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Siddhartha Reddy Jon Bartlett Steven Reed Introduction The RIT campus has a very diverse community that consists of hearing and deaf people. Although RIT offers many sign language classes and provides interpreters across campus, communication outside of class is still difficult. The problem we are trying to overcome is the communication between hearing and deaf people in real-time and in person without third-party assistance. Our solution would break down the communication barriers. Using the best attributes of current communication products and new technology, we are able to envision a product that would bring forth this new era of communication. The products we analyzed were AOL Instant Messenger, Web Note Multi Chat site, and the T-Mobile Sidekick.
We choose AOL Instant Messenger because it is the most popular chat program in the US. We choose Web Note Multi Chat because it brings new features like real-time chat editing with multiple users. The Sidekick was chosen because it is the leading communication device available on the market today and it is very popular among deaf students at RIT. Product Analysis # 1 (AOL Instant Messenger) Siddhartha Reddy Interface Design Heuristic Analysis o Visibility of system status It is important for the user to be kept informed about what the current condition of the system is so the user knows what is going on. The user is made aware of the condition of the system through feedback. AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) keeps the user updated with the system status through a variety of feedback.
Most of the windows on AIM tell you what the window is about, for example when you receive a message from your friend you get your friend's screenname displayed on top of the window. If you want to message a user, you can select their name from your buddy list and send them a message, when the screenname is selected, it gets highlighted, which tells the user the screenname they picked to send a message to. Feedback is also achieved through sound, whenever a message is sent or received a unique sound is played (sounds are customizable by the user). The system status is displayed by the icon in the taskbar, when AIM is signed on the icon is surrounded by a blue circle and when its offline the AIM is by itself, so by looking the user can tell the status of the system. o Match between system and the real world It is important for the system to convey messages in languages and concepts that the user is familiar with. AIM does this pretty well by using languages and concepts that more people are familiar with.
AIM uses simple English that most people can comprehend. The icons used in AIM represent everyday things in most people's lives. When a screenname on your buddy list has an away message, a picture of a note is displayed next to the screenname, signifying that this person has a note (away message) up. Another example is the picture of a cell phone, when a user is on a mobile device; a picture of a cell phone is displayed next to the screenname. Menu choices also fit logically into categories that have readily understood meanings. o User control and freedom The user needs to be free to select and sequence tasks to their liking.
The system should not interfere with the user's selection process. Users should also be able to leave an unwanted state when desired and be able to undo and redo tasks. AIM partially allows for user control and freedom. A user can customize their buddy list, sounds, buddy icon, profile, privacy settings and so on.
Since AIM is a chatting program, at times there are multiple conversations going on at once with different people so multiple windows are open, AIM makes managing this an easy task by using "tabbed" windows (user's choice). A problem with AIM is once you send someone a message, you cannot undo do it. If you said something incorrect, you yourself have to tell the person you messaged about your correction, you cannot undo. If you want to resend a message, you have to copy and paste it; there is no redo function in AIM. As stated, it is not easy for users to reverse their actions. o Consistency and standards Consistency and standards provide the user with a familiar feel.
This could be accomplished by following standards to keep everything consistent. For the most part AIM is consistent. A lot of the same icons are repeated for the sake of user familiarity, but not all of the icons are labeled but as mentioned before, most if not all of the windows are titled. AIM also uses attention-getting techniques such as sounds. These sounds give the user a sense of what is going on, a pleasant "bing" type of sound is played to let the user know someone messages them, a more alarming sound is played when there is an error, and the type of sounds are consistent throughout AIM unless the user specifically customizes the sounds.
o Help user recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors It is crucial for systems to expresses messages in plain language so the user can understand whether they are an expert or novice. AIM's messages are expressed in plain language (also grammatically correct) and can be understood by pretty much anyone. As mentioned before, sound is used to deliver messages. The error messages do their job by informing the user about the error's severity and sometimes even suggest the cause of the problem.
For example, when AIM disconnects without the user's consent, it tells the user that there might be a problem with the Internet connection. o Error prevention As mentioned above, getting error messages to users is important but preventing the error in the first place is even more crucial. AIM seems to be carefully designed to avoid errors. AIM does not let users send messages to people who are offline, AIM only allows the online people to be messaged. The people that are offline are grouped into a different category. This way a user would not cause an error by sending a message to someone who is not signed on to the service.
If someone clicks the sign-off button by accident, AIM reconfirms the action with the user just incase it was clicked by accident. Also when a user presses the "X" on the AIM window, AIM informs the user that it has minimized. This was the user knows that they did not sign off yet. o Recognition rather than recall Making actions and options visible helps the user so they do not have to remember information but instead they should recognize. AIM performs pretty well in this part. AIM gives the user an obvious visual distinction between "choose one" menu and "choose many" menus, an arrow is used: The display does not start up in the upper-left hand corner, but it starts wherever the user last left it.
Color is used to distinguish yourself from the person you are chatting with. Your screenname will be in red and the other users will be in blue. o Flexibility and minimalist design Many times an expert user might know the system better than a novice user. The expert user might want to use the program in a different way and the system should provide alternative means of access and operation for users who differ from the average user. AIM does a poor job at this. An expert user cannot use aim any differently than an average user.
They might be able to perform tasks faster (typing, etc), but they will only be able to use the same operations as everyone else. There are some function keys like ALT-F 4 that are standard in Windows that can be used with AIM, but other than that, there are really no advanced features. o Aesthetic and minimalist design Dialog boxes should only contain relevant information. AIM does an average job at this. In the beginning when you first sign on, AIM lets you know if you are signed on anywhere else and gives you a pop-up with useless ads and information (might be useful to some people). Most of the error messages give you enough information to let you know what is going on.
The labels are all labeled appropriately (if labeled). o Help and documentation For most novice users, help documentation is very useful. AIM provides help documentation through the program it self. There is also help available at web o Skills A good system will use and support the users skills.
AIM does not do this. As mentioned expert users can work faster but that is about it. o Pleasurable and respectful interaction with the user A program that is used everyday should enhance the quality of the user's work and / or life. AIM lets you keep in touch with all your friends.
It helps organize contacts in any manner you choose. With all the contact organized you can collaborate with people easily. o Privacy Privacy is very important and AIM follows this very well. You need a password to log on to AIM. In order to get a password you need to register yourself at web In case you forget your password you can click on the link and it will e-mail the password to the registered e-mail address. Product Analysis # 2 (Web Note) Jon Bartlett Hci 2: interface Des & Dev Prof Jon School 4002 426. 03 Visibility of System Status: Upon first visiting the page, it maybe quite confusing since all you see is a toolbar and a large grey workspace.
Although if you have some experience with windows, ...
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