This article was updated 8/14/2025 to incorporate newer examples and include content from several separate articles about Articulate Rise development.
Articulate Rise is the industry’s go-to tool for developing beautiful, easy to use elearning courses, fast. It is a rapid development tool for elearning that has grown in popularity because of how easy it is to create and update courses.
Articulate Rise development is convenient partially because of its predictable structure, but it has a hidden downside: many Rise courses end up looking and feeling exactly the same, leading to “stale” learning experiences that fail to engage.
Endurance Learning and Articulate Rise Development
Our team at Endurance Learning has been building courses in Articulate Storyline for over 10 years. We started developing on Storyline 2 and enjoyed the upgraded features that came with Storyline 3 and eventually Articulate 360.
Like many elearning developers, we built in Storyline because of the flexibility to do just about anything we could dream up. That has many advantages but we often found our services too expensive for some nonprofits or for smaller projects. We began building courses in Articulate Rise. We have now developed over 100 courses in Articulate Rise for a wide variety of customers and training needs.
What is in this Guide to Articulate Rise?
There are plenty of amazing resources about Articulate Rise and we link to some of them below. What we share in this article are the things we’ve learned about when delivering real courses to customers. This information is not from Articulate’s marketing materials about what’s possible, but is from our own experience. We cover 5 topics:
- Techniques to improve the visual design of Articulate Rise. We love how quick it is to build in Rise and how responsive it is, but the visual design gets stale unless you know how to make it pop.
- Five techniques that we use to include more audio in Articulate Rise. Courses built in Rise include much less audio than your typical Storyline built course. This is a challenge for some of our customers and learners.
- How to work with character count limits in Articulate Rise. The beauty of Rise is that it is much easier to get it to work for learners on most devices. This means that there have to be rules. Included in these rules are character counts.
- Incorporating Storyline blocks into Rise. Articulate brings the power of Storyline to Rise, but there are some very real considerations before you do this.
- Accessibility in Articulate Rise. Courses built in Rise are native to the web which means it was much easier to meet accessibility standards that are built for that same technology. But that doesn’t mean that building a course in Rise means it is accessible.
- Resources to extend Articulate Rise development. There are some people doing some incredible work to build tools that extend the functionality of Rise.
Improve Articulate Rise Visual Design
Why Articulate Rise Visual Design Needs Improvement
Articulate Rise courses are meant to work no matter what content you add and thus end up being a series of squares. These ninety degree angles are the way the modern web works. In the 2000’s we would have worked in tables in a similar way. The structures are more flexible now and allow for better display on mobile devices but they are still made up of rectangles.
Standard Visual Design versus Dynamic Visual Design in Articulate Rise
For you, that means that every Rise course is going to quickly look like every other Rise course. But you can break that mold with a little bit of creativity.
Use GIFs to Create Motion
Animated GIFs can be powerful instructional tools in e-learning when used with purpose. Their primary strength lies in their ability to demonstrate processes and procedures clearly and concisely. For multi-step tasks, like navigating a software menu or performing a specific action, a short, looping GIF can show the entire sequence without the overhead of a full video. This allows learners to watch the action repeat, reinforcing the steps until they understand them. Furthermore, GIFs excel at making abstract or invisible concepts tangible, such as visualizing a biological process or the flow of data in a network.
Beyond pure demonstration, animated GIFs can enhance the learning experience by directing attention and increasing engagement. A subtle animation can act as a visual cue, signaling to the learner where to focus on a busy screen. They can also inject personality and appropriate humor into a course, which can help make the content more relatable and memorable. The key is to ensure every GIF serves a specific goal—whether to explain, highlight, or engage—so that it functions as a learning asset rather than a cognitive distraction.
When discussing the use of GIFs in elearning, George Hanshaw, Director of eLearning Operations at Los Angeles Pacific University, shared that “The GIFs take one point of this larger training that you’re building and it places learners’ focus right on that piece. Whether it’s changing brakes or changing behaviors in a leadership role, it all works.” – GIFs as a Training Tool with George Hanshaw
Background images to create more visual appeal
We’re big on looking to our colleagues in learning & development (L&D) for inspiration when we’re building courses and we’ve shared some of the resources that we use.
