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... you will notice that if you leave your cursor on one of the tool bar icons for around 2 seconds, a small pop up will tell you what that particular icon does. Depending on what website you are using, the name in the tool bar changes to the particular one you are using. In this review, the word "tuesday" appears next to the xml icon. The feedback for actions within the site are adequate. When a cursor is placed on a icon or window, it becomes shaded to know that you can interact with it.
What would be an improvement is if the icons would 'depress' when clicked on so that users have some kind of tactile impression. When one of the windows is double clicked, the interface changes so the user knows that the window is now in editing mode. The border of the window remains the same color of the window before it was clicked on. The inside of the border becomes the standard 'text pad' color (white) which will be familiar to windows users.
Icons also appear on top of the window that allow the user to change the color of the box, or close it all together. I would be easier if there was a title bar that the user could edit. It would allow them to write their name in the title bar so you would know who is typing in which window. Currently there is no way besides typing your name in your conversation. The way the box scrolls when it is selected in rather confusing and I have not found any use for the annoying way that it scrolls. Sometimes when you try to move the box, it decides to scroll instead of drag, making for a frustrating experience.
The only way to get the box back to the way you want it, seems to be random clicking around until the box reverts. This is a serious flaw that must be fixed if this site wants to be available to users. Match Between System and Real World: All the icons in the bar use the same scheme as other windows programs, including save (a small disc), an undo button (a curved arrow going to the left), a redo button (a curved arrow to the right), and a stop button (indicated by a stop sign). The other buttons are not familiar. The 'new note' button is just indicated by a yellow rectangle.
It might be a better design if it was a button that was similar to a 'new document' icon in word, or perhaps one that just said "new." The 'xml' button brings up a page of all the code. To average users with no programming experience, it will appear as just gibberish. The only thing of interest for them would be the recorded note but I doubt that many people would want to wade through the code. The next buttons select windows the particular color.
If there are two or more windows of the same color, then there will be more icons of the same color. There is no indication of which icon is for which window. Upon further testing, they icons are in chronological order, but it would still be hard to know if you came into the chat late. The final text box and icon are connected. The box is for typing a particular word or words and upon pressing the 'filter' button, will only highlight the boxes that contain the words. This also would not be obvious to the first time user.
It is easy to use and upon testing through trial and error it is function becomes clear. User Control and Freedom: There are two pop up error boxes that will are descriptive and easy for the user to understand. The first notes that if you leave the page without saving, you risk losing your conversation. Although, when testing, we have not saved and have not had any problem with data loss.
One problem with this save function, If you have saved and you leave the page, it will revert to the last save. So unless you never save, you should have no problem retrieving data back from your website. The second error will pop up when you try to edit a window that someone else is currently working in. This helps keep the users from jumbling the words. The words are transmitted in real time, unlike other instant messaging programs that let you review what you have written before your send. The lag time is atrocious and if there were not a lock on a window being edited then there would most definitely be problems with data flow.
Since everything is in real time, any mistakes or things you wish you had not written will be transmitted instantly. Consistency and Standards: Most people that navigate to this site will feel odd since it is not the standard site. There are not any pictures, words, or any clickable icons in the work space like more websites. This will definitely be a problem.
Directions, or a help icon with a pop up box would make this a much more user friendly and standard site. Almost everything in the toolbar fits the standards except the few that were already mentioned. Overall this is a very simple design and while simple is usual the goal of many user orientated programmers, too simple can also be confusing. Suggestion: add more stuff, labels, graphics, instructions, anything that would tell someone that was there for the first time, how to access the features.
Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and recover from errors: As already mentioned, the error boxes were well made with grammatically correct messages that would be helpful to the user. Error Prevention: Does not really pertain to the product. Recognition Rather then Recall: Color scheme was well used with non-intrusive pallets. It maybe a little to bland for some and the ability to change the background as well as the boxes might be nice. Users like customization. If they plan on using their own website, it should be fully customizable, perhaps with a buddylist, calendar or other helpful features.
Flexibility and Minimalist Design: As mentioned, this maybe too minimalist and unfriendly to novices while being too boring for advanced computer users. Most of the icons are interactive, yet leaving some indentation with the cursor when clicked would be a welcome touch. Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Already mentioned above. Help and Documentation: Already mentioned above. Skills: See above. Pleasurable and Respectful Interactions with the User: See Above.
Privacy: One alternate use of the site, is being able to leave notes to people who are in your class. Yet the site itself is not very secure and anyone with access to the URL will be able to view and change the contents of the site. A way to improve this would make access restricted to the site by forcing students to log in with your DCE account and password to be able to track who and when the site was modified. Product Analysis # 3 (Sidekick) Steve Reed Heuristic Evaluation on Sidekick Starting with the Visibility of System Status, it seems to me that most of the questions checked were "yes. " Its visibility is pretty good and provides very good feedback. Sidekick does keep the user informed quickly unless there are some lagged times for some reason.
Now, moving along to "Match Between System and the Real World, " most answers picked were yes, because Sidekick does provide matching between system and the real world. The T-Mobile Sidekick's company surely wants the customer to be familiar with the object itself. Now focusing on the "User control and Freedom, " there are many yes and few N/A, it is rather easy to go back from where you were before or quickly jump into the main menu. The Sidekick allows the user to function with it smoothly and undo their mistakes. "Consistency and Standards, " a quite large amount of "yes. " T-Mobile made sure the Sidekick is clear to the user, I personally have not encountered any problems. Everything seems to be straight to the point and obvious. Now, as for the error issue ("Help Users Recognize, Diagnose, and Recover from Errors" and "Error Prevention"), I have not been receiving any errors so I cannot answer any of those questions.
Alright, as for "Recognition Rather Than Recall, " there are several yes and no, also few N/A so it is about in the middle. Sidekick needs to improve in those areas. However, there are a lot of things that are good on that aspect, such as the AIM icon, we recognize it as soon we see it, another example would be Address Book. "Flexibility and Minimalist Design, " I noticed that there are a lot of no and few yes. There are a lot of questions that does not apply to the T-Mobile Sidekick, those that apply are mostly answered no, because Sidekick does not have those features. As for the Aesthetic and Minimalist Design, many questions were answered yes because the dialogues are usually relevant and needed. As for the Help and Documentation, I did not use any hard copy documents so I cannot answer the questions.
There is no help menu on Sidekick. I basically used the "trail and error" method when I first got the Sidekick. As for the Skills section, a lot of the questions was pretty much answered yes, some were N/A. I do not really see anything that will replace our skills. I strongly believe that the Sidekick does follow the privacy because you can set up password to prevent anyone from using it. I guess that sums up my analysis.
Conclusion After careful evaluation of the above mentioned products we came to the conclusion that our solution would incorporate the best features of the products along with the introduction of new features. By using the strongest attributes of each product and throwing away the weakest ones we are truly able to make a superior communication device. Our group believes that the introduction of our product to the RIT campus would bridge the communication gap between hearing and deaf students. By breaking down these barriers the educational process would be further enhanced with the cooperation of all the students across campus.
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