars, custom menus, variables, HTML windows and JavaScript elements is all very easy too. If the goal is to create adaptive courses that personalize learning, Lectora is easily the best program I have used for it.

Cons

That level of power does come with a few drawbacks. Every now and then, an action that I delete does not actually disappear. The workaround is to recreate the action under a different name. It's simple enough to move an object using x and y coordinates but there's no good way to identify those coordinates in the first place. So having that capability would make designing games much easier. The newer Elearning Brothers asset integration is a nice addition but I really wish the search worked better. After every search, you have to start over from the beginning and there's no option to select multiple objects or save searches.

“Good for global course creation

Pros

Working with teams across different locations on the same projects is incredibly valuable. The automatic backup for all projects gives a lot of peace of mind and the text to speech feature is a really nice addition. Plus being able to import PowerPoint slides directly into a title while using a corporate template has also been a very welcome improvement.

Cons

One thing that would really help is better audio syncing with on-screen animations, ideally with a timeline like Articulate or Storyline offers. It would also be useful to have built-in functionality for adding the audio script to each slide so it can be read easily. I'd also love to see some built-in games return, like Jeopardy, basketball or skiing-style interactions that older flash-based versions used to include. The responsive design can feel a little confusing at times and definitely has room for improvement. A couple of our internal teams have also mentioned that tools like Articulate 360 seem to handle responsive design better.

“user-friendly for simulations

Pros

This software is both easy to use and very capable which has been outstanding. I am planning to use it to simulate how to operate medical devices including ultrasound systems.

Cons

At some point I'd still like support for subscripted variables but I can work around that without much trouble.

“Offers a lot of customization options

Pros

Lectora gives us a huge amount of customization and flexibility especially if you know how to work with it properly.

Cons

It can feel a bit intimidating at first if you're coming from lighter tools but it's definitely worth taking the time to learn.

“powerful elearning authoring toolkit

Pros

Among authoring tools, this has been the most powerful and flexible one I have used, even if it does take some time to learn. It's an excellent fit for anyone responsible for building eLearning content.

Cons

Support hasn't felt as responsive as it used to be though with ELB now leading things, I am hopeful that improves. Another issue comes up with new releases since updating older courses can cause problems when the newer programming doesn't always align with the previous version.

“Complete creative freedom!

Pros

One of the best things about Lectora is how much creative freedom it gives designers. The software doesn't seem very limiting which makes it possible to build almost anything directly inside the tool. It also works well with external graphics, audio, video, code and other assets so its capabilities can be expanded even further. It really grows along with the developer. Someone can start at a basic level using templates, then keep building on their skills and create more advanced, interactive and amazing courses over time. It works just as well for beginners as it does for highly skilled developers.

Cons

A few features can seem a bit confusing especially when they first come out. That said I have been using it since 2010 and the interface has definitely improved a lot over the years.

“Tools that stand out

Pros

When it comes to building highly interactive content, This tool really stands out as a powerful authoring tool. The part I like most is how much flexibility it gives for adding external code, whether that's JavaScript or other web-based functionality.

Cons

One thing I still miss is the option to use positioning methods beyond absolute and fixed layouts. It would be much better to have control over object placement with relative or even static positioning as well. The automated production features could also use some work especially for things like creating reusable color schemes directly inside the software instead of relying on external CSS and being able to update multiple objects across an entire title at the same time.

“poor translation tool

Pros

There are plenty of design options and the responsive design capability is there. The overall feature set is decent too and the testing options are good as well.

Cons

Despite all its features the German translation is far below acceptable. For example there is a feature labeled set states but in German it appears as something like set countries instead of setting the status of an object. The help texts are basically unusable and seem to have been translated back and forth until they became nonsense. The functions are also not stable enough to use reliably and the software is like it is still being worked on. Sometimes creating learning units from custom templates doesn't work and other times custom templates cannot be saved anymore. Error 500 and upgrade errors can make the software unusable altogether. Features are placed in ways that make them very hard to find. Overall the product is like it was put together from different modules some of them clearly outdated and that makes the whole experience bad. Responsive design is also more frustrating than it should be because all five views have to be adjusted separately. That would just be time consuming which might be manageable but the real problem is that while editing one of the five views, changes often carry over into other views as well though not consistently into all of them. When that happens you have to start over from scratch.