When I was trying to increase the visual appeal of my Articulate Rise development I rediscovered Instruction Design Tips on YouTube. She does a great job showing how to use background images to make Rise feel like a more immersive experience. You can also check this video by Learning Jam Club by Amanda Nguyễn. Another great tutorial.
I also found a great post in the wonderful E-Learning Heroes community. This Rise course built for Southwest opened my eyes to how to create more flow between Rise blocks.
To create this type of effect it is essential to create images that fit together correctly in the course. Maestro has a great resource for the dimensions of each image type that will help you build images that make your course shine!
Audio as Part of Articulate Rise Development
Courses built in Rise include much less audio than what your typical Storyline-built course. Text on screen is the default content delivery method, unlike a Storyline course where audio is a more natural fit.
Benefits of Audio in Elearning
From a design perspective, we know that there are times when audio will enhance the learning experience. I’ve used audio in Articulate Rise development to:
- Share additional information that doesn’t appear on screen.
- Eliminate on screen text heaviness with content the learner hears.
- Describe an onscreen visual or process.
Christy Tucker does a great job summarizing the research around using audio. When you’re adding audio to Articulate Rise you should be sure that you’re doing it to improve the course and not just because your stakeholders said “we want audio!” – When Is Audio Narration Helpful? by Christy Tucker
5 Articulate Rise Blocks with Audio Capabilities
There are five block types in Rise that allow the addition of audio:
- Timeline: The Timeline block is an interactive, vertical block designed to present events in chronological order.
- Labeled Graphic: The Labeled Graphic block is an interactive block that allows you to turn a static image into an exploratory activity.
- Process: The Process block is a sequential, step-by-step interactive block that guides a learner through a linear process.
- Storyline: This isn’t a standard content block but rather a powerful utility block that allows you to embed custom interactions built in another Articulate authoring tool, Storyline 360.
- Audio: The Audio block is a straightforward media block used to embed sound directly into a lesson.
Each of these Articulate Rise interactions presented both challenges and opportunities when using voiceover audio.
Samples of Audio in Articulate Rise Blocks
Each of the examples below is a practical example of using audio in a course we developed for a client.
Timeline of Audio Clips
Timelines can be used to show information in succession. Timelines work well for content that is linear or that should be viewed in sections one at a time. This particular timeline has a variety of published COVID-19 research findings. To reduce visual clutter of more words on screen, we moved a portion of the details of each study to an audio file. The learner selects PLAY to hear a short audio clip regarding each study.
Labeled Graphic with Audio Insights
Labeled graphics have quickly become our favorite use case for adding audio in Rise. Varying the image makes this block type feel different (so it’s not just more of the same in Rise.) Here we used a labeled graphic to show a timeline where the learner could select points on the timeline to learn more through short audio clips. This reduced the visual clutter of additional text on an already full graphic.
Process Block with Audio and Visuals
Process blocks are great for showing information in a series. In this case, we used a process block to show a variety of information about a potential treatment option for COVID-19. With each screen in the process block, the learner sees an image summarizing the key information and then can select the audio block to hear additional information.
Storyline Block for Deeper Narrated Interactions
Adding a Storyline block to Rise allows for both increased options of interactivity and implementing audio. Even though adding audio to Storyline is easy, it becomes a bit of a technical challenge to make sure the audio plays in Rise the way that it is supposed to. If you want audio timed to text in your course or to give direction before an interaction, a Storyline block is the way to go.
The Humble Audio Block
We won’t lie — this option can be rather visually unattractive if not used in the right way. It’s not one we use often, but it can be valuable to provide another example for the learner beyond text and images. In the example below, the learner can hear a message from a doctor regarding use of a particular drug in pregnancy.
5 Tips for Audio in Articulate Rise Development
Each of the Articulate Rise blocks listed above can have value when audio is added, but we did face some limitations that you should be aware of.
- A learner has to press play to hear the sound; it can not start automatically. This means you need to add some instructions to the block above the one with audio to prompt the learner to select play. This is a natural limitation of the way the courses are built. Auto-playing the audio would be messy.
- Rise does not allow closed captions for audio making the course less accessible. This is a huge drawback for both our team and our customers. We hope it is something on the product roadmap for Articulate. One tip that we found and LOVE is to use an accordion directly below the audio with the transcript. It isn’t perfect, but it is accessible!
