...
Finally, space limitations from the standard HTML table layout algorithm resulted in the cramping of the "Play Count" columns, which may impede readability and understanding of the durations over which play counts are aggregated.
Evaluation
User Population
...
- The "Add Genres" function allows any number of tags to be added to the album, so a single album can be tagged with multiple genres.
- The "Add Genres" function allows custom tagging, so music directors can enter their own genre tag (if it does not already appear on the list).
- Date picker for "Release Date" field is very useful - user noted "that's so nice!"
- Entire interface is very clean and intuitive. No messy cluttering of information, controls, or menu items.
Reflection
Overall, we learned that prototyping early and going through multiple rounds of user testing is very helpful in increasing the learnability of the final prototype. Finding usability problems early in the paper prototyping stage allowed us more flexibility when designing the computer prototype. Due to the fact that we had conducted multiple rounds of user tests (totaling over 7 users) with the paper prototypes, we were quite successful with user testing for the computer prototype - no major implementation changes were required for the computer prototype. Users specifically noted that we had taken their earlier suggestions during computer prototype user testing.
...
Finally, we discovered that user testing can be very challenging because users often feel pressured to "do the right thing", rather than identifying usability issues. There were several instances where the user would become withdrawn, uncommunicative, and frustrated that he or she could not complete the scenario tasks. It was an important cue for us to be patient and re-assuring them that the problems lie in our design, and not their competence. We learned to accept criticism objectively and recognize that "the user is always right".