Shorthand Reviews & Product Details

The universe of possibilities it opens up for us, in terms of what we can do with our content. It's very flexible, and yet, it always looks cohesive and elegant. The user experience is wonderful every time. The Reveal Section has endless uses: we've published animated cartoons, interactive waterworks infographics, pie/bar charts and photographs. This range provides an opportunity to rethink content - what we can do and how we can do it - and to incorporate new methodologies into our conceptualization process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Depending on what you want to achieve, it can be the right tool for you or not. If you want total freedom to design user experience and interactivity, this wouldn't be the right platform. But for newsrooms without coding capabilities, this is as good as it gets. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The relative simplicity of the system - it's very easy to find your way round. And it's pretty intuitive too. Where it's not, there's normally some kind of help page or article that points you in the right direction. Also like the preview option to check your work as you go along and that you don't have to constantly save while putting an article together. When Ive' encountered technical publishing-related issues, I'm pleased to say the help desk has been pretty quick to respond on the whole. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The lack of ability to make adjustments such as font size and column width within templates. Some built in image editing software would be useful too. For some articles you have to crop an image in so many different dimensions so that works well in all the different places - desktop version, mobile version, social channels. We've had some issues with a recent update at Shorthand's end which means articles look good in preview but when published the images are all pixelated. Apparently it's an issue at our end with our webservers but, to my knowledge, we weren't warned in advance that there could be disruption. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy the platform is to use and how speedy their help service is to help (on the few occasions we have needed it). They have been super accommodating of us and are always willing to help! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are a few things we wish we have control over (such as how the responsiveness works and some custom styling), however I know on higher plans this is available, and shorthand . The other thing I have found challenging is that the pricing structure changes every year, this being said, shorthand has always been willing to help and find a plan to suit our NGO budget. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It’s easy to use with simple guides (if needed) to on-board other team members. You can really push your creativity as the various options, especially tailoring content just for desktop AND/OR mobile, allow you to provide a unique experience for your users to consume your content/information. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The limited networks offered as sharing could be expanded, to truly reach the masses. Only one user can be editing at one given time so sometimes limits collaboration. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like not worrying about making an story/page responsive - the preview shows the end product for the majority of devices, and the setting the focal point takes care of the rest. I like finding creative ways to combine sections. Still finding them a year into using it!

Tech support are suberb too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There have been a few occasions when the positioning of text on a Text Over Media section feels limited. I usually get around this by editing the image but I'd like to suggest having 5 horizontal placements instead of the current 3. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

For ease in creating custom multimedia storytelling experiences, Shorthand is the way to go. Their templates allow for elegant and simple stories that any novice could quickly master creating, as well as the option for more technically nuanced approaches to create slick and professional designs. But what has been as impressive as their platform is their customer support. They are always quick, efficient, and treat me and my team with personal professionalism that is often lacking from tech companies. Our early missteps received kind understanding and the support team immediately took the time to adjust things on the back end for us. I definitely recommend Shorthand, particularly for other cultural heritage institutions, like ours. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We are very satisfied with Shorthand. One point our users mention is that they miss breadcrumbs that would easily direct them back to the previous story they were in when advancing through linked stories (rather than having to click back to the original tab). Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The people who work there are really great - helping out with any problems quickly and giving time for long calls when we have had questions. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I guess if pushed I'd say the cost, but then it does a huge amount - so I can see why Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

An excellent storytelling tool that is stable and powerful. Wonderfully responsive support from an outstanding company. Shorthand's generous support of journalism education is helping prepare the next generation of journalists. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are very few things I dislike about the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shorthand is an online storytelling system, easy to use, and custom designed for clients. with the pre-defined styles the visual identity is always respected. Used by a designer, magic can happen. I have been using Shorthand for 4 years now and never had a problem that they could not solve and the help is always very fast. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Once the style is defined, there is not much room for change. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shorthand makes it drag-and-drop-dead easy to build beautiful web pages with photos, video, animation and more. Powerful customization tools keeps each piece looking fresh. And the customer service is fast, friendly and extremely helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The biggest downside is that it's outside of our standard editing workflow and CMS. Although Shorthand can do integrations, those go only so far. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's easy to use for non-techy people, with very little training they can produce beautiful storytelling projects. If you have access to a graphic designer or know a little bit of code you can produce even more spectacular looking content that works a dream on mobile too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing. Whenever we have wanted to push the boundaries of what is possible with the tool the Shorthand support staff has always been supportive and their response time is super fast.

