Websites
We reviewed seven
different web-based discussion forums for our competitive analysis.
Each group member reviewed one or two sites independently. After summarizing
each of our findings to the group, we discussed the implications of
the designs on our personas and their tasks. In this document you will
find a brief description of each website we reviewed as well as a critique
of each website with respect to the personas and scenarios that we have
created. A more detailed evaluation of the websites that includes screenshots
is included in appendices.
Dreamless is a discussion
forum devoted to website design critique. It allows registered users
to reply to particular topics set up by the administrators of the site.
There are also a couple forums that allow users to start their own thread
of discussion. Although users are loosely moderated (i.e. a registered
user can be prohibited from posting and entire threads can be erased),
the threads are usually allowed to grow and die on their own. The site
is generally well designed. There are capabilities for both vertical
and horizontal navigation and an adequate search mechanism. The two
main problems are the use of color and the placement of tools and buttons
on the screen. The entire site is in various shades of gray with no
distinction for hyperlinks, and buttons are not placed in logical spots
on the pages.
Best of Berkeley
is another discussion website geared towards U.C. Berkeley students.
There are about 8 different forums at which registered users can post
new topics of their choosing. This site is powered by the same program
as Dreamless and therefore has a very similar feel. The main difference
between Dreamless and Best of Berkeley is the use of color. Although
Best of Berkeley uses bright and sometimes garish colors, they are used
to good effect, helping to differentiate different parts of the page.
Dreamless, however, is better at consistency. Somehow the buttons and
links that are consistent on each page of Best of Berkeley show up in
different locations. Although nothing is very hard to find, it detracts
from the look of the page.
Craigslist is focused
on geographic community-centered information such as events, housing,
jobs, and personal ads. It provides two different kinds of functions:
a bulletin board for posting information (which may be replied to only
by email, not on the site), and forums providing threaded discussions.
The discussion capability was apparently added on to the original bulletin
board function, and is low-profile and has a general flavor of being
an afterthought. The entry page is informative but cluttered. The two
different function areas (bulletin boards and discussion forums) are
not well integrated or consistent in appearance. Even within each area,
the design has numerous inconsistencies, inconveniences, and features
which are difficult to understand and not explained well. Despite these
criticisms, the site is reasonably easy to use. In addition, certain
specific features (such as horizontal navigation between forums and
forum-specific search options) seem potentially very useful.
The Thorn Tree (part
of Lonely Planet) provides linear (non-threaded) discussion forums on
travel-related topics. A fairly elaborate search facility is integrated.
The core features of the site (searching, reading, and posting messages)
can be used without login, but additional features are provided to users
who register. For the most part, this site seems easy to use and understand,
despite using some obscure symbols and unique terminology which might
not be clear to new users (such as referring to forums as "branches").
Only a few inconsistencies mar the overall design. A nice array of display
customization options is provided.
This bulletin board
system is simple, attractive and easy-to-use. The basic structure of
this bulletin board is appropriate for the various SIMians bulletin
boards although it is perhaps a little too simple. Users can post new
medical related topics or reply to previously posted ones. Users do
not need to be logged in to post. This site, as well as a couple of
the others that we reviewed, lets users attach an "emoticon", a smiley
face or other icon, to their messages. We found this option useless
and even a little counterproductive. Although it is supposed to let
users get a general idea of each message, not all users will use the
same icon in similar situations.
This bulletin board
is very interesting and complex. It may be appropriate for the courses
section of the SIMians bulletin board. The focus of the bulletin board
is news items that have been submitted by the users of Plastic. An editor
at Plastic then decides whether a submitted item is worthy of posting.
Users then post comments relating to the news stories that have been
posted. Moderators can rank the quality of the comments. Users can then
filter out messages that have received low rankings. This is one of
the few examples of a truly threaded discussion forum where users can
reply to specific replies.
Infopop's Ultimate
Bulletin Board (UBB) supplies the backend for a number of popular bulletin
boards, including Dreamless and Best of Berkeley. UBB also hosts its
own discussion forum for customer service inquiries. This is another
example of a linear discussion forum. The topic list on this site is
very good, providing a lot of useful information (number of posts, time
of last post, original writer) in a small space. Nevertheless, the icons
used on this page still require a key which can get pushed to the bottom
of the page, beyond what the user first sees. The registration page
is not as clear as it could be. There are more steps involved in registering
than are necessary, and it is not always clear what is required and
what is optional. It is also unclear why UBB requests all of the information
it does. Finally, there is no clearly marked "exit" back to the main
discussion page when registration is complete.
