Which browser?

Recently we were assigned to present an education concept with any tool or media of our choosing. First, I decided to create an actual old fashioned video of myself with posters and my daughter as a physical example of the concept. After about ten video takes with a GoPro and the video software that came with my computer I realized that this idea was not going over well. The audio on the GoPro was terrible and the video software wasn’t doing what I wanted. I threw the GoPro back into my husband’s office.

Next I tried making a PowerPoint. It has been a few years since I used this program but it’s pervasive so I didn’t think it would be that difficult. Apparently, the program has changed quite a bit since I last used it and I was a bit lost. I managed to make the most uninteresting and characterless PowerPoint presentation in history. My husband even told me that it was terrible. I was getting frustrated.

Then, I investigated a number of animation websites. I watched demonstration videos of how to use the websites’ interface and discovered that even though most were free to make a basic video it would be better to have a paid subscription. I narrowed down the websites to two choices- www.moovly.com and www.powtoon.com. Moovly’s editing features seemed a bit more complicated so I chose to pursue Powtoon. I managed to create the content I desired and even added a bit of animation. It was the timing of each slide and manipulation of the duration bar that was the most challenging. Also, a few animations ended up floating around the video when I played it from the beginning. I was getting impatient and frustrated again. I decided to email Powtoon’s tech support to help me with the floating image problem.

The next day I received an email indicating that Powtoon’s website functions best on a Chrome browser. I had just realized that Canvas actually works better on the Internet Explorer browser. I am just now understanding that different websites and software work differently on different browsers. This is valuable information for someone such as myself who gets impatient easily with technology. Once I opened Powtoon in Chrome it was clear how much easier the websites interface was in this browser. I completed my assignment and my computer is still intact despite my temper.