...
During implementation, we tested and retested our site, checking for usability problems and bugs, following the iterative pattern of design. Overall, we felt that using Rails helped us abstract our design into separate parts, helping us focus on different individual parts with ease.
Evaluation
Reflection
Over the course of the iterative design process, we were able to focus on improving the overall design of the site, by focusing on the individual components. At the start of the project, we had a much larger project in mind, but we decided to tone it down to be able to work on making the most integral components of the site as good as possible. Prototyping our design in several different ways helped us to form a better picture of the site in our heads before we even sat down to code, which significantly cut down on the actual coding time. The computer prototype in particular allowed us to be able to focus a lot of our attention on the back-end of the site, and to make several small iterative changes to the prototype to improve the final product. User testing and heuristic evaluation really helped us focus on improving particular parts of the user interface, also cutting down time working on the front-end. Furthermore, because of the time saved, we were able to mock up, design, and completely implement a brand new feature to the site (the Admin Panel).
Our overall site layout really improved as the result of iterative design and prototyping it, both on paper and on the computer. We worked a lot on making it as clean and functional as possible, mocking it up on paper at first. When we had it implemented, we made iterative changes to it by using Firebug to change both the HTML and CSS of the site in real-time, allowing us to decide which layout we liked the best. Over the course of changes, we also consulted other brothers as to which design they considered the cleanest and simplest. This helped us avoid designs that we really liked, but were at times confusing to actual future users.
Overall, the iterative design process really helped us to make the right decisions as to the look, feel, and functionality of SkullWeb, simultaneously helping us avoid confusing and complicated designs. It helped us keep the site incredibly simple with a very strong feature set.