Our lecturers changed back over this week, and we looked at accessibility in relation to different disabilities and how it's easy to discriminate against them. It's something that I think a lot of people neglect to look at so it definately helped everyone realise that there's a lot more to designing things like websites than just making them appropriate to our needs. One of the topics raised was coulour blind people, and how they would find looking at certain images which we can look at with ease difficult sometimes. We also looked at the second animator vs animation file, which just seemed to relax the lecture a bit considering it's on a Friday afternoon when everybody wanted to be somewhere else. I also took a look at a website mentioned in the lecture for my extra research this week:
www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
And although I haven't actually got round to it yet, I'm planning on taking a look at the mind leaders website because it's been mentioned in more than one lecture:
http://www.mindleaders.com/
I had to spend half of this weeks tutorial doing last weeks tutorial again because I went into the wrong action script version. We had been told about this in a previous lecture but yet again my memory let me down. While finishing it I found that it had a subtle link to programming because we had to add in codes to make the buttons on each page work. But I still managed to move on to this week's tutorial which was tweening again but more advanced ("tween within a tween"), we had to make the word "web" move around the screen and also do something with the word "flash". Although I have to admit I made a few mistakes because I wasn't concentrating as much as I should have been, I was "forced" out down the union last night and was suffering for it a little bit.
I found the lecture helpful the same as any other really because I find that each week we've done a topic that I had basic knowledge of and expanded upon it. Again I knew the basic idea's of web design such as making it attractive to users, but I hadn't previously thought of colourblind people and other disabilities which affect the way we should be designing them. The tutorial was also helpful because after realising that I'd used the wrong action script version last week I got on with both tutorial sheets easily enough. Also, the way in which we are building on what we do bit by bit each week makes it a lot easier to follow.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
16/11/07 - 22/11/07
The topic in Friday's lecture was evaluation. The definition we were given for it was " Evaluation is concerned with gathering data about the usability of a design or product by a specified group of users for a particular activity within a specified environment or work context". We were told about different types of evaluation such as qualitative and quantitative and also when and why evaluation takes place. There were four main points raised under the "why evaluate?" category including; understanding the real world, comparing designs, engineering towards a target and checking conformance to a standard which were all explained in turn.
I also read a bit more on evaluation on this website:
http://www.ces-vol.org.uk/index.cfm?pg=167
We went back to using Flash in the tutorial this week so I found it a lot more interesting. We looked at linking the keyframes through buttons which navigate from one frame to the next or back to the previous frame. We had to add the text "page 1", "page 2" and "page 3" to each corresponding keyframe in sequence and then add a button / buttons to the frame allowing us to navigate back and forwards through them. However to do this we had to stop it automatically running on its own by stopping the timeline and because the tutorial was designed for an earlier version of Flash, it didn't give us the correct instructions so I looked it up on the internet and found this blog:
http://www.quip.net/blog/2007/flash/making-buttons-work-in-flash-cs3
I didn't actually find what I was looking for, but thought it could be used for future reference.
Overall the lecture this week was again straightforward and interesting, although evaluation isn't a difficult concept anyway there were still aspects of it I hadn't previously thought of and found the lecture useful in helping me realise this. Also the way the lecture just seemed to move on from one point to the next in sequence rather than jumping between topics made it easy to follow. The tutorial was equally helpful this week even though the tutorial sheet was based on the previous version of Flash the basic idea's were still in there and there was actually only 1 thing wrong up to the point I reached.
I also read a bit more on evaluation on this website:
http://www.ces-vol.org.uk/index.cfm?pg=167
We went back to using Flash in the tutorial this week so I found it a lot more interesting. We looked at linking the keyframes through buttons which navigate from one frame to the next or back to the previous frame. We had to add the text "page 1", "page 2" and "page 3" to each corresponding keyframe in sequence and then add a button / buttons to the frame allowing us to navigate back and forwards through them. However to do this we had to stop it automatically running on its own by stopping the timeline and because the tutorial was designed for an earlier version of Flash, it didn't give us the correct instructions so I looked it up on the internet and found this blog:
http://www.quip.net/blog/2007/flash/making-buttons-work-in-flash-cs3
I didn't actually find what I was looking for, but thought it could be used for future reference.
