Features and the balance of simplicity

PowToon offers a large range of features, which we will explore throughout the book. It therefore offers you a huge range of possibilities. No product has everything that everyone wants, and PowToon is the same. While it is regularly updated, and new features/options are added, there will always be something that someone wants added.

PowToon needs to remain simple to use, or it loses that "secret sauce".

PowToon's Facebook page and suggestions/feedback page are full of great ideas for new product features. Many people have requested more and more complex features for PowToon Studio to bring it on par with Camtasia for example; however, PowToon has to remain simple to use, and that means that some features might never become available. The development team, just as with any product, has to decide how to keep the spirit of the product along with the features.

The answer to this is to always use what you have. There is plenty there, and the more you use it, the more you will find you can do.

If you are careful, you can mix and match between styles, and there are plenty of those! Seek ways to do things differently, and if necessary, change your plan. That is the value of planning and storyboarding, which we'll look at in Chapter 4, Getting Started.

There is also a host of tutorials and examples available from the PowToon website and the Internet to help you plan. If you spend some time looking at these, you will begin to see similarities where people have just used the defaults.

Ask yourself the question, "How would I combine those differently?"