To translate a written script to a form that's useful to a programmer, many tools can be used. Essentially, the job is to chunk a script into Web pages and create files for the text, pop-ups, PDF files, media, pictures, graphics and outside links.

A "translation" or communication tool or tools must provide the programmer with a description of what the viewer is to see on each page, options for actions the viewer may take, what happens as a result of any action taken. The translation tool must also convey how the files relate to one another to make this happen.

Translation tools can be relatively simple (like the planning tool Jonathan used for our scripts) or very complex, such as those used for actions with multiple and branching results, such as decision trees, algorithms or programs using applications of artificial intelligence. The complex translation tools often take the form of "Step. Action Results" charts, which detail possible learner actions and results of those actions at any given step in the instruction.