When selecting authoring tools for your eLearning materials, you will need to make sure that they are designed with certain features. The tools that you choose should be easy to use, graphic-friendly, interactive, flexible, powerful, mobile-friendly, and ADA-compliant. The absence of any of these features could indicate that the tool will be of very little help to you.

Ease of Use

You will have to make sure that the authoring tools are easy to use. Writing eLearning materials is hard enough without having to worry about learning to use a complicated tool that is supposed to help you complete your project. You should make sure that you read through the product description for each tool and make sure that you understand how to use it before you buy it. If you feel that the description is written in a foreign language while you are reading it, you should probably move on to the next authoring tool.

Graphics

Regardless of the subject that your eLearning materials revolve around, you will have to make sure that you incorporate graphics. Graphics will make your eLearning materials have a professional look, and they will interest your students. Therefore, you will have to make sure that your authoring tool provides graphic resources. Doing so will ensure that you will not have to search all over the internet for graphics that you can actually use.

Interactivity

Depending on the particular tool, you will need to make sure that it is interactive. You should feel like the authoring tool is working for you and that it is actually doing what it needs to. A tool that gives you a recap on your activity or alerts you about the possible mistakes will save you a lot of time in your goal to create informative and useful eLearning materials.

Flexibility and Power

If you have to fight with your authoring tool to make simple changes, you will have to get rid of it immediately. Your authoring tools should be flexible in how they let you edit, organize, and manage your product’s content. It should also allow you to organize and store your materials and resources in any way that you please.

Mobile

Some of your tools, such as thought or content organizers, should be readily available on your mobile device. If you utilize note takers, you already understand how inconvenient it is to not have a pen when you need to write down a thought. Unless you walk around with your laptop or you can actually remember to carry around a pen and paper, these sorts of authoring tools should be easily available to you at any time.
To ensure that you create the best eLearning materials possible, you will have to make sure that these features are present in your authoring tools. Each of these features is what makes authoring tools useful. When you have access to programs and tools that can actually help you with creating your materials, you feel less pressured and are able to write more effectively.