2nd Interactive Prototype

Following is a high level description of the changes made to the design for this pass of the prototype. These changes were made in response to a set of heuristic evaluations. We have addressed the problems and recommendations made by these evaluators more fully in the attached log [MS Excel]. The original heuristic evaluation is available here.

Sitewide: Providing Feedback
Process Status: Throughout the site, we now provide more feedback to the user about the process, and their current location within the process. On the home page, we explain the steps involved in guide building and give the user an idea of what to expect (in both time and steps). Then, as the user moves through the system, we provide a process bar giving feedback on their current location, how many steps they have already traversed and how many steps remaining to go through. We will also implement a tour of the system as soon as we have it finalized the design.

Progress bar: Appears on every page through the Build a Guide process.
Section view of new Home page showing detail explanation of the steps involved in the process. (click image for view of entire page)

Editing Guide/Region: Within the editing process we also now clearly indicate to the user the name of the guide that they are working on, and, within the edit region section, which region they are working on.

Guide Size: Currently we provide information to the user on the memory size of the guide, for example 2000k for a Palm. Our evaluators noted that it was difficult for them to equate this with content size. We created an approximation of how much memory is required for a page of content and now provide this information this adjacent to the memory indicator to assist the user in relating their digital guide to the familiar model of a paper guide. [Note: we have not yet implemented this, but will have it in place for our user testing beginning Sunday, April 15 2001.]

Information Icon/Labeling: The information icon provides context or overview information for each item next to which it appears. When the user follows the link, the content is then provided in a pop-up window. To more clearly label the icon, we included an alt tag with the message 'See overview information for (relevant destination)'.

Hints: Additionally, we decided to incorporate a hints section into the page design. These hints will give the user suggestions on how to use the current page. We have already provided a few of these and will consider others in response to user testing.

Example of hints provided throughout system. On the right, under 'you have purchased access..', TraveLite suggests to the user that to purchase content, they need to begin by creating a guide.

Faq/Trial Download
In our previous design, we had combined these two sections onto a single page. The evaluators found this page confusing, cluttered, and difficult to use. To help guide the user, we've separated the FAQ and Trial Download into two pages with cross-links between the two, and provided links to both pages from the home page.

Combined FAQ free trial download in previous interation.	Now FAQ and Free Trial are two separate pages (FAQ on the left, and Free Trial on the right).

The Purchase Process
The heuristic evaluators found the 'purchase content' and 'guides created' distinction confusing. We struggled with our business model and determined that allowing users to subscribe to content on a country level and then create guides based on any of the content to which they have subscribed, is the easiest and clearest model for our application. However, we discovered through this evaluation that this model is still potentially confusing. To further alleviate confusion and streamline the flow of the interaction, we decided to simply redirect the users to the "purchase" section when they need to purchase a subscription to content. Thus, if they choose a destination they are not subscribed to, they will get redirected to the purchase page. By asking users to subscribe to content only when necessary, we expect that this new design will require less cognitive load and flow more smoothly.

We are aware that this will potentially cause problems and confuse users, therefore we have paid careful attention to labeling content on the page, communicating the status of each content piece and also allowing easy exits for the user to back out of the purchase process. We believe that our user testing will show us whether we have made it clear which content the user has subscribed to and which they need to purchase, and whether confusion is likely between the two.

Guide Download
Our evaluators indicated a desire to be able to download their guide without first previewing it. We structured the flow originally with a greater degree of control, to ensure that the user has completed one step of the process before moving to the next. However, we have decided to allow the user to download from within the edit process, but are still concerned that this interrupts the task flow: will users wish to download in the middle of editing or prefer to review/preview before downloading? We plan to evaluate this functionality during our usability testing.

Edit Guide
Tabs: the evaluators expressed a concern that in switching tabs, they were not able to save their work when they moved on to the next (ie. no 'save' option was provided). This is consistent with the normal ways in which tabs function: they capture the information as the user inputs it, allowing him/her to move rapidly from one tab to another. The user assumes that their work is saved as they go along. We are concerned that should we include a 'save' button on each tab page, users would be even more confused and unsure about what they were saving (and perhaps mistakenly assume that can save disjoint sets of content). Therefore, we decided to add a hints section on some pages that will give the user feedback (explained above under Sitewide: Providing Feedback) so that on this page the hint would reassure the user that their work is saved all along the way.

Some of the other heuristic violations were caused by known deficiencies in functionality, we address these here to highlight improved functionality of the system.

The tabs will be greyed out (and not accessible) unless they are clicked to add to guide, then the content within will be automatically provided by default. We believe that in not allowing access to the tab unless it is added to the guide, the user will understand this functionality in an intuitive manner.
We have also clearly labeled the check box with 'Add to Guide' so that the user understands the action resulting from clicking the tab. The tab will also 'go live' (not be greyed out) when the check box is marked.
We still wanted to provide the user the option to add or subtract all the content within a section with little effort, therefore we maintained the 'Clear all | Select all' on each tab.
We have also made the tabs actually look like tabs and clearly labeled the check box 'add to guide'.

So much functionality required implementation to produce a prototype sufficient for testing, that not all the coding is yet completed for each of the seven tab sections. The Food & Dining tab is completely implemented and functioning properly, while the remaining tabs are in varying states of completion. However, this functionality and overall design changes will be completely implemented by Sunday April 15 2001, in time for the first user test.

Editing Proccess: In the editing process, we have now streamlined the flow so that the user picks a country, picks their regions (or accepts the default "all regions") and then chooses their desired guide size and editing/customizing method (1. pre-formatted, 2. edit by country, or 3. edit each region). If the user chooses either the 2. edit by country or 3. edit each region, they proceed to the edit page. For option 3. edit by region, the user can edit content for each region, one content section at a time. Alternatively, with option 2. edit by country, the user performs the customization at the country-level, and is not required to edit region by region.

Previously we had the user choose a country, pick their guide size and then pick regions and edit the content; we realized from the evaluators' feedback that the region selection also impacts the potential guide size.

Edit on Country Level: One of the evaluators noted that they may wish to edit a country rather than each region (a rather time-consuming process). We therefore have provided a means to edit the guide on a country level rather than a region level. This is available on the Choose Guide Size page.

Created three distinct paths for editing guide content:

preformatted, 'quicky' version,
filter on a country level,
edit each region.

'Finished' button: We decided to change the 'Finished' button to read 'Bookmark: Edit Later' to indicate to the user that they are capturing the content but can still return to the guide to alter it whenever they wish. We had previously considered using 'Save' but felt that this implied to the user that they had finished the entire task, not that they were simply storing the current state for either download or editing at a later time. This is not yet implemented, along with the bookmark functionality, but will be in place for our user testing.

'Save as' Function: The evaluators also suggested providing users a means to save an existing guide as a new guide and edit it in a different way. We plan to add such 'save as' functionality at a later date. Thereby allowing a user to duplicate any guide and then edit in a different way, make additional alterations, without affecting the original.

Error Recovery
Several of the heuristic violations noted by our evaluators refered to error recovery or functionality that was not yet implemented. Although we specifically stated in our guidelines that this was not yet implemented, these comments highlight the importance of providing a means for the user to recovery easily and gracefully from errors. We will incorporate this as soon as we possibly can. We have also noted on the attached log where the system was buggy or needed additional functionality to make the page work as it should.