Google’s new wave collaboration tool looks exceptional

While I recommend that you watch this entire video, I’ve configured it to start at the spell checker feature, as it is an example of what is so truly amazing about this application.  Forget about what you know about spell checkers.  This is skynet re-purposed to spell check.  In addition to the usual social networking uses, I imagine students with similar academic interests finding each other and collaborating within and outside the application.  Doing away with our under-performing bulletin board so as to have a more rich ongoing conversation with busy staff is also appealing.

Some thoughts on graphical user interface design (GUI): part 2

I wireframed a tutor scheduling page to  highlight some of the recommendations that I had made in my earlier post.  I’m sure you will agree that this is a much better aesthetic experience than what is currently available but the application behavior is what I wish to highlight here.

(1) Left panel is menu for all pages in the application.  It appears on every page so that users do not become lost in the application.  A color and icon change indicates current page.

(2) Top numbered panel serves as a breadcrumb for the current page.  Colors change to indicate to users where they are in the process.  Number icons change as well for accessibility reasons.

(3) A dialog box appears at the top of the page to indicate what users should do first.  It disappears once users make an initial selection.  Experienced users may disable most dialog boxes through a user preference wizard.

(4) A question mark icon is displayed at top right of screen.  Clicking it opens a text modal box that might also feature a video demonstration.  This feature is contextual and brings up different information depending from what page it is clicked.

(5) A question mark icon is displayed at key functions in case users have specific non-global questions.  Mouseover opens up a pop-up text window.  The four here explain what services are offered by each center and the particulars of group and individual tutoring.

(6) To assist users with navigation, selections are featured in a logical and prescribed order.  Users have to think less about what they need to do.  This increases the likelihood that their default behavior is the correct one.

(7) Users cannot move forward until they complete the form in the order prescribed. Here course, date, type, and submit buttons are not selectable until center is selected.

(8) Course selection is automatically generated either from a predefined list of subjects or from a user’s own course registration previously uploaded by an administrator.

(9) Courses for which there are tutoring sessions are presented differently than courses for which there is no support.  Perhaps using color, icon, or different font such as italics.

(10) Once users have selected a course the date, type and submit button become selectable.  Date and type are optional so they do not have to select in order to submit.

(11) The date can either be written in or users can click the calendar icon to bring up a calendar graphic popup to select start and end dates.

(12) Calendar and start/end input boxes validate in real time so that users cannot enter other than appropriate dates as determined by administrator preference selection.  Here that is seven days in advance.

(13) Clicking submit displays a modal window of search results.  Users can select their preferred appointment times from this modal window without leaving this page.

(14) From the modal window, users will be able to select multiple appointment times before confirming their selection.

(15) Real time validation occurs here as well.  Users cannot select a session that has already ended.  They also cannot schedule an appointment while it is ongoing unless an administrator selects this preference feature nor can they schedule appointments that conflict with current selections or previously confirmed  appointments.

(16) If a search produces no results the user is informed of this fact, explained why it occurred, and provided with next step options.

(17) Users must either confirm or cancel their selection(s) before closing the modal window otherwise they will receive an error message.  This feature prevents them from logging out without completing the scheduling process.

(18) Once the student confirms they receive a confirmation successful message before the modal box collapses.

Since most users will be using the application without an initial demonstration it must perform logically, and handle errors in an intelligent manner.  This design gives users a better visual, functional and feature rich experience while minimizing frustration, confusion, and errors.  The helper features and error handling is unobtrusive and therefore won’t frustrate experienced users.  The design while aesthetically pleasing is utilitarian.  It is neither frivolous nor extravagant.

A first impression of Accutrack 8

Below are screencasts of Accutrack, version 8.  Engineerica is currently on version 11.  This is the demo that they send to potential customers.  I’m told that the interface is not much different than the current version but there are more features and a larger number of canned reports.  Accutrack comes in several versions, desktop, desktop/online module, hosted, and two different variety of database.  Visit their website to explore the differences between the versions.  Accutrack provides a lot more opportunity to tweak preferences than does Tutortrac, for instance it has a more rules for deactivating a student’s account in case of canceled or missed appointments, and to be a little more technically advanced on the backend, given their version options.  But along with more features comes the responsibility to make the features more discoverable and the product more usable.  Both Engineerica and Redrock Software suffer from a disconcerting lack of inventiveness with regards to user interface design.  Clicking through Accutrack feels as if I’d wandered back to the eighties rather than as if I was working with a sleek modern application such as MicroSoft Office or these seventy two variety of timetrackers that give some sense of the different aesthetics and usability options that are available to developers today.

While scoping out Accutrack I wasn’t too much concerned with the specifics of how the application works, rather I was interested in its look and feel and secondarily my training burden if I had to introduce this to a large and itinerant staff.  The first video, Accutrack-Poking Around, is of me tooling around and clicking randomly through the application which is one of the methods that I use to evaluate software for discoverability and resilience.  The second video, Accutrack-Student, is of me logging in as a student, scheduling an appointment, and then logging out.  The third video, Accutrack-Tutor, is of me logging in as a tutor, checking my schedule, and then logging out.

Click for Tutortrac Student Video Tutorial.

Clockspot: online timeclock

Clockspot is an online timeclock  that we began using in the center after demo-ing several other applications that we rejected because they were too expensive, offered too many or too few features for our purposes, were too complicated, or had poor user interface (UI) design.  Clockspot won out because it was simple to use, does what we need it to do, and is relatively inexpensive given the amount of time saved doing payroll.  The UI is such that we only needed to provide training-by-walking-around.  We only use it as a straight timeclock and do not use the project or task timing functions.  Clockspot has a pretty robust website that describes its features and also has an online demo so I’m not going to go on too long about it.  We have been using it for about six months now and it does the trick.  Three downsides that I’ve experienced is that the application has had one server outage that took a day to work through, support staff is mostly only available by email, and their billing model is geared towards credit card payments.  They will accept PO’s with some prodding. So far these experiences aren’t numerous or egregious enough to be dealbreakers.  If you’re using another time tracker  that you like please recommend in the comments.

Update:  On a scale of 1-5, my get your act together indicator moved from 2 to 3.2.  Nevertheless, not yet regretting my purchase.

Update: Clockspot now has auto invoicing with email notification.