My experience of on-line initial PPL applications is that the process is extremely quick, much facter than a paper application with a licence issued in one case within a week. It helps if you go to someone who can
a) certify documents
b) has done it all before and know what the requirements are.
I do admit that it took a few goes to get familiar with it and agree it would help if it gave a list of things to get ready on the front page.. There is the facility to store the work you've done so far and of course you can retrieve that at any location if you need to go and get something certified or collect more information.
Also, having the payment bit halfway through is a bit confusing, too!
TOO