Posts tagged User experience
Master thesis – Concept
0The present article will present possible answers to the research questions presented in already existing work. The thesis must further investigate their correctness and evaluate the implementation of these solutions with the help of users.
A framework for analysis was used to search for the solutions proposed by other brainstorming applications and six direct categories aroused from the research questions:
- Additional features to improve the usability of a brainstorming supporting application;
- Input devices / mechanisms to register ideas into the system;
- Post brainstorming organization of ideas
- Mechanisms to support the brainstorming session;
- Solutions to address the physical limitation of the tabletop;
- Is the brainstorming session result used by other systems?
My thesis claims as a basic concept that an ideal tabletop application supporting the brainstorming process must have an implemented answer to the issues raised above.
Considering the first category of additional features which makes an application usable in the context of the brainstorming process, some properties were already mentioned and looked for in different applications: organization of ideas, relationships between ideas, sessions save and session restart for being continued. A new solution proposed by the thesis is the rating of ideas. Of course, the brainstorming session must not be influenced by categorizing the ideas in any way. However, there might be some ideas on which everyone to agree that they need to persist and need to be considered after the session end with high priority. In order to remember those very good ideas which meet the approval of everyone a rating mechanisms should be implemented.
The rating mechanism is intended to help the brainstorming session members to remember important ideas generated in the process. Nevertheless, if it is discovered that the rating of ideas is more an impediment to the creative process than a benefit, the rating mechanism can be enabled only in the evaluation phase of the brainstorming session.
The software touch keyboard is the usual mean of registering the ideas in an application running on the tabletop. This might be considered a difficult way to input the ideas by some participants. This is why the usability of a brainstorming supporting application would increase if more input means can be provided. Additional to typing on the keyboard on the table, a normal microphone could be used as an input device allowing the participants to give their ideas by normal speech. This method requires a speech recognition program in order to get the idea textually registered and consequently written on the table.
Moreover, the thesis claim is that graphical ideas can be important to the brainstorming process additional to the textual ones. Thus another way of registering a graphical idea into the application is to draw it with the finger on the table.
A brainstorming supporting application should address the scenario in which the participants get stuck and no new ideas are generated in a predefined time interval. As a mechanism to support the brainstorming session, the thesis proposes meshing with another system to bring up content related to the topic of the brainstorming session. For example bringing 5 – 10 tweets related to the topic could positively influence the creative process and get the session on track.
The system which supports the brainstorming process around a tabletop should address the scenario in which there are more participants than can physically fit around the table. This faucet of the brainstorming application can be the feature of adding other devices to the same idea generation process, as the tabletops have finite space that people can occupy in order to access it. A practical solution in this scenario is to allow people, using their own mobile phones, to interact with a mobile client of the application. They can use it to textually write their idea on the mobile device and sending it afterward on the table. In this way, they are not required to sit at the actual table to be able to participate with ideas.
Actually, in the scenario of having too many participants at the brainstorming session, it might be a good idea that everyone uses the mobile devices to input ideas and none of them to sit at the tabletop. This way no one has a preferential sitting place. The tabletop device can be used only to organize the ideas in a next phase when the direct manipulation is essential.
After the brainstorming session has ended and analyzed, the result should be persisted. It is possible and advised by the present thesis that the ideas resulted from the brainstorming session to become registered ideas in another system which can further make use of them. For example, the result might be saved as a list of Idea objects in a permanent repository system (like a CMS) in order to be used in a project or just to become available in a shared workspace.
Let’s see how the typical use case looks!
Master Thesis – Introduction
2
The advent of multitouch interfaces leads the interaction between people to new levels of complexity. In the same time it had an impact on the software development: instead of interpreting just a couple of input devices, the software must now interact with multiple fingertip contacts, tags and objects placed on the device. This is quite a big jump from the classical combination of the mouse and the keyboard. Because of the technical difficulties, the multitouch interfaces started to be present on small devices and just one user being capable of controlling the device. Later they evolved to being available also for large devices, usually horizontally oriented, that enable multiple user interactions on the same set of objects. Although some users had more devices, like a special mouse, tablet or joystick, the interaction was quite the same – one user, one computer, usually just one device used in one time.
Along with the increasing computer power the multitouch and (some of them) multiuser devices got more and more complex, not only in respect to the underlying hardware, but mostly regarding the software responsible for driving the experience. New software controls and frameworks were created to support multiple interactions, but this was not all – a new User Interface paradigm was needed.
