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Blogger and Usability

Conduct a usability test of blogger. Have someone try to set up a blog, and post your results.

Remote usability testing- at least that's what I like to call it. I have to admit that I was not able to conduct my usability test in person. However, I did have one of my friends act as a test subject and take Blogger for a test drive. He took notes to record his experience, and the transcript is included below. A couple of words about my test subject- he is an experienced computer user and programmer, an apologist in Cooper's terms. He could be called a discerning technophile. He appreciates the importance of design in technology and he constantly swaps his engineer hat with his user hat. His blog can be found at: http://searchlightcasting.blogspot.com/

Mark's experience with blogger:

Into the Blogosphere

It was a cold and windy night in Tallahassee as I sat down at my computer and prepared for my first voyage into the blogosphere. Excitement, anticipation, and a certain sense of dread lay at the core of my being. What was I doing? Why was I here? Is this the pivotal moment of my life’s trajectory? Well, the first step was to visit the “Blogger” web site, where my journey begins in earnest.

I’m very impressed and reassured by the simplistic and inviting nature of this site. Maybe I was a fool to have not blogged before. Could it be this easy? The layout of the site suggested that I proceed.

The actual process was incredibly easy. The first step is to set up your core user profile elements. This includes providing a valid email account as well as setting up your profile name. In this case it is TomBanjo. Once you agree to the terms, and it validates these initial settings, you move on to the next step. All told, first step takes maybe 5 minutes, depending on how good a typer you are. Also, I did want to spend some time thinking about my user name and dug deep into the treasure trove of Grateful dead lyrics for this one.

The next step involves making a blog name, and then getting the URL name specified. Here’s where I spent a huge amount of time (20 minutes) trying to come up with something offbeat and theme-based (Grateful Dead). I chose Searchlght Casting (again, research your GD lyrics for both the site name and URL. So here it is, my URL:
http://searchlightcasting.blogspot.com/

The final step, and I was exhausted after the previous one, is simply to publish your first blog material. You pick a “template” and can easily preview any of the samples. There was enough choice to be interesting, but not overwhelming. I chose a dark background and this matches with my Blog name and URL. Next, you need to actually publish something. I came up with some off-the-cuff-fluff, previewed it, and then BAM! Published it. It was that easy.

I think this site is very easy to use and is a snap for anyone to create a blog, should they desire. I don’t have any complaints about any part of the process. Each step was logically organized and the site provided the right balance of feedback and user-driven action. For example, when you type a password for your site, the feedback includes a description of how “strong” your password is. Also, if your blog URL is not unique, it provides a very quick list of alternatives.

Google does it again. In fact the experience was so pleasant, that I actually started thinking about what I may do for my next blog. Hmmmm, maybe I’ll have to retract my comments about this kind of internet content being much like the Powder River. A mile wide and an inch deep!

TextPad - the friendly, usable text editor

Critique the usability/user friendliness of a software program that you use frequently. Illustrate with screen shots as is helpful.



Jakob Nielsen mentions on his site that there are three common ways in which bad applications fail:

"...they (a) solve the wrong problem, (b) have the wrong features for the right problem, or (c) make the right features too complicated for users to understand." (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/application-mistakes.html)

TextPad, a text editor made by Helios Software Solutions, makes none of these mistakes. I use this software nearly every day and have done so for almost five years. It is the kind of well-designed software that does not get in the way of what you need to do. It is so easy to use that I sometimes feel it was designed for me.

Solves the right problem
TextPad is an amazing tool for editing any type of text file. I essentially use it as a scaled-down integrated development environment (IDE) for my web development tasks because it allows me to get things done quickly. Most IDEs are heavy because they contain a great many tools and controls which allow you to connect to databases, to web servers, compile, deploy and debug code. Though this functionality is extremely useful and necessary for certain environments and situations, I find it unwieldy and unnecessary for most of my needs. TextPad allows me to check log files, develop code, tweak code and search for text all in the same lightweight environment.

Right features for the right problem



TextPad makes finding files and text extremely easy. It actually allows you to load an explorer control in one of the tabs so that searching and loading needed files is a breeze within the program. Also, launching the program is always just a right-click away, as the TextPad executable is always available in your context menu once you select a text file.




Makes the right features easy for users to understand
Finally, TextPad has features that make searching multiple files very quick and easy work. Their "Find in Files" feature allows you to search within subfolders, search based on case or regular expression, and even allows you to search within binary files. Along with the right features, TextPad also is able to use custom clip libraries and dictionaries which are add-ons developed by other users for specific programming languages or syntax. Clip libraries provide access to tags or bits of code that can be selected and easily added to a file. Dictionaries allow special highlighting and formatting capabilities that allow TextPad to act more like an IDE than a pure text editor. These are just a few of the ways that TextPad can be customized, there are many, many other options available under the Configure>Preferences menu.

