I4: Heuristic Evaluation(Evaluating team 6) Zhichun Ye

Transcription

1 I4: Heuristic Evaluation(Evaluating team 6) Zhichun Ye Features: Comment #1: It is very good that you put the status bar at the top, that I can see my status together with the map when I am on my way to reach a checkpoint. Nielsen rule: Visibility of system status the system should provide positive feedback as information becomes available. Here as I am reaching a checking point, I can see my location at the map together with my pace and time and all the other status. In this case I have a better understanding of the whole thing thus I will have a better schedule like whether I should run more quickly or I can slow down. Personally I would like to have the current time added in the status bar because in this way I may have a better schedule, since I might have a meeting thus I won t need to switch back and forth to check for the time, this will also honor the Nielsen rule: recognition rather than recall. Comment #2: It is good that in the review screen, I can expand and collapse all the detail information of the checkpoint.

2 Nielsen rule: Simple and natural dialogue less is more. I think this is pretty good instead of expand all the information at the beginning, that would mess up things and not a good way to look up particular information. In this way user can choose what he wants. This is like a predefined sequence that the user should first choose a day and then a particular checkpoint instead of choosing a time or distance to see a detail. And I also think the buttons expand and collapse are very helpful to guide the user what to do when he reach this screen, and also give the user a sense that he can control the system, which honors the Schneiderman s rule of support internal locus of control. Comment #3: When I click the exit or join group button, there are always confirmation popup.

3 Nielson rule: Prevent errors. In this way I will not join a group because I press the button by mistake. These good confirmations will prevent the errors in the future, which is even better than a good error message. Comment #4: The system provides shortcuts like menu and achievement and they are in consistent locations in different pages. Nielson rule: Shortcut & Consistency. Since the user may go back to the main menu at anytime, having the menu button at every screen is very needed. And they put these buttons at the very bottom of each page that will not abstract users attention from the main page. This also honors the rule of consistency thus the user will not need to search the entire screen for same button but in different locations.

4 Comment #5: They choose appropriate colors smartly and use them in the right way. Nielson rule: Simple and natural dialogue graphic design and color. In the whole system, the main colors are black, grey, and white, which have a little bit changes in different screens but most of them follow the same fashion. They also use lines and white space to group certain buttons. They choose the light grey as background that follows the rule, and they don t overdo with the colors. And in the map, they are using very contrasting color like bright orange and blur to differentiate people. Comment #6: They always have a back button which will let me to go one page back. Nielson rule: Clearly marked exits. This is considered as the undo which will let me to revert to previous system state. Also, the button has a corresponding shape which make it easier for me to know its functionality. Comment #7: There is a suggesting message on the Reached a checkpoint page. Nielson rule: Simple and natural dialogue. This suggesting message is acting like a suggested sequence at this page, just as the message in the error page, which will guess what the user wants to do and provide corresponding links or buttons. Here they provide what should I do in the next step as three choices instead direct the user to the very beginning page and let the user do it over again. Also in this page there is a clear exit, which can also be considered as the shortcut to quit.

5 Problems: Comment #1: There is no help document or FAQ section there. Nielsen rule: Help and documentation. The first thought I open this application I want to read some basic rules about how to play with the system, but I find there is nothing there. And when I click the green arrow on the map, I found that I may go the wrong way, but I can t find the help section either. Use need basic instructions to the system even thought the system is already good and easy enough. I think it is useful to have a section like that, maybe put in the main page as a shortcut. It won t be very long, may just present some basic instructions, and focused on different tasks. For example, you can have different sections like reaching a checkpoint or join a group or personal setup based on different tasks, and within each section you can list the frequent asked questions, after the person click the question, then the screen shows the answer. This gives the user a predefined sequence, which also honors the rule of simple and natural dialogue ease the user by indicating a suggested or preferred sequence. Catastrophe Comment #2: There is no information about the group I am currently in as well as other groups around me. Nielsen rule: Offer informative feedback. After I join the group, the system should let me know which group I am in and my current group information and only after I have these information I will cooperate well with my partners. Also, since this is an escape game, I should have the idea of other groups around me. All these should be available to me once I am in the game, this can be considered as part of the feedback. Maybe after I click myself on the map, a popup will show my group information. And other groups position should also be displayed on the map. Catastrophe Comment #3: There is no button or shortcut to quit a group. Nielsen rule: User control and freedom & Schneiderman s rule: Permit easy reversal of actions. I should be able to quit the group in some case like I suddenly pick up a phone call which asks me to attend a group meeting in 10 minutes. Also this will give the user a feel like they have the control of the system, and take a relief that he can quit the group as well as join in again. Otherwise he might be anxious to decide