- Rise does not show you the audio file name once you upload it. This may seem trivial, but our processes involve a lot of double checking to reduce rework later. This small issue makes it harder to validate you uploaded the right file.
- Rise cannot generate a text-to-speech (TTS) file. If you want to test voiceover audio before you add in professional voiceover, you need to first create the TTS file and then add it to Rise. While you may do this using Storyline, you may also find that using AI voices can be a great option.
- The maximum file size for audio is 5 GB. This shouldn’t be an issue, but it is good to know.
All of these were true at time of writing, but we know that the team at Articulate continues to improve Rise. If any of these have changed, let me know!
Articulate Rise Character Limits
When developing content for Articulate Rise we usually start in a script. One challenge that we faced was that we would script an interaction only to find that Articulate Rise didn’t support the number of characters we wrote.
It’s an upsetting feeling when you discover that you need to make a choice between your ideal interaction, and using the necessary words!
Case Study: Character Limits on a Time-Sensitive Project
We were rapidly developing a course on a very tight timeline. We had quickly moved the project through the analysis and design phases. When I was adding the content to Rise, I noticed that text exceeded the limits of the Sorting interaction block.
The Challenge
Articulate Rise development is powerful when you design to fit within the given constraints. In most situations we would have worked with the subject matter expert (SME) to edit the text down or find a different interaction type. In this case, our SME was not only traveling internationally, but was also sick. Rewording the interaction within the tight timeline was not an option.
The Sorting block in Articulate Rise didn’t have an easy back-up option built within the Rise interactive blocks. Since the sorting interaction was the best fit for the learning objective, I knew I needed to a solution that would not only maintain the content, but also would align with the learning objective.
The Solution
We decided to create a custom sort in Articulate Storyline 360 and add it into the course as a Storyline block. While I would prefer to use the built-in interactions, creating a drag and drop interaction in Storyline was a quick and easy way to meet the need.
Instead of creating an imposter sort with the exact same look as a Rise sort (there’s a time and a place for that, too!), we opted for a more visually appealing look — one that incorporated speech bubbles to more appropriately match to the content. As a result, we had a beautiful custom sort interaction that we ended up reusing elsewhere in the course as well.
While the build took us a bit more time than it would have if we were able to use the Rise sort block, we didn’t need to compromise on either the interaction type nor word count. Win-win!
Articulate Rise Character Count Job Aid
Our team at Endurance Learning faced this when working on training projects for customers and created a design resource on Articulate Rise character limit restrictions in Rise 360.
Below is a list of the restrictive Rise character counts that you should be aware of to help you to effectively write for Rise. You can also download this Articulate Rise Character Count Cheat Sheet to keep as a reference.
Storyline Blocks in Articulate Rise Development
You saw from the scenario above that Storyline blocks can sometimes free you from the restrictions of Articulate Rise.
Making Rise Modules More Interactive Through Storyline Blocks
Articulate Rise 360 is a fantastic authoring tool for creating eLearning quickly. It’s cloud based, easy to collaborate within, and it has many templated options that make creating eLearning a breeze. But anyone who has created eLearning, especially within a more robust tool like Storyline360, knows that Rise has some limitations when it comes to flexibility, creativity, and customization.
Thankfully, using Storyline blocks within Rise allows for more interactivity, additional creative options, and solves some of the common Rise challenges that eLearning developers face. Here are some examples of ways that using Storyline blocks in Rise have saved the day here at Endurance Learning.
Drag and Drop Built in Storyline
When creating eLearning, it can be nice to use matching or drag and drop interactions to allow learners to categorize content. Unfortunately, the one and only matching template within Rise is pretty limited. The visuals are not editable and the character count is limited to 80 characters.
Storyline block to the rescue!
In this case, we needed each card in the sort interaction to have more text than the character count in Rise allowed for so we created the interaction in Storyline instead.
Reflection Activity for Rise
Rise does not have a template that enables a learner to freely reflect without being scored “correct” or “incorrect.” Sometimes, it’s nice to have an option for learners to work through their thinking and process their logic in an eLearning experience without the pressure that comes with being “right” or “wrong”. You could use a reflection when the training is focused on comparing your answer to a template, logging notes that the learner may need to return to later, or completing a worksheet in real time.
Storyline block to the rescue!
In this example, learners entered their thoughts in the text boxes on screen and then had an option to email their answers to themselves allowing for post-training reflection and future use opportunities.