The natural gesture of touching employed by the new devices’ interface led to it becoming ubiquitous. The interface dissolved itself in the device that we are using, creating a more natural interaction. And so the term Natural User Interface was born. This paradigm of interaction became supported by few different companies who understood that the customers using their devices appreciate their experience when it is simple and as natural as possible. People are not required to learn complex functions or sequence of key presses in order to get a simple result – a swipe of finger on the screen might be enough. Replacing the learning cognitive processes and choosing based on understanding and pointing allows users to concentrate on what they do, as opposed to how to do it. This allows them to easily express their imagination without interruptions due to remembering sequences of actions from the memory.
The questions that arise from this approach are many: regarding implementation due to system novelty and relative low number of resources for creating applications, and regarding social aspect addressing issues like how do the participants feel using the system, as opposed to the traditional approaches.
My thesis proposes itself to study:
- If the User Experience using brainstorming applications running on multiuser multitouch tabletops is engaging;
- If it is useful to have post-brainstorming ideas organization;
- If is the brainstorming process successfully supported by mashing with other systems (e.g. Twitter);
- If is integration with small mobile devices a good solution to address the physical limitation of the tabletop;
- Is it important to be able to persist the result of the brainstorming session?
Let’s see what other scientists did before!
How to add ui-icons to JQuery tabs
0 
While working in UniBonn, I have a lot of contact with Ruby on Rails and JQuery; I actually started loving its interactivity and stability. But lately I encountered a small situation with the tabs object that they offer.
This is their default view, with Redmond theme applied. Nice and clean, you might say. But what’s missing? These tabs don’t support images. So you’ll not be able to show an image to specify, let’s say, that this tab has some updated information or a warning that something important is inside that tab.
I wanted to have some kind of control on specifying how the tab should look when I wanted my users to understand that something important is inside and requires their immediate attention.
As I searched through the website, I found the mentions of how to change the tab looks into an “error” style, so that it will attract attention no matter how tired the users are. In the Theming area of JQuery UI website, I found the help for Layout Helpers. Basically, you can specify additional classes who can override the theming of an element. Under Interaction cues, you’ll find all you need to set your elements style to highlighting, error, disable etc.
Add SyntaxHighlight to Windows Live Writer in Preview mode
1 Windows Live Writer (shorter: WLW) is one of the most popular blog authoring tool that I also happen to like and use. And I say this because of its features – I especially enjoy the Preview tab. But what it really lacks is previewing the ENTIRE page – it will get only the html and some css. So no Syntax Highlighting of my code? Let me tell you how I solved this issue.
As a blog writer I searched for something that could allow me to write the articles offline and then upload them in WordPress. I also tried WordPress built-in editor, but the editing box is so small that I couldn’t use it too much.
The most important feature for me is that it retrieves the blog theme and has a preview function that provide you the same look on editor window. So you will be able to write a post with a preview. But when having a more complex theme, using JQuery or Prototype, you will discover that you don’t get any more the same look and feel as in the blog. This is partially ok for editing, but sometimes it is really bad – especially if you’re a programmer and add a lot of code in your page. On blogs there is a solution to show the code with syntax color, but in the Windows Live Writer I couldn’t find one suitable plug-in that does this.
Adding events to LINQtoCSV library
0
The User Experience that a library provides must be at least equal with is quality and speed. And frankly, CSVtoLINQ rocks on latest two, as I presented in previous articles Import CSV file and query it with LINQ and continuing in LINQ wonder world, but lacks a little on the User Experience(in our case Developer Experience) by not having some events of starting, progress and ending of the parsing.
Especially important, while parsing huge files, is a confirmation for the user that something happens and (ideally) the point in which the processing is. That is why, thanks to Matt Perdeck for sharing the entire source of the library, I was able to improve it by adding events.
So, let’s see some code!
Modifications into LINQtoCSV library – CSVContext.cs
Important: All modifications will be made in the CsvContext class from LINQtoCSV namespace – the CSVContext.cs file.
First we’ll add the ReadStarted event to the library – it will fire when the reading of the CSV file has started.
