Assignment 2

This week we talked about user interface design, and our groups started thinking about how our user interfaces would look. This has really let me see how great Google groups are for this kind of project. My group has started to post and discuss actions our users would need to perform at different times. We are each able to edit the same page as we think of ideas, as well as have a discussion about them. This is really helpful for getting our thoughts in order. When we do meet as a group, we can focus on what the interface will need to look like, because we already have the functions it needs laid out.
We also learned how Flash makes it really easy to create quizzes with different types of questions.

Assignment 2: Compare the user interface of the Universal Computer and the Universal Machine
The first think I noticed about the Universal Computer was that user interface was much simpler than that of the Universal Machine. I think this is transparency. The Universal Computer had a very simple bar at the bottom, and a chapter menu on the side, which left plenty of room for content. The Universal Machine took up more area, but had no more functionality than that of the Universal Computer.

The second thing I liked I would describe as feedback. The Universal Computer had a menu down the side with the list of chapters and sections you could go through. When you finished a section, a little check appeared next to its title. This would be very helpful for finding a particular section a user wanted to go over. For me, it was very helpful in letting me know how much more content I had to go through. I liked this a lot better than the Universal Machine, in which I had no idea where I was in a chapter.

I also thought that Universal Computer made better use of real world mapping. The locations of the various buttons reminded me of popular media players. The content was listed on the side, so you could pick what you wanted to play quickly, and the play, pause, back and forward buttons were all located together on the bottom. I was able to know exactly how to use the interface with no instruction.


I appreciated the change in theme from the Universal Machine. I didn't really like the space theme, and agree with comments made in class that it was a little juvenile. I liked the ideas used in the Universal Computer, how it was related more to a class, with professors, TAs, and other students. I thought that the character changes, and the other students asking questions made the lessons more interesting than just straight lecturing.

One of the uses of Flash that I liked was the activities that came up during the lesson. I liked that the activities were able to go over the same material again without being straight multiple choice quizzes. For example, the activity where you dragged words describing different interfaces (like too complicated, good use of color) to an actual picture of an interface is much more effective in reinforcing the idea than a question like: Which of these is not a quality of a good interface?
I also liked that the character responded to your answers. This was neat, and much more entertaining than a simple right/wrong text response.