Multi-Player Dialogue Scenarios
Rise has a built-in scenario block that is great for showing a character working through a branched scenario. However, the built-in scenario block only allows you to have one character on screen, so if you need to show an interaction between two or more characters, the scenario block doesn’t work.
Storyline block to the rescue!
In this example, learners reviewed a conversation and worked to identify the inconsistent behaviors in speech. The custom storyline block allowed learners to see both sides of the conversation, to select one or more components of the conversation, and to receive feedback on their choices.
Adding More Creativity to Rise
Sometimes, the blocks offered in Rise can feel somewhat repetitive for a learner, or fall short of the design scope for what you need to design. When there is too much text for someone to scroll through in Rise, the learner may begin to feel like they’re mindlessly scrolling through a website and it becomes easy for their minds to wander.
Storyline block to the rescue!
In this example which focuses on role clarity for people on a project, instead of simply having the learner scroll through a long block of text or even having them use a traditional sorting activity within Rise, learners are shown various documents and have to choose if they have the authority to approve or not. The learner selects the “No Authority” or “Authority” stamper to stamp the document and then gets feedback.
Supporting More Text Than Rise Allows
Rise is great for text-heavy content, but many of the blocks have character count limits, so if you have long text that can’t be edited down, you may become quickly frustrated with Rise’s limitations.
Storyline block to the rescue!
In this example, the text was broken down into tabs represented by choices in a scenario. The learner chooses one of the choices and then gets feedback on their choice.
Limitations of Storyline Blocks in Rise
As with any eLearning tool, there are some disadvantages to consider when adding Storyline Blocks within Rise.
- Storyline blocks are more time consuming to create than the built-in Rise functionality, and become harder and more time consuming to edit when changes are needed.
- Storyline blocks within Rise require tailored buttons and other custom features to ensure that text sizing, layout, and design match the Rise course formatting. While Rise is designed to work natively on a mobile device, the Storyline file doesn’t scale. Be sure to test the usability of your design before you do too much work.
All that said, our team has found that the advantages and the improved learning experience that come with a well-timed Storyline Block integrated into Rise far outweigh the disadvantages. Would you like to see any of these interactions in more detail? Leave us a comment and let us know which one you would like to know more about so we can share.
Accessibility of Articulate Rise
Articulate Rise starts off as a more accessible platform than legacy tools because it was built after HTML5 and related accessibility standards were widely accepted.
Articulate is committed to creating products that are accessible to all learners, and Rise 360 is designed to help creators build courses that meet modern accessibility standards. Based on its latest Accessibility Conformance Report (VPAT), Rise 360 generally conforms with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 at Level AA. This means the platform provides the necessary features to create content that is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust for individuals with a wide range of disabilities.
Check out our Elearning Accessibility Checklist for more information about how to build elearning that is accessible to all learners.
Specifically, Rise supports crucial accessibility features that allow learners to navigate and consume content effectively. Courses built in Rise are designed for keyboard navigation, enabling users who cannot operate a mouse to access every interactive element, link, and button in a logical order.
The platform also ensures that content is semantically structured, which allows screen readers like JAWS (Job Access With Speech) and NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) to interpret and read the information correctly, from headings and lists to interactive blocks. Semantically structured refers to the way content is organized and coded (using headings, lists, paragraphs, etc.) so that it has meaning and can be correctly interpreted by assistive technologies like screen readers.
Rise allows for alternative text (alt text) for all images, providing context for those who cannot see them. It also supports closed captions for video content, allowing for synchronized text equivalents of audio. As mentioned above, there are some limitations around audio blocks that you’ll have to navigate.
While the core functionality is accessible, specific block types or configurations may have limitations. Articulate is transparent about these areas and is continuously working to improve the accessibility of the platform.
Resources to Extend Articulate Rise Development
Articulate Rise development is now common for elearning across industries. One challenge to this is that the more widely used a platform is, the more difficult it can be to make updates. Courses have to be backward compatible and development of updates can slow.
Some elearning developers have created toolkits that solve some of the common limitations of Rise.
Maestro Learning: They are doing amazing things with their Mighty tool. If you haven’t checked out what’s possible, you should.
The Flexperts: Amy DeMarco has built some neat tools to help Rise be more accessible. Check out Access Rise and the other tools she’s shared.
