Assignment #7: Second Interactive Prototype
April 15, 2004

Prototype Overview
UI Design Changes
Problems Unaddressed
How to Run the Second Interactive Prototype
Link to Second Interactive Prototype

Work Distribution Table

Prototype Overview

We have received some valuable comments and suggestions from the MappingChina group. The following UI design changes are made in response to the major issues addressed in the heuristic evaluation. Changes are listed by location and/or functionality. HE comments are presented in Italic, and UI design changes are presented in bullet points immediately afterwards. Screen shots are used to illustrate the changes.

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UI Design Changes

Left Navigation Bar (throughout the system)

We had a number of comments on graphic design issues that might affect navigation. For example, the visibility of the items in the left column is very poor. Already, the column melts into the background and so seems like secondary or unimportant information. On top of that, the blue text disappears into the blue background.

• The color of all the links on the left navigation bar is changed from light blue to white to make them standout more from the dark blue background color.

Search

The search function is a crucial part of any website. We found the search delimiters to be techy and confusing (_ALLWORDS , _ANYWORDS; Search all words [AND] and Search Any Words [OR] ). Also, we felt that the search function should be only the simple box on the home page, with perhaps an option for an advanced search. We also weren’t sure what we were searching for - Indicators? Articles? Locations? Currently, the search results page from the search box query on the home page is another search box and list of categories under which to search. It’s too much work to enter a term in the home page search box, then get another search page where the user has to refine the search. The user should have the choice upfront whether to do a simple or more advanced search.

• On the homepage, the search button located underneath the search box and the “Search” link on the left navigation bar are taken out. A system-wide available “Advanced search” link is used instead to distinguish it from simple search, which could be done by entering the search term in the search box on home page and clicking “go”. Previously, clicking on the “Search” button would perform the “advanced search” function, which leads to the main search page. Such changes help to clarify the differences between simple search and advanced search.
• The (_ALLWORDS , _ANYWORDS; Search all words [AND] and Search Any Words [OR] ) option is taken out from the Indicator Master List page next to the search box at the top of the page. Users can use the “Advanced search” function to perform such complicated search.

Right Navigation Bar (throughout the system)

Login/Registration

The log-in/registering process and functionality of the site should be very clear. Right now it is very unclear. None of us could determine how the log-in process flow worked, or which features required a log-in versus which didn’t. Can one still surf information before logging in, or only after logging in? We didn’t know. We also felt that after registering or logging in, the user should be taken back to the page he/she was working on. Right now, the registration process goes to a dead end.

• Login box is added on the individual indicator page near the post comments' section. Now users can easily login to post comments.
• Once login, the system will automatically go back to the last viewed page where the users have left off. Previously users were prompted back to the homepage once logged in. This added function makes the system more powerful.
• Logout link on the left navigation bar will not show up until you have logged in. Previously the logout link was always there even users have not logged in, which is not logical and confuses users.
• The login link previously located on the right top “orange” header next to “About us” is now taken out as it is repeating the function of the login box, and it is hard to see.

When the user clicks on “Registration” (from the left hand column), he/she is taken to a page that makes them choose “Register” again from a list whose options don’t make sense (Login, Register, Retrieve lost password). Why is the user looking at logging out or finding a password here when they presumably have not even signed up or logged in yet?

• The visual functionality of the “New User Sign Up!” link located at the bottom of the login box is modified that users are now prompted straight to the registration page once it is clicked. Previously new users were prompted through couple pages that contained non-critical information before they could register. The underlying functionality of the link, which is to register as a new user, remains the same but the process is expedited.

Before Login

After Login

Right Navigation Bar (inside individual indicator page)

We were also confused in some cases by the right sidebar. For example, when viewing the “Compare Across Communities” page, the “Review Past History” link on the right sidebar is confusing. Does this refer to past comparisons of all counties? Because the right sidebar isn’t visually/graphically separated from the page contents, the tendency is to think the two are related. Perhaps by separating the sidebar more forcefully from the page, this link would make more sense and make the user see that the sidebar elements relate to the Air Pollution category as a whole, rather than the county comparison page.

• The “View past history” link is moved to appear before “Compare across communities” link to avoid the assumption that “View past history” is referring to viewing past indicator history across communities.
• The “View past history” link resided inside the “Related Links” block is changed to “View past indictor status” to better explain the function of the link.
• “The other resources” block located on the bottom right navigation bar inside the individual indicator page is eliminated as it was perceived to be too vague. The only link, “Other Related Information”, originally resided inside the block is now moved to the bottom of the “Related Links” block located at the top of the right navigation bar.

Middle Well (inside individual indicator page)

Email/Post Comments

Because this is one of your major scenario items, we felt it was important to make it clear from the home page how to accomplish these desired tasks. However, we couldn’t figure out how to email information or post without first having to drill down for information. And some pages didn’t have an email link at the bottom. After we emailed a page, there was no confirmation page. We weren’t sure if our email was sent out.

• A confirmation message is provided an email is successfully sent out to provide a feedback mechanism.

• The “post comments” button is now modified that it will not show up until users have logged in. This implicitly forces users to login even before attempting to post comments by hitting the “post comments” button. In addition, the “please login to post comments” text, which is in bolded red font, is added to remind users that they have to first login to post comments.
• “Reply to this” link is added in the comment viewing section to allow fast reply to previously posted comments.

Problems Not Addressed

Terminology

We did not change some of the names we use in the site: “Community Indicators”, “Contact List”, “Promising Practices”,and “Resource Centers”. We made some changes on these terms according to our first usability test already, and we believe their meanings are reasonably clear at this point. Since our target users are public health professionals and people interested in community health issues, they probably are familiar with these terms. Although our heuristic evaluators recommend that we change theses terms again, we think that different people have different interpretations and it is hard to have terms that please everyone.

Dials and Graphs

Another heuristic suggestion is to change the dials and to add scales and labels for graphs appropriately. We are also leaving this change as it will take a reasonably long time to do any graphical redesign. We hope to be able to incorporate improvements in this area for next prototype.

Indicator Information

Due to time constraint, much of the content information for indicators is on the topic of air pollution, such as indicator explanation, data source information, graphs, etc. For example, under the infant mortality indicator, the content is still displaying air pollution information. We will update the content for most of the indicators for next prototype when we have more time to make the changes, as it is too much information to change at this point.

Indicator Links on Resource Center Page

The resource center link on the left hand navigational bar leads to a resource center master list page. From that page, users can choose a specific topic and learn about all related information on that topic. Since we are only focusing on the indicators for the 213 project, we do not plan to make changes on the resource center related pages (These pages were just added for users to understand the scope of the project).

Icons on Indicator Master List Page

One of the heuristic recommendations is to delete the indicator dials on the indicator master list page because the icons make the page look too information intensive. We disagree with that and we believe that with careful design and layout, the dials on the master list page will help get users' attention and give some brief information on the status of each indicator. In that way users can easily find out which indicators are doing well or doing poorly with a simple glance.

How to Run the Second Interactive Prototype

The second interactive prototype can be run similarily to running the first prototype. Please click here to find instructions.

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