SVG is an image format that is becoming more common. The challenge is that it’s not always easy to preview the SVG images you have on your computer.

What is an SVG?

SVG stands for scalable vector graphics, which means that it doesn’t have a defined resolution. Instead it’s made up of data in an XML file. So it can be sized up or down without image degradation which keeps the images are crisp.

On the other hand, most images used in e-learning courses are bitmaps. They’re essentially a grid of pixels. For example, an image that is 500×500 is 500 pixels wide and 500 pixels high. When the images is scaled up the pixels increase in size which degrades the image as you see the pixel blocks. With an SVG image you won’t have that type of degradation which is why they’re popular.

How to Preview an SVG File

The problem is that you can’t easily preview an SVG (as noted in the image above).

For example, when I download an SVG icon to my desktop, it looks like a web link. I can’t preview image without opening it in the browser. That doesn’t help if I have to click onto every link to preview the SVG files when I look for something specific.

Welcome Microsoft PowerToys! Install it and you’ll get an SVG previewer in the newly empowered File Explorer.

• Download Microsoft PowerToys.
• Open File Explorer and go to the View tab to enable the preview pane.
• Select an SVG file and you’ll see a preview of the image.

Now you can preview SVG files to your heart’s content.

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

Many of you are currently creating new health and safety training focused on the Coronavirus (COVID-19). It’s not always easy to find the images you need. Here are some free images and resources to help with your training programs. And here’s a link for different ways to give credit and attribution for the free resources.

Free Coronavirus Stock Photos

These stock photos are provided courtesy of Icons8. They’re free to use. However, you may need to offer some attribution.

• Coronavirus stock photos

Free Coronavirus Icons

Here are a bunch of icons to use in your presentations and online safety training.

• Iconfinder
• Flaticon

Free Coronavirus Course

Cut through the confusion surrounding the new coronavirus with this free course that aims to dispel misinformation about COVID-19 (courtesy of Articulate).

If you want to use the course in your own organization, you can send a copy to your account and make the edits you need and publish it. If you don’t have access to Rise 360, sign up for a free, 60-day trial of Articulate 360.

Here’s another free course shared via John Hopkins created with Rise 360.

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

Many of you probably do lots of writing using online applications. This is especially true as many of us are spending a lot more time working remotely. If you do a lot of writing, odds are you can use one of those handy browser extensions to help with spelling and grammar.

I’ve used Grammarly, in the past. It’s a really good extension and works well. In fact, I used it for a quite some time. However, I’m always open to new browser apps and extensions, especially if they’re not too intrusive to what I’m working on. Personally, I had to quit using Grammarly because it slowed down my work and often the feature interfered with what I was doing, so I found myself turning it off more than on.

Microsoft recently introduced their grammar/spelling browser extension, Microsoft Editor. The app is available to anyone, but with a Microsoft account, you have access to more features and multiple languages. I’ve been using it for about a week now. I find it to be light and responsive.

If you do your course editing in your e-learning authoring tool like Rise 360, then Microsoft Editor is a tool that comes in handy.

Below is a quick overview of the Microsoft Editor app and how I use it in Rise 360 when building online training programs.

There are a few good grammar and spell checker tools out there. This is one I like.

What are your thoughts?

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.

Many e-learning developers are usually on a small team. But most I know, are a team of one. This means lots of projects, many hats to wear in the process, no budget, and almost no time.

Here are three production tips and shortcuts from previous posts to help save time (and sanity) when building e-learning courses and online training.

A Simple Way to Build E-learning Templates

First, if you’re using Storyline 360, then you have a ton of templates and slides to use for your e-learning courses. And they’re easy enough to modify to meet your needs.

However, if you want to create some simple templates and e-learning screens, then here are 3 Super Easy Ways to Build E-Learning Templates.

Save Time Managing Your Project Emails

Generally when building online training courses, we send emails back and forth, which can be a pain to manage and cause a lot of extra work and confusion trying to clarify what’s being communicated.

With Review 360, most of that is resolved because you can manage the course review process in one place, eliminating all of those back and forth emails.

However, we still send emails. Here are some good production tips on managing the process so that when emailing others, the message is clear, and all action items are identified.

Build Courses Around Real Learning Objectives to Save Time & Money

There are many reasons why we build e-learning courses. Generally, they fall into one of two buckets: information or performance. An effective course is focused on performance-centered (and tangible) objectives.

If you don’t build courses around real learning objectives, you’ll waste time; and odds are no one will be happy with the course. Check out this blog post to get production tip on setting learning objectives for your e-learning courses.

Hopefully, these quick tips help you build the courses you need. Feel free to add some of your own in the comments.

Events

Free E-Learning Resources

Want to learn more? Check out these articles and free resources in the community.	Here’s a great job board for e-learning, instructional design, and training jobs	Participate in the weekly e-learning challenges to sharpen your skills
Get your free PowerPoint templates and free graphics & stock images.	Lots of cool e-learning examples to check out and find inspiration.	Getting Started? This e-learning 101 series and the free e-books will help.