this is a report i did for my Disney project detailing the flaws of the website we had to use as our asset pipeline. enjoy the sarcasm and passive aggressiveness! hopefully thanks to reports like these, the next 3rd years wont have to use it. figured now`s the best time to upload it since i`m handing in the last of this years work and i`m trawling through this mess of a site and felt the whole world should know of it`s evil.

pebblepad accessibility

Or rather, the lack of it.

In this report I`m going to detail the process of uploading project assets to the pipeline given to us for our project.

First, here is a comparison of standard file sending protocol to peers in the university.

Step 1

 

I would go into my Abertay webmail, easily done as the home page for internet explorer is the campus website. And smartly it doesn’t ask me to log in again since the service recognises which user is logged onto the machine. A small niggle when accessing emails from home.

Step 2

If I don’t know the email address of the person i`m sending files to, then there is a handy search option to look for people via first, or last name. a blessing with my terrible habit of forgetting names.

Step 3

After inputting the address and attaching the file (which can be done simply by copy and pasting. Another smart implementation) the file size supports files over 24MB in size. I didn’t test it`s limit as this is a large enough amount for my compilations of files per level.

And viola, just hit send and i`m done. Now, let’s compare this to the alternative .

Step 1

I tried entering pebblepad.com into internet explorers address bar but it has a nasty habit of taking to the `bing` search page. So I just google pebblepad to get there instead.

Step 2

One more click to get in. nothing too strenuous.

Step 3

 

I scan the top of the page for a login option but it isn’t too far down the page. Not massively counterintuitive. But an oddity when you consider logins are generally at the top of pages.

Step 4

Instead of simply typing in my unique username and password I have to select an institution first. I had no idea so many companies were available! Pebblepad must really be thriving if so many people want to use it, it must be a better experience once I actually log in.

Step 5

Since I am from `Abertay university` I scan the top of the list as I assume it goes alphabetically. No such luck, okay second assumption would be `university of Abertay` so I scroll down to the u`s to find it there instead.

Step 6

After selecting it I am brought to this page where I finally get to type in my details.

Step 7

 

After the computer starts from loading up the website in flash (not sure why they choose to make it mandatory to be flash based. Many websites allow simple browser uploads if the computer can’t support flash or has a habit of crashing on it) I assume upload file is the correct option to choose so I click it.

Step 8

 

My files are numerous but I think gallery may be suitable since it’s all images. So I choose that option.

Step 9

 

I fill in the blanks and get ready to actually upload the file. Nearly done?

Step 10

 

I get to hit another `browse` button, and check the agreement box.

Step 11

 

I find the correct file and then hit upload with baited breath.

Step 12

Turns out, the image set for one level is too much for a single upload. My options now are to compress the levels even further, thus degrading their quality and not doing my work justice to the recipient. Or upload it in chunks which is not only confusing for myself to compile and organise but even more so for whoever is on the receiving end to piece the files together in a format which makes sense.

So in conclusion. Pebblepad is poorly designed. It isn’t broken but unintuitive and cluttered with so many irrelevant options. I strongly support the abolishment of this service for university submissions as submitting high quality work quickly and intact is a top priority when important work such as working with Disney is involved, and pebblepad just doesn’t have the capacity to accommodate our needs.