Heuristic Evaluation of TooGather

(1)

Heuristic Evaluation of TooGather

Evaluator #A: Lim Zhenyang (T05902109) Evaluator #B: Peng-Hsuan Li (R04922001) Evaluator #C: Mike Trieu (A05922102) Evaluator #D: Nicole Spanjer (A05725101) Evaluator #E: Lukas Grinkevicius (T05902122)

(These names will be removed before the document is given to the project team. Use these letter below)

1. Problem

The following document provides a heuristic

providing an anonymous peer reviewing platform including a Q&A knowledge base and several other features that improve the overall in-class experience.

2. Violations Found

1. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 1] [Found by A, C, E]

The welcome screen does not fade away automatically. This may confuse users, as it may seem that the application is still loading.

Fix: Make welcome screen fade after 1-2 secs

2. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 4] [Found by E]

There’s a “My account” section but no login.

Fix: Require user to login after welcome screen.

3. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 3] [Found by A, B, C, D, E]

In the same menu, the home icon button suggest it goes back to a home screen, it was not clear that the list of courses was a home screen. This confused me when I wanted to go back to the list of courses.

Fix: Change it into a button called

4. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 4] [Found by A]

Answer (“Yes! Before!”) disappears after closing the answer box.

Question doesn’t appear on the Q&A screen.

Fix: Implement saving function that is lost in prototype 5. [H2-3 User Control] [Severity 3] [Found by A, B, C, D]

Missing back button.

Fix:

Arrows in question asking window are unclear: can’t tell if I’m asking another question or adding additional information to the same one. Also – colors, could be different for going forward and back. Also, after tipping the question had no idea how many steps it takes to complete the question post (is there going to be another window?). After adding #info could be “Finish” or “Post” button.

Fix: Make input question into a single page.

7. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 3] [Found by A]

Search button leads to results in both Q&A and Keys, but search button can only be found in keyword main page, but not in Q&A. Would be good if search button is visible in Q&A too.

(2)

Fix: Move search to Menu.

8. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 1] [Found by B, C, D]

It’s never clear we are in which part of the app. There’s no proper navigation design or status hints.

Fix: The apps is simple that each task is not very deep through.

9. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 3] [Found by D]

After clicking on the “Yes” button in the “Are you lost?”-screen, the screen switches back to the question list. There is no indication that the user has already mentioned that he/she is lost. It would be better if there was a small button or some sort of icon indication that the user has used the “Are you lost”-option.

Fix:

Question window missing a lot of mandatory information: when were the questions asked, what are the priorities for these questions (or why are they sorted this way), having to click on a question in order to see whether it has an answer

Fix: Add planned information to questions.

11. [H2-5 Error Prevention] [Severity 2] [Found by E]

Once you get into a course, you can see everything since the beginning of the course?

Questions/answers could be grouped by date/time, sorted accordingly. Could have a filter also (Ex. “only show questions from last hour/day”).

Fix: Show nearest 1 week question at top, else at bottom.

12. [H2-7 Efficiency of Use] [Severity 3] [Found by A, C, D, E]

In the current prototype, the user always has to click on the keyboard sign when typing an answer or question. If this is also planned to be like this in the real app, it will be an

unnecessary extra step for the user.

Fix: Make user able to edit by clicking input boxes.

13. [H2-2 Match Sys & World] [Severity 0] [Found by A]

When back button is pressed, the screen slides down (unconventional) instead of sliding right (conventional).

Fix: The problem caused by limitation of Marvel.

Could be more intuitive if arrow-right button is changed to a “green tick” button. A green tick button would indicate the end of a question submission process.

Fix: User correct indication to show submission process.

Confusion between definition and keywords. Definitions could be named “definitions”

instead of keys.

Fix:

16. [H2-2 Match Sys & World] [Severity 2] [Found by B]

There should not be a “home” icon in the bottom center that brings the app the its title page, because this icon is already exist to the bottom of every Android screen which functions as an escape to the desktop.

Fix: As 3.

17. [H2-2 Match Sys & World] [Severity 4] [Found by A, B, C, D]

Tapping the HCID Week 4 text brings you to the "Are you lost" tasks of the application.

