You are on page 1of 15

Usability Test

Online Presentation Creation Tools


Comparison

Prezi and PowToon

By Felicia Beehner
April 6, 2016
For Technical Writing

Table of Contents
Introduction...3
Methods.........3
Results...4
Task 1: Creating an account and user login....4
Task 2: Choosing a theme.......6
Task 3: Modifying a theme.....7
Task 4: Navigating the site..9
Task 5: Importing images..10
Task 6: Inserting a video...11
Task 7: Previewing the finished product...12
Task 8: Uploading and sharing the presentation.......13
Recommendations...14

Introduction
This white paper compares the results from a usability test of two
free online presentation creation tools: Prezi and PowToon. They
differ from perhaps the most common presentation tool of
PowerPoint by being free and useable online without a download.
These tools appeal to my target audience of educators, which
includes myself as an education major.
Oftentimes we hear about boring PowerPoints, especially in
school. Both Prezi and PowToon are viable, free options to
innovate the way we create presentations. These are two easy to
use sites, and most educators are familiar with a fair amount of
technology. Most educators would be familiar with PowerPoint, but
perhaps not an online presentation creator. I did the testing and it
was done as part of the course work for a technical writing class
at the University of Idaho.

Methods
The usability test for both sites was done over the span of two
days: March 30th and 31st from my home. I used my 2014 HP Envy
laptop with an i7 processor. I was in a quiet room alone while
conducting the tests. Since the presentation tools are web based,
the computer processor or model shouldnt matter as much as the
speed of the Wi-Fi.
The tasks I chose to evaluate are:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)

Creating an account and user login


Choosing a theme
Modifying a theme
Navigating the site
Importing images
Inserting a video
3

7) Previewing the finished product


8) Uploading and sharing the presentation
I evaluated each tool based on the task easiness and speed, the
style and appearance of the site, and if the task was frustrating. I
highlighted the scores I felt each deserved. I used a 5 point Likert
scale and that appears as follows:

Results
Task 1: Creating an account and user login
Im going to discuss each points of interest and for each program
and do side by side comparisons when possible. I will keep Prezi
images on the left and PowToon images on the right.

Figure 1.1 Login Screen for Prezi (left) and PowToon


(right)
Prezi really feels like it wants you to pay when you make an
account, and the free button is rather hand to search for. It is easy
4

to create an account
and free, but it may be
an issue or difficult to
figure out its free. It
only asks for a name,
email, and password
when creating an
account. You log in with
your email and
password and it takes you to your dashboard where all of your
created Prezis are located. I marked down Prezi for easiness since
Figure 1.2 Prezi Dashboard
it may be confusing to figure
out the tiny free choice.
Powtoon on the other hand is a bit simplier to figure out from the
beginning. PowToon is
similar to Prezi with
account creation, but it
also wants to know what
you want to use the
program for. It
automatically makes an
account name for you, and
you can login with that
account name or email,
both with a password. It
also brings you to a
dashboard where your
created projects are
located. The sites comes across as nothing but free from the start,
but does also have a pro paid version. Pop up ads did advertise
paying, however.
Figure 1.3
PowToon Dashboard
I feel the two sites are similar in easiness but PowToon is a bit
easier to make an account for and log in to since it doesnt ask
you to make a payment choice from the very beginning.
5

The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:


Prezi
PowToon

Figure 1.4 Likert Scale for both

Task 2: Choosing a theme


For Prezi, you click create to make a Prezi and from there you get
to the choose your template screen. There are many templates,
and you can search for them too. It also gives you the ability to
create your own Prezi with a blank template. A way to sort
through the template would make it easier to choose. The
template part of Prezi is only displayed on half of the screen,
which makes it hard to see and is a weird design choice.

Figure 2.1 Template Choice Screens for Prezi and PowToon


For PowToon, to begin you click create and it takes you to a
template screen like Prezi did. The same options are here, with a
bunch of templates and the option to create a blank one from
scratch. PowToon allows you to sort from education, business, etc.
and is a better to navigate and sort through.

PowToon is much easier to navigate themes due to its search


function .Prezi is certainly useable but it is a bit clunkier.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:
Prezi

PowToon

Figure 2.2 Likert Scale for both

Task 3: Modify a theme


For Prezi, once you
select a template,
it does let you
modify the theme.
You can change
the sizes of
objects, the
background picture,
font color, size, and
type, and it has
complementary color
schemes to ensure that
the presentation looks
professional. It is somewhat
constrained but I think over 20
fonts
Figure 3.1 Prezi can get a bit overloaded
and more than 30 colors
is enough variation. For the most part, it is simple and easy to
use. There is no tutorial, but its not necessary. It can get clunky
and overloaded with too many things to select and it has a
steeper learning curve. Prezis selling feature is the ability to see
the entire presentation from the start and zoom in and out fluidly
like a giant map. It looks great when done well.

For PowToon, It lets you preview the theme before you pick it. It
takes a little time to load the theme, but the ability to preview the
theme helps that. It is not as
fast as Prezi, and the theme
takes a few minutes to load.
The tutorial opens after selecting a
theme to
customize
for the
first time. The
Figure
3.2 I
stared at this for a while
theme is easy to modify, with
additional backgrounds, icons, many font choices, and colors. The
tutorial seemed helpful for someone not familiar with presentation
programs, but I skipped it and was able to quickly figure out how
everything works. The
big, attractive
interface is eye
appealing. Some
icons are locked
unless you have the
pro version, which
can be a bit irritating.
In either case, it takes
some time to learn a new interface. PowToon is a bit
quicker to learn. The
Figure 3.3 PowToon
interface
numerous menus can be a
bit overwhelming at first when using Prezi.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:
Prezi

PowToon

Figure 3.4 Likert Scale for both

Task 4: Navigating the site


In Prezi, it is fairly easy to navigate, but it can be difficult to zoom
in and out of different frames easily. There is a learning curve
here, and its not too much easier once you get past that. It can
be easy to accidently create things where you dont want them
which
can
be

time consuming to fix.


