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Reviewing notes is less interesting than in our second design, since it is the same as editing. Ben can browse through the navigation pane and locate notes by title, or use the search bar, which functions as in the previous two designs.
Analysis
Learnability:
Efficiency: This is the most efficient design in terms of being able to start taking notes quickly, since the interface starts you on an empty notes page. The behavior after first launch, returning you to the most recent notes, is somewhat less efficient since we expect that most of the time users will be opening the application to start new notes. However, creating new notes here is no less efficient than in our other designs, and in the cases where you do want the most recent notes it saves time. The way the design combines touchscreen functionality in a smartphone with the full-sized keyboard of a laptop to let you draw diagrams and label them lets you make the most efficient possible use of the hardware available.
The fact that all aspects of the web interface are visible on one page (in the navigation pane and the editing pane) make this interface more learnable than the other ones. The navigation pane and editing pane also maintain external consistency with similar apps. The fact that this design involves multiple pieces of hardware hampers learnability, although the QR code smartphone app installation process is a large hint to the users. It might be difficult for users to realize that they can edit the images after they are completed, as well.
Efficiency: This is the most efficient design in terms of being able to start taking notes quickly, since the interface starts you on an empty notes page. The behavior after first launch, returning you to the most recent notes, is somewhat less efficient since we expect that most of the time users will be opening the application to start new notes. However, creating new notes here is no less efficient than in our other designs, and in the cases where you do want the most recent notes it saves time. The way the design combines touchscreen functionality in a smartphone with the full-sized keyboard of a laptop to let you draw diagrams and label them lets you make the most efficient possible use of the hardware available.
Safety: Once again, the design is fairly safe: It's easy to correct errors in creating or naming notes and categories, and deletion of notes requires a confirmation. You can rely on the undo/redo stream to correct errors within a single editing session. The least safe part of the process is in the diagramming app, since there is no undo/redo in the smartphone drawing part of it. For this, users will have to rely on using the eraser tool within the app. Safety: