How to Reduce Flash-to-HTML5 Conversion Costs

 In E-learning, Instructional Design

How much do you have to spend to convert your flash-based courses converted to HTML5?

The answer depends on your existing courseware and what you expect your HTML5 courseware to do.

First, list all elements of the courseware that you could re-use.

1) REUSING THE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN:

If you don’t see any improvement or new requirement other than HTML5, your instructional design costs will almost be NIL. But, don’t be tempted to promote old designs just for the design cost savings. That might prove to be penny wise and pound foolish, if the learning requirement demands a more efficient and effective solution. Designing the best courses is a reiterative process and you now have chance to reiteratively design a better course. Collate all previous versions of storyboards and audio recording scripts.

2) REUSING THE GRAPHIC DESIGN:

Graphic design is notoriously period-specific and if you find your existing course graphic design contemporary and usable, it may mean that the graphic design style is universal and adaptive. Check if you can reuse your graphic assets and collate your original art files in Illustrator, Photoshop, Adobe Flash, and Corel Draw files. Note that the SWF published files won’t be of much reuse when repurposing.

3) REUSING THE AUDIO:

Audio recording costs are a significant part of elearning development costs. If you do not see yourself doing edits, audio extraction software may help you extract the audio files from your existing flash courses. A bit of creative instructional design can help you use the same audio in your new HTML5 version.

4) RECORDING YOUR COMPLEX ANIMATIONS:

One reason Flash was so popular was that it allowed creation of complex animations, which were fluid and realistic. If your existing Flash courses have a decent size and pixel resolution, you could record them as movies using recording software and use the video files instead of recreating the animations.

While all the above can help you reduce Flash to HTML5 conversion costs, be aware that rough edges do appear to the final product. If the trade off suits you, go ahead and ask your vendor a quote keeping in mind the re-usability of available resources.

End Note: Having source files is surest way to reuse assets from existing Flash-based courses. Happy searching for source files and more savings with your Flash-to-HTML5 conversions.

Flash to HTML5 Elearning: Costs vs. Benefits

How to Convert Flash courses to HTML5 Efficiently

How to Refine your Flash courses in HTML5 Conversions

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