The design team approach to the development of computer based learning (CBL) courseware relies heavily on the effective communication between different members of the team, including up-to-date paperwork and documentation. This is important for the accurate and efficient overall coordination of the courseware design, and for future maintenance of the courseware developed. These require a greater investment in time and finance, resources that the field of education can hardly afford. General purpose application packages (or content-free software) could be adapted so as to provide interactive tools for CBL design, particularly in the areas of design specification and storyboarding, flowcharts, user documentation, and initial courseware evaluation analysis. This is especially helpful for the CBL designer/author who does not know, or want to be involved in the detailed programming, or who does not have access to development tool kits or powerful workstations. Some specific examples are given using readily available general purpose software packages developed for microcomputers, especially for the Macintosh microcomputer. (8 references) (Author/GL)