// defining the delegate
public delegate void ReadStartedHandler(object sender, EventArgs e);
// here we define the event
public event ReadStartedHandler ReadStarted;
// the call of the event processing
protected virtual void OnReadStarted() {
if (ReadStarted != null) {
// we use empty eventargs because nothing is needed on readstarted event, just the confirmation of parsing started
ReadStarted(this, EventArgs.Empty);
}
}
IdeaPitch – built on Microsoft Surface
1I am very close to finish another project in Fraunhofer FIT: IdeaPitch on the Microsoft Surface.
This concept is very simple, you are able to “store” ideas in a repository, created using PHP and MySQL, and later on manipulate it on Microsoft Surface, along with the rest of the contributors. Other clients, iPhone and Air, were developed and are able to connect to the repository and register the ideas there. They are acting like individual clients, the iPhone can’t be used comfortable by more than one person. Not to mention that this is kind of personal device by its nature.
The Surface application allows users to connect to a PHP webservice which provides the interface to the small repository for “ideas”, the transfer is using XML to provide a easy way to consume data. Below you can see some photos which depict how these ideas are shown. The application uses quite a lot from the surface features – multitouch, special contextual menus – different for “idea” representation and for the main surface, a custom built management interface, allowing easy saving and restore of the session from the repository.
It features “agents” which can:
- send the message back to the sender,
- “duplicate” the message
- send it to a timer
- to a random logged in user by using the “decide”
- … and worth mention also to a Nabaztag, the funny white wireless rabbit!
I have the feeling that this app will be demoed soon in some fairs or conferences regarding communication and collaboration where Fraunhofer FIT will be represented!
Mergus Product Manager
0Uses: Borland Delphi 7 VCL, Microsoft Access Database, User Accessibility
This application was developed by me for Softwise Development to accomplish the needs of a client in administering its furniture chain of shops.
So, as Project manager, I have designed a solution, keeping in mind the possible evolution of this enterprise. I was using a system of managing clients and suppliers, the available furniture, the accounting in/out documents. This application was designed to be simple, to be used efficiently, fast and reliable by people who didn’t had any programmatically skills, in a fast and reliable application.
Forestry
0
Uses: Borland Delphi 7 VCL, Microsoft Access Database, User Accessibility
Very technical project, using numerous tables from a database to estimate the average growth of a number of forests. I had developed it in Softwise Development company, having given by the client the tree characteristics (maximum age, average growth per year, indexes of growth etc) and the activities that must be done periodically to ensure the best efficiency. The user of this kind of application will have a general idea of what is to do in the next period of time to the forests that he administers.
Using defined site (forest), created from different species of trees, and estimating their growth, a modern manager can exploit his resources better, but not loose from mind the ecological part of this enterprise.Based on scientific calculations, the bases of a rationality and profitability of owning forest and administering them are now available to the science and business people.
Change screen orientation of a Microsoft Surface application
1
Microsoft Surface is designed to allow MultiUser and MultiTouch interaction.While MultiTouch is easy to acknowledge, the MultiUser and designing a smart changing of Surface’s screen orientation is a little difficult coming from desktop computing, where the monitor’s down will be the same always.
In order to understand the need of changing the screen orientation on a Microsoft Surface, you might want to think about it’s normal usage: Collaboration and User experience. In the implementation for a group of 4-8 people, sitting around the Surface, their need for rotating the environment is almost zero or otherwise they will experience dizziness and losing their focus while rotating the environment for one of them.
While for the situation in which you have casual visitors(as in BMW implementation in their showrooms), who sit in pairs working on one Surface, you might considering rotating the window such that the ‘Down’ of the application would be the nearest edge to them.
The User Interface
0This week we work also on the User Interface – the Flash GUI. It was challenging since neither me nor Loredana had previous experience in creating games under this application.
Because of this fact, we searched for some advices on the net and after quite a long trial and errors we found something interesting here . Even that it didn’t met all requirements, this tutorial was what we needed to get a quick start.
The animal images are free clip arts taken from http://www.free-clipart-
After following the steps and understood the concepts,we modified the application to :
- Change the resolution, as it has to run on a projector
- Redesign the entire scene graphics, but keeping basic elements like scoring and timer.
- Change the game’s AI from
- how many simultaneously balloons you can hit in a specific period of time to
- having only one target available at one time and you can get another one only if you hit the current one
- Remove the old targets and create 6 new ones more appealing.
- Implement the Arduino interface classes taken from here.
Radu Poenaru » Master thesis – Related work
[...] me on twitter « Master Thesis – Introduction Master thesis – Concept [...]
3 weeks ago