Figure 4.1 Menus in Prezi and PowToon
For PowToon, you can change the theme from the screen and to
add a slide you just click a simple button. It would be hard to get
lost and it tells you how long the video is as you are making it.
Navigation is not an issue here, but as which any creation tool, it
may be nearly impossible to not be a little frustrated at times.
Either tool takes some time to master, but again, PowToon is a
little easier to navigate than Prezis one main insert menu.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:
Prezi

PowToon

Figure 4.2 Likert Scale for both

Task 5: Importing Images


In Prezi, to insert an image you choose insert, image. It is easy
but it takes some
time for the image to load if it is Figure 5.1: Large images may
be an issue in
Prezi really high
quality. It is easy to
resize and you drag
to
move. You can add
effects to picture
and it looks good. I
inserted a picture
from a file and it
was easy to
navigate. Prezi
gave me the
notification in figure
5.1 when trying to upload my infographic from project 3.
Figure 5.2 (Below): PowToon offers more choices
In PowToon, there are more menus to navigate
to insert a picture from a file. It is a little
complicated, but it also gives you an option
right then to use the picture as a background. It
uploads quickly and has effects, cropping, and
easy moving. The more options is a tradeoff for
speed and easiness.
It is easier and faster to insert a picture into
Prezi, since PowToon had several menus to
navigate through to insert a picture. Overall,
educators would probably prefer the quicker
speed for inserting pictures.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:
Prezi

PowToon
10

Figure 5.3 Likert Scale for both

Task 6: Inserting a video

To insert a video in Prezi, you go to insert, and then YouTube


video. It only allows YouTube videos, but most videos people want
to insert are that format. You
just paste the YouTube URL into
the pop up box and the video is
viewable right in the
presentation you are working
on. This is very easy, especially
if you know exactly which video you want to
insert.
Figure 6.1
Prezi insert video
It is more difficult to upload videos in PowToon. You can only
upload in presentation mode. It is easy and instant to switch
modes, but it would be easier if you didnt have to switch at all.
You get the screen in figure 6.2 often because it is easy to forget
to switch modes to insert a video. You can use YouTube videos or
computer files. Computer files may be a plus if you are using
something not
uploaded to
YouTube, so
this is a
personal
opinion on
what types
of
videos you are
going to be
using.

11

Figure 6.2 PowToon cant embed


videos in movie mode
Overall, it is easier to insert a video in Prezi since it is instant and
simple.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:

Prezi

PowToon

Figure 6.3 Likert Scale for both

Task 7: Previewing the finished product


To preview your product in Prezi, just click present and you can
view your Prezi how it will be once you choose to share it. It is
apparent and easy to find the present button, which is nice
because it should be one of the more commonly used buttons.

Figure 7.1 Preview buttons in Prezi and PowToon


In PowToon, just click the eye at the top to preview. It can be hard
to tell the eye is a present button, but I figured it out quickly. I
used intuition to figure it out, but I can see how some people
would be searching for the present button only to not find it. The
button pops up the preview of the presentation instantly.
12

Overall, Prezis preview is more noticeable, so I gave the higher


score to Prezi since the eye in PowToon isnt clear as to what it
means.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as follows:
Prezi

PowToon

Figure 7.2 Likert Scale for both

Task 8: Uploading and sharing the presentation


Prezi can download the presentation as a PDF or a portable Prezi.
It is not uploaded on a third party site, but specifically on the Prezi
site. Not uploading to YouTube may be a problem for some users,
since YouTube is the most common video sharing site. When you
press share, a Prezi URL is given to you to copy. The free version
only allows public viewing; you cant make it private. The
presentation is only viewable on Prezi.com and doesnt load the
fastest to start
with. This would be
more useful if it
could be
exported to other
sites such as
YouTube.
Figure 8.1
Prezi sharing
options

13

PowToon presentations publish to my


PowToons at the PowToon site. You can upload the
presentation to vimeo, YouTube, and wistia, or
download as a PPT, PDF, OR MP4. There are many
choices. You can choose to upload as a slideshow
as a movie. One downside is that only 480
resolution is available in free mode. Standard
resolution is low for this time period, but it is
passable. You can share to really anywhere and the
multitude of sites available to view it on make this
to use.
8.2 PowToon

or

easier
Figure

PowToon presentations can be viewed easily on


YouTube or on the PowToon site and can be
uploaded to many places. This gives PowToon the
upper hand. Prezi is a site that still work well, but
the limitation in the uploading and sharing may put
off some users. PowToon is not without flaws, since
only supports low resolutions on the free version.
The Likert values I assigned for each are as
follows:
Prezi
PowToon

Figure 7.2 Likert Scale for both

Recommendations
Based on scores, PowToon comes out a little on top. It has a
simple and clean interface that makes it easy to learn and use,

14

it

but it is not flawless. Prezi is another great option with pros as


well as cons. The two online presentation tools are really about
the same in quality. I think it depends on what type of
presentation you are aiming for, since Prezi makes interesting but
more traditional presentations and PowToon is a little more
colorful and cartoonlike. Each has its place, and its up to the user
to choose the one that better fits their presentation needs.

15

You might also like