Personas
Cindy
Before Cindy can
use the SIMians discussion site, she will need to register. Cindy would
have a somewhat difficult time completing her registration in the UBB.
Because her English skills are not as good as a native speaker's, she
may not understand the meaning of all the pages she must read and links
she must click before registration is complete. The Thorn Tree has a
better registration page. The instructions are clear and the process
was easy. However, the user must scroll to the bottom of a list of rules
before she can click the submit button. Our system would probably not
need as many rules and disclaimers and would therefore not require such
a long page. A problem noted with UBB is that registration is a dead
end. Except for the standard links, there is no guide back to the main
page or to the forum that the user had been viewing before.
We also feel that
Cindy might be unfamiliar with the "emoticons" that several of the sites
let users attach to their messages. Cindy, wanting to make a good first
impression, would want to pick an appropriate icon. Coming from another
country, she may be worried that Americans use the icons in different
circumstances. Although most Americans probably wouldn't care what the
icon looked like, deliberating on this issue may cause Cindy some undue
stress. Therefore, we will not include such a function in our site.
One feature that
Cindy will probably enjoy is the ability to add markup language to a
message. In her housing request, she may wish to add a photo of herself
or a link to her personal homepage. The UBB, Best of Berkeley and Dreamless
sites all allow some type of markup language, either HTML or a simple
UBB markup language. We will probably allow certain HTML tags within
posted messages.
Cindy may find that
her grammar was incorrect in the message that she posted. Best of Berkeley
and Dreamless both let users edit their own messages, even after having
submitted them. As we will require some type of sign-in before people
can use our discussion site, we would be able to implement this capability.
Meg
Part of Meg's scenario
is to jump from one forum (jobs) to another forum (alumni). Some of
the sites that we reviewed have navigation techniques that make this
quite easy. For example, the Best of Berkeley and Dreamless sites both
have a "hop to" menu with the list of current forums. Choosing a different
forum brings the user to the topic list of that forum. A different mechanism
for navigating between forums is provided on the Craigslist search results
page, which instead of a pull-down menu has a row of clearly displayed
links to all forums at the top of the page. The
Thorn Tree provides a "jump to" menu at the bottom of each
page, and also a set of arrows that lets the user navigate around the
site at the top and bottom of each page. The purpose of the arrows is
difficult for a new user to understand. Furthermore, including both
types of navigation is confusing, since it is not clear to a new user
that the arrows do not actually do the same thing as the "hop to" method.
A consistent navigation technique is needed.
Finally, when Meg
posts a job to the job forum, she would like to preview what her message
will look like and be able to fix it before sending it to the world.
Annie
Annie, as well as
Meg, would like to search a particular forum for a particular word or
phrase. The sites we reviewed varied in their search interfaces. Med411
does not allow the user to search across the entire site. We probably
don't need this capability, either, because most people will look for
the information they need in only a single forum. Med411 is also too
simple for intricate searches. Craigslist offers a more powerful search.
Each forum includes different "search by" choices, customized by the
forum type. For example, a search in the job forum allows the user to
search by part- or full-time status. We may decide to implement this
feature if our different forums turn out to have very different options.
The Thorn Tree site is limited because it can only search the entire
site. It cannot search a single forum, which is the capability Annie
would most likely use. Best of Berkeley and Dreamless both have decent
search interfaces that include the ability to search over a single forum
or over the entire site.
Ed
Ed would like to
have a good browsing rather than searching mechanism. Craigslist and
Dreamless only show the subject lines of topics, which can be quite
cryptic. Thorn Tree shows the subject line as well as the text of the
first message. Ed would get a better idea of the topic if shown at least
a few lines of text. Most of the sites show good metadata about topics
and forums, such as when the initial message was posted, how many replies
have been posted and when the last reply was posted. Using such metadata
in our site would let Ed know how current the information is within
each topic.