6 whether to join a group because he is afraid of the fact that once he is joined, he can t quit anymore. In the group information popup, there should be a button which let the user to quit and followed by a confirmation popup. Catastrophe Comment #4: The menu shortcut in the map page is confusing when it is not direct to the main menu. Nielsen rule: Consistency consistency is not just a question of screen design. Since the name of the button is menu, it should be linked to the main menu because there shouldn t be a same word that directs the user to two different situations. I noticed that there is a Game Paused title in the second menu, but most of the two menus are containing the same thing, so that it is kind of redundant. And as for me, I would expect when I click the menu button in the map page, I will be directed to the main menu. I would suggest you put these two menus into one single menu, and create a shortcut linked to it. Major Comment #5:

7 When I want to send a message to a person, after I click button, I still need to choose the or contact number in the next page. And there are Time and Location in the message page which I don t know what they are for. Nielsen rule: Minimize user memory load. I think since I have already choose the person, the information should be displayed in that page, at least the name. You should not let the user do the same thing twice and should minimize the information that the user needs to remember from different screens. Nielsen rule: Simple and natural dialogue & Aesthetic and minimalist design. As to the Time and Location rows seems confusing, are they system generated or I need to send my time and location to my friend? Actually I am also confused whether it is to invite a friend to join my game or just text him as normal message. As the Nielsen rule says, the screen should just provide enough information the user need, no more. I would suggest you to show the name of the person I am sending message to on the To row and remove the Time and Location. Major Comment #6:

8 When I am in the interacting with a friend mode, after I click the person, there s no clear information about his other group members information. The popup only asked me to confirm if I really want to join this group. Nielsen rule: Visibility of system status & Simple and natural dialogue. As mentioned, the popup window that let me confirm is pretty good, but there might be other people in his group. In this case I would like to check his group information, like what other people are in this group and what s their goals, etc. I want to have a view of the group, which can be considered as part of the system status to help me make the choice whether I really want to join that group or not. Because there might be a chance that all the other people in his group are not my friends and I won t want to run with them. After I click one person, the system should let me know his group information (at least the names of group members), and there might be a button which says join this group to let me join, and then the popup confirmation window. Major Comment #7: In the detail of a day s achievements, I cannot see each check point s name or location I went, I can just see checkpoint1, checkpoint2, and checkpoint3, which kind of make no sense to me. Nielsen rule: Match between system and the real world. Checkpoint1,2,3 doesn t mean anything to me if they are the checkpoints weeks ago because I can t remember it only based on the time and distance information. The system should provide some information familiar to the user or at least can help the user to easily remember something. Give each name of the checkpoint and display them on the page. Minor Comment #8: The word Stats and Achievements are confusing. Nielsen rule: Speak the user s language. At first I think the achievements are those I have already achieved, but later I found there is stats which shows me all my check

9 points, so I think the achievements might be the challenges for me. I think since these two sections contain some information quite similar, you may need to add some words to differentiate from them from the user s perspective. And, stats is kind of technical, I will prefer a more simple word. Maybe Your achievements or Your Challenges will be better. And for the stats, maybe you can use Your checked points or History. Minor