Design

Home

Originally the home page had a tab in the lower right hand corner that would allow users to cancel a previously scheduled call, but from feedback we found that this wasn't externally consistent with other web pages. Instead we moved this functionality to the page header along with other options. Additionally this allowed the user to access these options regardless of the mode they were in.

Zip code results

The filter tab originally had radio buttons and an option for 'All,' but the heuristic evaluations correctly pointed out that check boxes would make more sense and provide greater flexibility for the user. We also added an input field at the top of the page that would allow the user to search a new zip code without having to return to the previous page (this improves efficiency).

Call now

One of our heuristic evaluators pointed out that we could improve efficiency by remembering what number a user entered previously and then having that number filled out automatically the next time the user decides to make a call. We added a cookie that accomplishes this.

Schedule a call

The cookie mentioned in the previous section was also implemented on this screen. We also fixed some cosmetic issues revealed by our heuristic evaluators.

Record a voicemail

Because the voicemail recording widget as flash based, it loaded slightly after the rest of the page leaving the user guessing about what to do for a small but still noticeable period of time. We added a loading symbol to account for this. Furthermore, the heuristic evaluation mentioned that users could submit without recording first, so we fixed that as well.

View scheduled calls

This page would not exist without the valuable feedback we got from the heuristic evaluations. Previously users would not be able to see what calls they had and instead had to cancel them from memory, but this page provides much more transparency so that the user is much more in touch with the actual model.

Implementation

Describe the internals of your implementation, but keep the discussion on a high level. Discuss important design decisions you made in the implementation. Also discuss how implementation problems may have affected the usability of your interface.

Our project was designed as a web-app using html, css, javascript, php, and a MySQL back-end. We did not use any frameworks, but mainly because we were new to all of these technologies and were unaware of the benefits.

Evaluation

The user test was conducted on a laptop with the user in control and the facilitator and observer behind the user on either side. Our users were all MIT students who had no previous experience contacting policy makers. While perhaps more technicaly inclined than other users in our proposed population, these test subjects still had the esential trait we were looking for: a lack of experience contacting policymakers.

Because our project mission did not change from when we did our paper prototype testing, we used the same briefing. The briefing is reproduced below:

We added two additional user tasks from the set used during the paper prototype testing. The complete set of tasks is now:

• Find the representatives for your area
• Call a representative now
• Record a voicemail for a different representative
• Schedule a call for a third representative
• Reschedule the call you just scheduled

We did not use a demo because we preferred to let the user learn the interface themselves. 

Usability problems and severity

User 1

• The phone number entry field was not auto-focused on the call now page (mild)
  • Make the field auto-focus on page load
• The user was confused about what happened after the call was placed on the call now page (moderate)
  • The user did not have her phone with her, so she was not alerted by it ringing as would normally be the case
• The voicemail record button has a microphone icon while external consistency calls for a red circle (cosmetic)
  • Change the icon to a red circle
• The now button on the time entry widget confused the user because she had already entered a future date, and now does not make sense in that regard (mild)
  • Remove the now button when the date is not set to today
• The time entry widget is not intuitively mapped (mild)
  • Use a more intutive time selector widget
• The header buttons are not obviously buttons (cosmetic)
  • Change the background color and edges of the header hrefs to be more button like

User 2

User 3

Reflection

The iterative design process was useful, because it allowed us to make changes rapidly and then get feedback to double check that we had actually made an improvement with that change. If we were to do this again, we would probably investigate which technologies to use more carefully. For all of us this was our first time using css, javascript, or php, and while we got the work done, we had to spend more time learning the technology than we would have liked. However, now that we know the technology better, it would be useful to run more high fidelity tests, because we believe the feedback from testing phases that actually involved a computer (heuristic evaluation and final user testing) to be the most valuable and actionable. For example, even though our paper prototype had radio buttons on the filter tab, none of our test subjects commented on them, and this was likely due to the low fidelity of paper. Again, web prototyping is so quick, that we think it might have been more useful to test a wire-frame prototype a little earlier on.