Introduction

Course content gets locked inside the tool that built it. Move it somewhere else and it usually gets rebuilt, at roughly the cost of building it the first time.

IRLO's answer is a neutral interchange format. Content is read out of its source tool once, into the Open Authoring Format (OAF), and written back out into whatever it needs to become.

Why a format in the middle

Converting directly between every pair of tools does not scale. Ten formats would need ninety converters, and every new format would need nine more.

With a format in the middle, each source needs one reader and each target needs one writer. Ten formats need twenty pieces, and adding an eleventh needs two.

Articulate .story ──┐                    ┌──> Markdown
                    │                    │
     (future        ├──> OAF package ────┼──> Marp slides
      sources)      │                    │
                    ┘                    ├──> Marp HTML
                                         │
                                         └──> .oaf

Everything else follows from that shape. A converter's only job is to produce a valid OAF package. A generator's only job is to consume one.

What works today

One reader, four writers. Articulate Storyline .story files convert to Markdown, Marp slides, interactive Marp HTML, or a stored .oaf package.

The format support page is specific about what is implemented and what is declared but not yet built. Read it before planning a conversion, because the CLI's own help text currently lists more input formats than it can actually handle.

Where to go next

• Getting Started takes you from install to a first conversion.
• The OAF format explains the package structure everything else is written against.
• Format support is the honest matrix of what converts to what.
• Guides walk through complete jobs.
• CLI reference documents every command and flag.