The only way to properly start a story is at the beginning...and this one begins with being assigned to complete a group project in my UX/UI class at Cal State Northridge. My class partner and I chose to create an app that solved gentrification by giving small business owners a better platform than Yelp or GrubHub. To do this, she and I wished we possessed the ability to co-edit our app prototype, just like how two or more people can co-edit a google doc. Our wishes were answered with Adobe's form of the Google Drive called Creative Cloud. In this "cloud" one can invite another adobe user to co-edit an XD file.
So the ultimate user testers for Adobe XD beta, embarked on their
month-long journey on April 6. The final presentation was set to be on April 29.
1. Co-Editing
Thebiggest frustration during co-editing was every time I made an edit, my partner had to receive a notification to accept (my) changes before she could complete her edits, and vice versa; constant cycle of either one of us making edits and receiving the notification to make changes too late and if we clicked accept, the edits the other made were lost. Wouldn't it make more sense to have the capability to co-edit at the same time? Not to mention how much slower the cycle went for waiting on the "accept changes" notification, if the internet was down. This leads to my second suggestion for improvements.
2. Active Status
When either partner experienced internet connection issues, many times we did not know if our edits were even being saved. Since XD doesn't give you a notification or place an active status next to your profile, it is hard for the user to know if any changes they make will be allowed to be accepted by their group members. Good internet connection can be indicated as to how fast a program responds to the user's needs.
3. Lightning Quick Response?
I understand that Adobe XD is in its beta stage but the program fails in comparison to the lightning quick response of Google Drive. Whether it's saving your team member's edits in real time or letting users know their internet connection has been lost... let's just say I wouldn't bet on in Adobe XD beta winning either race.
4. Can I share?
I just want to reiterate this is our own personal experience with the beta and the ones I addressed might not be universal issues. Disclaimer: our journey and challenges may be different than yours. With that being said, the last room for improvement we recommend could be done for the efficiency of sharing. For some reason my partner was able to invite me via email but I would always receive a message notifying me that my partner (aka original owner) had to allow me access. We attempted this process with two of my emails but to no avail. We still faced an unsuccessful shared document. And what I dare ask is the point of co-editing if not all members can view the project? However, the challenge has a minor solution because when I was the original owner, my partner was able to view and edit the project. A different scenario this problem affected was that every time my partner wanted to start a new version of the project on her own, she couldn't share and allow me to edit. She would have to copy and paste her new version in a file that I created. This overall tremendously slowed down our progress.
Takeaway Thoughts
Adobe is taking huge leaps in constantly re-inventing how to design more efficiently but it is always important to keep evolving and updating oneself. This post was a brief report on how Adobe XD co-editing beta experience could be improved. Thank you for reading:)
