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Observations - First Prototype

1) Map page

Many users like the map page and were fairly familiar with the common controls from their interactions with Google Maps.  However, some of them were unsure on how to select a location, and even after they had clicked one, they were still confused about what to do next.  Some users were interested in having a text-driven search option that would zoom the map appropriately.

2) Calendar page

All of the users were confused by the calendar interface because there was no way of specifying which date was the start date and which one was the end date. It was also unclear to some users that they merely needed to click on the appropriate date to select it.  Two final issues with the calendar page were that the users couldn't tell whether a selected date was a start or end date, and the users didn't know how to change a date if one had already been selected.  Also, users complained that the days of the week were not listed in the calendar.

3) Results page

Every user was overwhelmed by this interface. The graph was confusing to most of them because it was unlike any graph they had encountered before.  While some users seemed to understand the graph after a few moments, the learnability definitely seemed too difficult.  They were confused by the fact that lines represented people and suggested perhaps including pictures to enforce the representation.  While some users by the end thought it was a simple method to figure out how far away people would be, others couldn't use it even after it was explained to them.

3) Other comments

Users were frustrated by the lack of back buttons on many of the pages.  Their absence prevented the user from fixing any mistakes in previous steps of the process without starting over.  Another complaint that users had was that some of the buttons/options were not unselectable while the process lacked appropriate user input.  This allowed the user to continue and "break" the back-end.  A few users were confused on where the "My Info" link on the menu bar would take you, and it wasn't clear that it was related to "My Trips".

Modifications

Map: We added a search box to the map page, so that users could easily select a specific location. Additionally, we changed the arrow button to say "Save and Continue" to make this step more clear to users.

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