If there is one thing we would love the tool to have in the future it would be to have the ability for multiple editors to edit stories simultaneously as we often collaborate on stories with people in different countries, but there are ways around this so is not a big issue for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As a student newspaper Shorthand has been a valuable aid in improving our digital media content and giving our editors more creative ways to present their articles. The guides created by Shorthand have been invaluable in bringing members up to speed with the best practice when using it. We have only ever had one small issue and support was quick and incredibly helpful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

We haven't found any downsides so far, completely satisfied with the experience so far. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The software is extremely easy to get to grips with. After a short trial we were up and running and making compelling web pages, making rich and dynamic content. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There some minor improvements that we would like to see that are being planned - autoplay for YouTube videos for instance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shorthand makes it easy for writers to share stories, but also for developers/designers to create exciting new audio-visual experiences. The amount of resource needed to develop original online stories can be daunting, but Shorthand shortcuts the otherwise prohibitive development process. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Downloading the raw page code was an important part of developing our stories, however this is no longer available in the standard plan we're on. This would make it easier for us to maintain code on our repositories/domains. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

If you have an issue or just a question about what is possible or how one could make a desired outcome - just pop in a question and they get back to you with a solution almost before you press send! They really look after their customers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The mobile version could be better, smoother. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of use and endless possibilities!!! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

With certain sections only headers are allowed to be used when the possibility of using other sizes would help (Paragraph sizes for example) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The platform allows the creation of agile stories - without cast amounts of programming and development work.

Bringing these elements to life is important - customers want an online experience, where they can be given an engagement to learn.

In control - under an agency model - everything costs. With Shorthand, the costs are fixed and we define the producer. This means we can match the stories, to the best storytellers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Load times can lag on bigger stories - but this may down more to our desire to create advanced published stories! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ease by which we can edit/alter templates and stories within the platform. Makes review pretty easy, too. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

None yet. We've found the platform extremely easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The ability to create engaging content for our clients & the ability to wow clients by transforming their content. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I would like to have more freedom with the backgrounds on the sections, the ability to upload patterned backgrounds. To have body copy as an option on text over media. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shorthand has a really seamless interface and is very easy to use. The smoothness of the finished product makes you work look extremely professional. I also love the excellent and rapid customer support we have received when we encounter a rare problem. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have not yet encountered anything I dislike about Shorthand. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

User-friendly, clean, multi-functional, high quality final product, aesthetically pleasing, adaptable Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Publishing ZIP file system, inability to crop photos within back end, need to manually republish changes (amendments not instantly publishable to front end) Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The very first time I was using Shorthand was when I created an awareness story for a non – profit organization and the perpetuators were literally overwhelmed about the way the story came out. They later used it on their website and television for awareness. I cant say much about shorthand because it is what every story teller needs. The illustration features, the audio are all overwhelming features as compared to most of the software in the category of shorthand. I also love the fact that new users are given free trial periods which helps them get familiar with the software. The ability to share the stories on ones emails is another good feature I cant help but use frequently when I want the stories to go further but also the free illustration video tutorials are an amazing feature that make shorthand stand out from the other software of its caliber. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I have really not found a lot of problematic issues with shorthand but if the operators or developers of the software could allow for a free version then more people especially school goers may get involved in using the application. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I emailed Shorthand's customer support team after I had accidentally deleted a large chunk of work from my dissertation. I received a reply from Alex Marshall , a member of the team who replied within an hour and had restored my work to the best of their ability the next day. They were kind, understanding and efficient. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

That I deleted the work in the first place! I can't fault Shorthand's response, I got the sense that they would do everything possible to help. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Shorthand gives us the flexibility to produce a wide range of resources from technical walkthroughs to professional development training materials.

The interface is very easy to use and the quality of the final output is excellent. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is nothing about this product that I dislike. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The CMS is easy to use and quick to pick up, with great examples to help you get everything just right. Their customer support is also very good and super helpful Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Nothing to add. Very happy with our experience so far. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.