Overall the lecture this week was again straightforward and interesting, although evaluation isn't a difficult concept anyway there were still aspects of it I hadn't previously thought of and found the lecture useful in helping me realise this. Also the way the lecture just seemed to move on from one point to the next in sequence rather than jumping between topics made it easy to follow. The tutorial was equally helpful this week even though the tutorial sheet was based on the previous version of Flash the basic idea's were still in there and there was actually only 1 thing wrong up to the point I reached.
Friday, November 16, 2007
9/11/07 - 15/11/07
The lecture this week was based on last weeks tutorials topic, usability. The aim of the lecture was to understand what it is, how to design usable applications and how to test them. We were given a quote from the International Standards Organisation which stated that "The effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction with which specified users can achieve specified goals in particular environments" when referring to usability. I also learned the importance of user experience levels, the requirements of different interfaces (from novice to expert) and overall found the lecture straight forward to follow. The importance of defining different requirements was defined, although it seems pretty obvious that a novice interface would need to be simpler than an expert interface it helped that it was expanded upon more than just stating the obvious factors.
The tutorial was again based on usability and to be honest I didn't find it anymore bnefitial than last weeks tutorial. This week we looked at usability in comparison to the usability triangle discussed during the lecture while applying it to certain questions. We therefore looked at effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of the University of Glamorgan website.
I didn't really feel the need to look up anything more on usability because it was explained well enough in the lecture for me. So I just looked back over my lecture notes instead.
Overall I felt that the lecture was far more benefitial than the tutorial because I felt the tutorial was slightly repetitive of last weeks and I didn't really learn anything new. The lecture helped me understand the importance of different requirements for different user levels and other factors which can link in with usability such as utility and experience so I felt a lot more confident in defining novice, intermittent and expert users.
The tutorial was again based on usability and to be honest I didn't find it anymore bnefitial than last weeks tutorial. This week we looked at usability in comparison to the usability triangle discussed during the lecture while applying it to certain questions. We therefore looked at effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of the University of Glamorgan website.
I didn't really feel the need to look up anything more on usability because it was explained well enough in the lecture for me. So I just looked back over my lecture notes instead.
Overall I felt that the lecture was far more benefitial than the tutorial because I felt the tutorial was slightly repetitive of last weeks and I didn't really learn anything new. The lecture helped me understand the importance of different requirements for different user levels and other factors which can link in with usability such as utility and experience so I felt a lot more confident in defining novice, intermittent and expert users.
Friday, November 9, 2007
02/11/07 - 08/11/07
This weeks lecture was taken by Daniel Cunliffe who I think is taking over our lectures for the next few weeks at least. He talked a lot about what we did in the tutorial from my last blog entry about the usability checklist and also about how technology has evolved over the years. I looked up the evolution of technology on google and found this website :
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Evolution-of-Technology---The-History-of-Computers&id=16046
It basically goes right from the beginning and builds up to how computers have developed up until now which just helped me expand on what was talked about in the lecture. It was a pretty straightforward lecture as we'd already been through the good / bad points of the usability checklist in the tutorial and I'd already done a bit of extra research on it as shown in my last post. However he added to it by talking about how technology has evolved which besides having it's own significance also added emphasis to that fact that the checklist is somewhat outdated as it was produced in 1998.
The tutorial was taken in a similar way to last weeks as we were put into groups and had to answer questions on using design guidelines and how useful / suitable they are. We had to examine the university website against the criteria given in the guidelines given on two web sites and decide whether it conforms to their guidelines. We found that although the guidelines on both websites appeared usable and sensible they weren't suitable for every type of website available, an example of this being You Tube. We also discussed the answers given by different groups enabling us to see how we could have looked at it a different way or even just expanded a bit more on our own ideas on it.
I also found another article from the same website I used for expansion on the lecture, but this one was based on basic web page design guidelines:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Basic-Web-Design-Guidelines&id=701581
Although both the tutorial and lecture were similar to the previous weeks, I benefitted from both because the lecture just helped me expand on my knowledge of usability checklists while also learning something new in how technology has evolved. The tutorial was benefitial beacause although it was taken in a similar way, it was based on a different topic (design guidelines instead of usability checklists) and by talking about it as a group it enabled everyone to see different points that perhaps they didn't think of themselves.