This transition is not logical too me, I expected that it would bring me to a list of the other weeks of this course. I suggest to make a separate button to say you are lost in class.

(3)

Fix: Change to swipe to right. (Clicking is limitation from Marvel) 18. [H2-3 User Control] [Severity 3] [Found by A]

Doesn’t allow user to edit his or her answer Doesn’t allow user to delete his or her answer.

Fix: Implement editing and deleting. (Not implemented in prototype) 19. [H2-3 User Control] [Severity 0] [Found by A]

Doesn’t have the option to search for keyword directly. Include a search icon beside each keyword to enable direct search.

Fix: Never have the plan to implement such function.

20. [H2-7 Efficiency of Use] [Severity 1] [Found by D, E]

When the user is in the course question screen, there is no “Go back” option, it can only be accessed through the home button in the menu. It might be better to have a “Go back to courses”-button directly on the page to save time and clicks.

Fix:

21. [H2-3 User Control] [Severity 1] [Found by E]

“Week 4” of the course. How do I access the questions/answers from other weeks? Do I automatically end up in current week? Give user some freedom.

Fix: Do not intended to let user choose so. Do not show week.

22. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 3] [Found by A, D, E]

Answer window. So many different fonts (in different sizes also). Why? I can see at least 3.

Either use different fonts OR different sizes to express different functions.

Fix: Standardize the font, sizes and styles.

After keying in answer, the “+” button at the bottom changes to “?”. What does the “?”

button do?

Fix: Correct the typo.

“This week” has 3 notifications. What does the 3 correspond to? “20% lost”,“Points to review: 2” or “Points reviewed: 0”? The notification style might not be suitable for this use case as it’s usually used to indicate number of unread messages.

Fix: Reduce the information shown at Weekly Statistic and standardize the layout.

25. [H2-1 Visibility of Status] [Severity 0] [Found by A]

After submitting a question, screen transition too fast to be read. Delay could be longer.

Fix: The transition originally required a click, the problem do not exist.

26. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 2] [Found by B, C]

Tapping the hamburger icon shows the menu, but it is not clear how to close the menu. In current standards the screen either shows a grayed out part of the previous screen or change the hamburger icon to a close/arrow icon. I suggest to change it to the standard.

Fix: Change to how normally Menu is implemented. (Limitation of Marvel) 27. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 3] [Found by B]

It’s required to click on the key point title to return to the key point list, but we never expect this kind of functions being put there.

Fix:

28. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 1] [Found by C]

The welcome text uses the word "on" instead of "to". Using "to" is according to many people on the Internet is the standard. I suggest to change it to: "Welcome to TooGather".

(4)

Fix: Fix the typo.

29. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 2] [Found by D]

When entering another answer to a question, the user can type first and then click submit so that the answer gets submitted. When entering a question or keywords however, the prototype submits the text directly when typing.

Fix: Standardize the input process.

30. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 3] [Found by A, D]

On several screens, there is a back arrow on the bottom of the page. In most applications, however, this button is usually located somewhere on the upper left side and it could be therefore confusing. Placing the back button on the upper left side would be better.

Fix:

31. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 2] [Found by D]

On the screen in the weekly overview of the user’s statistics, the headlines (e.g. “Week 1”

or “This week”) look like buttons and thus, the user might want to click on it (e.g. to go back). It would be better if the headlines would look like non-clickable text.

Fix: Change the design

32. [H2-8 Minimalist Design] [Severity 1] [Found by A]

The white bar at the bottom – if I press and swipe up, it seems like the bar can be pulled up, but it’s not. Consider removing it.

Fix: Change the design.

33. [H2-5 Error Prevention] [Severity 2] [Found by B]

In the first step of asking a question, no warnings to prevent users from accidentally clicking the back button and lost their progresses.

Fix: alert the user for unsaved progress

34. [H2-5 Error Prevention] [Severity 3] [Found by E]

Anyone can ask anything and answer anything. Leaves the open window for trolls and spammers: could flood the interface and make it unclear, as well as not usable. (too many random questions/answers). Could be some kind of question/answer rating available (maybe a “report” or “approve/like” button)

Fix: nd Prof. to delete trolls and spams.

35. [H2-6 Recognition not Recall] [Severity 0] [Found by A]

While typing, there could be an area showing similar keywords used by other users. Users could add the suggested keywords in easily.