TextPad is a software product that has been designed with usability in mind. This statement can be found in its help documentation:

"When just getting the job done is work enough, the last thing you need is to waste time having to learn yet another computer application. Your experience with other tools should be relevant to each new application, making it possible to sit down and use that new application right away."

Hot Potatoes Exercise

Try out this JMix exercise

Hot Potatoes is a software suite that allows you to create interactive exercises for the web.

Dalgarno's Proposed Metadata for Learner-Computer Interaction

Return to the game you looked at in Blog Post #3. This time, use the classifications from Dalgarno's article to discuss the interactions that take place within the game.



Using Dalgarno's proposed classification scheme, the Sakkara game can be described according to Cognitive Task; Input Techniques; and, System Response. The game has four episodes- this information applies to only the first episode.

Cognitive task
Attending to static information: Reading instructions; reading possible questions and answers during scenes; listening to background music; and, reading entries in journal.
Controlling media: Launching the game.
Navigating the system: Choosing questions to ask; choosing items to collect; and choosing routes in chase sequences.
Answering questions: No structured questions to answer.
Attending to question feedback: Reading the responses to questions during scenes; gaining entry to new scene; and, new entries in journal.
Exploring a world: Examining Elizabeth’s hotel room for clues and examining links to related information in journal.
Measuring in a world: N/A
Manipulating a world: N/A (unless this involves determining combination of safe in hotel room).
Constructing in a world: N/A
Attending to world changes: Examining the contents of the journal to find connections between found objects
Articulating: N/A
Processing data: N/A
Attending to processed data: N/A
Formatting output: N/A

Input technique
Typing: Entering username/passkey to play
Valuators: N/A
Key pressing: To crack combination for safe and to navigate maze during chase scene.
Pull down menus: N/A
Menu lists: N/A
Buttons and icons: To advance to next scene and to launch journal.
Check boxes and radio buttons: N/A
Hot spots: N/A
Hypertext: Links appear within the journal and offer related historical information.
Scroll bars: N/A
Media controls: N/A
Selecting: Used for collecting objects in Elizabeth’s hotel room; for choosing a particular question to ask; turning pages in the journal; and, for getting more detail about a particular object in the journal.
Dragging: N/A
Drawing: N/A
Mouse rollovers: items in Elizabeth’s hotel room glisten if available for collecting when rolled over.

System Response
Displaying: Scene titles; answers from characters; journal pages; and, enlarged images of objects in journals.
Presenting media: Travel segments, background noises and music.
Presenting cues: Mouse radiations that indicate choices for questions and sparkles on objects that indicate they can be collected.
Branching: Different answers are given if different questions are chosen during character interviews.
Assessing answers: N/A
Generating feedback: N/A
Updating world: The journal fills with collected objects as the player travels through the episode or scene;
Generating world: N/A
Processing data: N/A
Searching: N/A
Saving and loading: Progress is only saved at the episode level-not within an episode.

We're all users

As you read Cooper's Inmates are Running the Asylum, think about how you relate (or don't) to his discussion of user-centered design (or lack thereof) in high-tech products.

What kind of computer user are you? (apologist? survivor? etc.)

Are there any high-tech products that you find particularly counterintuitive? What are they, and what about them frustrates you?
Describe a high-tech product you think is particularly well-designed and why.

User-centered Design
While reading Cooper's book, I found myself alternately yelling and cheering. One minute I was supportive and agreeing with his rants, the next I was defensive and spouting off my reasons for dissension. For the most part, I completely agree with his arguments about the importance of software that is designed with interaction, usage and users in mind. Planning, analysis, design, testing and implementation cannot succeed without the involvement of users and their goals. I believe he is dead on when he points out the fallacy of not considering interaction design until the end of the product or avoiding it altogether. What burns me is the fact that he tends to generalize and make sweeping statements about all programmers and all software design shops. In an effort to "seek first to understand", it may be that Mr. Cooper was describing the world as it was when he was writing. The book is a bit dated- I mean when he was first writing there were not many folks dedicated to iteration design and usability. He is not credited with coining the term, "interaction design", but his book About Face 2.0 is listed as a reference on Wikipedia's site on interaction design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interaction_design). So, the software world has come a long way since 1999 when he wrote the first edition. Granted he certainly may have helped the progress. I program and develop for a living and have always been a proponent of user-centered, or usage-centered design. But then, I came to the scene a bit later and I started as a user and have never lost that perspective.

Apologist or Survivor? - neither one!
Cooper's attempt to bifurcate the world of technology users is one of the areas within the book that caused me to steam. Labeling us (we're all users) as either "apologists" who are "sycophants" and "power users" that praise technology without noticing its frustrations and challenges; or as "survivors" who struggle to use software and feel denigrated and stupid in its wake was extremely annoying. Strictly using Cooper's terms I would have to consider myself an apologist. However, I do not make it a habit to make excuses for poorly designed software; nor, do I afford software products or computers the power to make me feel stupid. As I stated earlier, I am a user who happens to program- so, I try to maintain both perspectives.