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Evolution-of-Technology---The-History-of-Computers&id=16046
It basically goes right from the beginning and builds up to how computers have developed up until now which just helped me expand on what was talked about in the lecture. It was a pretty straightforward lecture as we'd already been through the good / bad points of the usability checklist in the tutorial and I'd already done a bit of extra research on it as shown in my last post. However he added to it by talking about how technology has evolved which besides having it's own significance also added emphasis to that fact that the checklist is somewhat outdated as it was produced in 1998.
The tutorial was taken in a similar way to last weeks as we were put into groups and had to answer questions on using design guidelines and how useful / suitable they are. We had to examine the university website against the criteria given in the guidelines given on two web sites and decide whether it conforms to their guidelines. We found that although the guidelines on both websites appeared usable and sensible they weren't suitable for every type of website available, an example of this being You Tube. We also discussed the answers given by different groups enabling us to see how we could have looked at it a different way or even just expanded a bit more on our own ideas on it.
I also found another article from the same website I used for expansion on the lecture, but this one was based on basic web page design guidelines:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Basic-Web-Design-Guidelines&id=701581
Although both the tutorial and lecture were similar to the previous weeks, I benefitted from both because the lecture just helped me expand on my knowledge of usability checklists while also learning something new in how technology has evolved. The tutorial was benefitial beacause although it was taken in a similar way, it was based on a different topic (design guidelines instead of usability checklists) and by talking about it as a group it enabled everyone to see different points that perhaps they didn't think of themselves.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Different file types and usability checklists....
26/10/07 - 1/11/07
This weeks lecture was based on different file types, including image / audio files. But I couldn't remember a lot of them after the lecture, which given my record of remembering things, isn't entirely surprising so I looked them up on google and came across the link below:
http://www.udel.edu/interlit/chapter12.html
It has a few definitions and information on different file types including gif, jpeg, WAV etc so it was helpful.
The tutorial actually wasn't related to the lecture this week. We had to look at the university's website in groups and refer to a usability checklist to evaluate how usable the website is and then also reflect upon how useful the usability checklist was. In my opinion the website itself was more useful than the checklist which was created in 1998, was slightly dated and was too long. We managed to get through one and a half pages of ticking boxes before I felt a little bit of me die inside! (It had nothing to do with the hangover I had from the halloween party the night before, honest!). But just to help me understand a bit more to the point of the checklist, I looked it up online and found this link which defined what a usability checklist usually includes, defining what a website should/shouldn't include.
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/design_no4.htm
I think I benefitted from the lecture more than the tutorial this week, but that was simply because I knew less about different file types than I thought. I didn't really know what all the different file types were for so it helped my understanding of how files are stored a lot. The tutorial was still benefitial, but the ticking boxes for nearly an hour wasn't exactly the highlight of my week. But I did learn the benefits / flaws of usability checklists, which will probably help me later on when I'm likely to have to make something along similar lines.
This weeks lecture was based on different file types, including image / audio files. But I couldn't remember a lot of them after the lecture, which given my record of remembering things, isn't entirely surprising so I looked them up on google and came across the link below:
http://www.udel.edu/interlit/chapter12.html
It has a few definitions and information on different file types including gif, jpeg, WAV etc so it was helpful.
The tutorial actually wasn't related to the lecture this week. We had to look at the university's website in groups and refer to a usability checklist to evaluate how usable the website is and then also reflect upon how useful the usability checklist was. In my opinion the website itself was more useful than the checklist which was created in 1998, was slightly dated and was too long. We managed to get through one and a half pages of ticking boxes before I felt a little bit of me die inside! (It had nothing to do with the hangover I had from the halloween party the night before, honest!). But just to help me understand a bit more to the point of the checklist, I looked it up online and found this link which defined what a usability checklist usually includes, defining what a website should/shouldn't include.
http://www.netmechanic.com/news/vol7/design_no4.htm
I think I benefitted from the lecture more than the tutorial this week, but that was simply because I knew less about different file types than I thought. I didn't really know what all the different file types were for so it helped my understanding of how files are stored a lot. The tutorial was still benefitial, but the ticking boxes for nearly an hour wasn't exactly the highlight of my week. But I did learn the benefits / flaws of usability checklists, which will probably help me later on when I'm likely to have to make something along similar lines.
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