Fix: Not planned function.

36. [H2-6 Recognition not Recall] [Severity 1] [Found by C]

In the same add keywords screen of the adding a question function, it appears to me that you have to add # to every keyword. Not sure what happens when the user forgets to add them, but the user should not have to remember to add # at all, so I suggest to

automatically add them or remove them.

Fix: Change keywords into single input and add # automatically.

37. [H2-7 Efficiency of Use] [Severity 1] [Found by B]

Every functions of the app are realized by a series of clicking. No quick accesses are provided, e.g. by sliding out a common functions menu.

Fix: implement swipe right = Are You Lost?, swipe left = Menu 38. [H2-8 Minimalist Design] [Severity 3] [Found by A]

Similar colour scheme and style, but they have different functions.

Fix: Recolour the design layout.

(5)

Too many colours; what happens if there are 30 questions? Use minimal colours. What if the question is longer than the screen? Is that single question going to cover the entire screen space?

Fix: as 38.

The line separating the answers seem more like an underline than a separation line.

Fix: Change the separating line design.

Keywords could be separated into individual boxes for visibility and clear segregation, especially if there are plentiful keywords.

Fix: Change input keywords into single word input and box then separately.

42. [H2-8 Minimalist Design] [Severity 3] [Found by A, D]

When clicking on “Stats” à “This week”, the screen shows a graph an percentage of how often the user has been lost and the respective points to review. The arrangement of the information of the page is not consistent, often there is too much space left in between contextual parts (Graph – Points to review – Review points buttons). It would look more aesthetic if the space in-between was eliminated.

Fix: Reduce the information shown at Weekly Statistic and standardize the layout.

43. [H2-9 Help Users with Errors] [Severity 2] [Found by B]

No error messages, let alone solution hints.

Fix: add input hints.

44. [H2-10 Documentation] [Severity 4] [Found by B, D]

There is no simple ways to find usage help. In fact, it’s non-existent; not even a README.

Fix: Add a simple tutorial when we use the apps for the first time.

45. [H2-4 Consistency] [Severity 0] [Found by B]

If we are in the menu page, clicking on the menu button brings us back to the previous page. But then the menu should look like a popup instead of a whole page, otherwise, the menu button should always bring out menu instead of “sometimes” bringing up previous page.

Fix: Problem not found.

46. [H2-10 Documentation] [Severity 3] [Found by E]

Had no idea at first what “Keys ” mean. Could provide the information in question asking window (hashtag section) that these hashtags can be used later for search purposes. Or

“Keys” could be somehow renamed to be related to search.

Fix: Add tutorial

(6)

3. Summary of Violations

Category ^{# Viol.}

(sev 0) # Viol.

(sev 1) # Viol.

(sev 2) # Viol.

(sev 3) # Viol.

(sev 4) # Viol.

(total)

[H2-1: Visibility of Status] 1 2 0 2 3 8

[H2-2: Match Sys & World] 2 0 2 0 1 5

[H2-3: User Control] 1 1 0 2 0 4

[H2-4: Consistency] 1 3 3 5 0 12

[H2-5: Error Prevention] 0 0 2 1 0 3

[H2-6: Recognition not Recall] 1 1 0 0 0 2

[H2-7: Efficiency of Use] 0 2 0 1 0 3

[H2-8: Minimalist Design] 0 2 1 3 0 6

[H2-9: Help Users with Errors] 0 1 0 0 0 1

[H2-10: Documentation] 0 0 0 1 1 2

Total Violations by Severity 6 12 8 15 5 46

4. Evaluation Statistics

Severity / Evaluator

Evaluator A Evaluator B Evaluator C Evaluator D Evaluator E

sev. 0 5 1 0 0 0

sev. 1 5 2 4 2 3

sev. 2 2 4 1 2 1

sev. 3 10 3 3 7 6

sev. 4 2 2 1 2 2

total (sev. 3 & 4) 12 5 4 9 8

total

(all severity levels)

24 12 9 13 12

5. Summary Recommendations

We had to standardize our design and layout, implement commonly used flow button more common navigation like other apps on the market and prepare a README as there are many functions that is implemented in the apps.