Complicated Interfaces vs. Fade-away Technology


ESRI is the leading software vendor for the field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This company has been involved in the industry since the beginning and is known for their powerful products and huge user conferences (attendees number over 14,000). Their last two versions (8x and 9x) have included significant changes to the interface, due to an overhaul of the software's architecture. The resulting software interface has so many features that it can be overwhelming to a first time user. The software is still powerful and useful, but you almost need breadcrumbs to drop when you navigate tabs in the pursuit of an infrequent task. ESRI supports many different types of users who perform various roles from fairly simple map production, to complex linear or raster editing and processing; to the analysis of 3-D models. In my opinion, ESRI has attempted to fit all the goals of these varied users into one interaction design. The interface for ArcMap (see image above) reflects this complicated composite.


My example of a well-designed technology item would have to be the Firefox web browser. In my opinion, well designed software is so focused and intuitive that it ends up fading away allowing the user to focus on the task at hand. Firefox used tab-browsing way before IE 7 and its find functionality and ability to open links as tabs so you can continue reading the current web site keeps my focus uninterrupted.

Learning & Games

Pick an online game, play it, and write a brief critique of the game from a learning perspective and interface perspective. Include a link to the game and screenshots (as you see fit).

I found this game on the games site within the BBC's Interactive Content for History site and was immediately taken by its design. The game's content is concerned with ancient history- specifically archaeology and ancient Egypt. This Flash game plays out in the form of a comic book with beautifully rendered frames and wonderfully dramatic music that elevates the experience. You take the role of Charles Fox, an English reporter in the late 1920s who is asked to investigate the disappearance of a young Egyptologist by her grandfather, Mortimer Armstrong, a museum curator. As you play you are charged with discovering clues, interviewing characters and finding your way around Cairo, by successfully completing mini-games, in hopes of finding Elizabeth Armstrong and returning to England.

Using Prensky's descriptive game terminology, this game would definitely be considered a mini game, rather than a complex one, in that it treats one subject- the Egyptology craze in the late 1920s- and does not demand that the player or learner acquire a great variety of skills and strategies to progress through the game. In no way, is this classification as a mini-game meant to diminish Sakkara- it's just a distinction that recognizes the fairly condensed and concentrated treatment of one subject that this game provides.

Employing Garris' game characteristics as discussion points, I will provide further analysis of the game in the paragraphs that follow.

Fantasy
Fantasy is employed by immersing the learner, in an endogenous fashion, in downtown Cairo. Instructional content concerned with the hype and craze of Egyptology at this period of history are embedded in the illustrated frames and within the interactive reporter's notebook that Charles Fox maintains. You as the learner have access to its contents at all time, by clicking on the notebook icon located in the lower left of the screen. The image belows depicts the notebook when it is displayed- it is interactive and as you discover clues and accomplish tasks its content grows.


Rules/Goals
The procedural rules of play are fairly simple and take just a few minutes to discern. There are four episodes which act as levels. Progress can be saved at the episode level only. Advancing from frame to frame within an episode involves clicking on the dialogue text that appears in the lower-left of the frame. Mini-games are included within each episode and involve recognizable play patterns like mazes, safe-cracking and character interviewing where you choose the right question to ask.

Sensory stimuli
The learner/player is transformed to another reality through the expert use of wonderful music and other auditory stimuli that greatly enhance the experience. Several examples are present in Episode 1, such as the rain during the interview between Fox and Armstrong and the train noises during one leg of Fox's travel to Cairo.

Challenge
The main goal of the game to locate and bring back Elizabeth Armstrong is very clear to the player, but other intermediary goals are a little less apparent. One particular interesting frame included a challenge to examine Ms. Armstrong's abandoned hotel room. Within the room are several artifacts that are available for collecting, as well as a safe that must be cracked. You are given one clue - that perhaps Ms. Armstrong's telegram to her grandfather contained the information needed to derive the combination. I'll leave it at that, so as not to spoil the challenge.

Mystery
Mystery is involved in almost all aspects of this instructional game. The frames are rendered in a film noir style and you often encounter mysterious characters that pique your interest and prompt you to continue on your quest. Even the reporter's notebook which is meant to be an aid, also adds to the mystery of the game as you work to create links between the facts and characters that are recorded within its pages.

Control
Finally, control is fairly limited within this game. The learner or player has some control over which questions to ask, for example, or when to access the notebook for help, but the game is very linear and progress to another frame is not possible without the accomplishment of defined tasks. The game does not appear to allow players the option to develop alternate paths through it. The notebook does, however, allow the player to explore supplemental, contextual, instructional information on topics such as Egypt, archaeology, etc.

If you have the time for a quick trip to Cairo, I would definitely recommend checking out Sakkara.