End of week 9

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• Aggregation of collected data into spreadsheet - Rob & Matt K - 2 hours
• Production of charts based on aggregated data - Matt B - 2 hours
• Development of presentation slides - Full team - 2.5 hours
  
• Consideration of issues related to classroom demo - Rob & Dan - 30 min

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Presentation of results - full team, each with a few slides, 10 min
  
• Demo - Dan running the wiimote, rob at laptop for any needed adjustments?, 5 min
  
• Dropbox the presentation to MyCourses - Rob - 15 min
  

Challenges and Issues:

• Fully understanding the trends shown in the collected data.
• Being able to demonstrate the application with the wiimote will require in-class prep time, calibration, extension cords, and tape to affix the 'sensor' to the wall.
  

End of Week 8

Tasks accomplished for the week:

Pre-testing prototype modifications:

• Stamp images added and 'undo' behavior fixed when used after placing stamps - 2 hours - rob
• Toolmenu behavior tweaks - 2 hours -rob
• Email screen colors enhanced for readability - 0.25 hours - dan
• 'Erase All' button moved and recolored - 0.5 hours - dan
  
• higher JPG quality for screenshots - 0.25 hours - rob
  

Conducted User Testing:

• Set up for testing - 1 Hour - Dan and Rob


• Conduct testing & Administer Surveys - 2 Hours - Full Team

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Conduct Additional Testing (if needed) - 1 Hour - Full Team


• Aggregate Data - 2 Hours - Rob and Matt K.


• Begin Analyzing Results - 2 Hours - Dan and Matt B.


• Start final Presentation - 2 Hours - Full Team

Challenges and Issues:

• Configuring stable wiimote input for testers. (Required experimentation with sensor placement and location of tester)
  
• Finding particpants willing to participate in the usability testing.

End of Week 7

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• Complete Project Deliverable 4a for Monday - 4 hours - Full Team


• Confirm that email went through- send boolean back from php script - 2 hours- Matt B.


• Correct interaction of tool menu with undo button - 2 hours - Rob


• Icons for everything -5 hours - Dan


• Better Welcome Screen - 1 hour - Matt K.


• Stamp functionality -3 hours- Rob


• Custom cursors (art) - 2 hours - Dan, Matt B.


• Custom cursors (code) - 1 hour - Matt K.


• Deployment of project to server for review - 1 hour - Matt B.

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Conduct User Testing! - 10 hours - Full Team




• Setting up for testing


• Conducting testing


• Administering Surveys


• Aggregating Data

Challenges and Issues:

Due to an oversight on our part, a setting was changed which disallowed Flash from entering full screen mode. This caused minor confusion while getting the final code ready to go, for the Friday deadline.

Items for Friday prototype

Fix 2 blank colors - Flesh tones? Done

Bigger text on email screenDone
Move - and _ to be closer to each otherDone

Re-integrate cursors for eraser and paintbrushDone

Remove over events on tool menuDone

icons? -> Stamps, color pallet, tools icon?, email, helpDone for email

Help content!Done

Welcome screen: Click-through, starter instructions

Selectable sizes for brushes if possible

End of week 6

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• Meeting planned for creation of Test Plan document - full team - 0.25 hours - full team
  
• Further research into Flex API for use in the functional prototype - 4 hours per person - full team, working individually
• Radial menu implementation to be carried over from Assignment 3- Matt K and Matt B - 3 hours
• On screen keyboard updates: Visual and Behavioral updates for better usability- Dan - 4 hours
  

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Complete Project Deliverable 4a for Monday - 4 hours - Full Team

Prototype todo list ( Some unclaimed items with no assigned worker - sign up!)

• Enable sessions by default, tune session behavior - 2 hours- Rob
  
• Remembering last entered email address until session ends - 0.5 hours- Rob
  
• Confirm that email went through- send boolean back from php script - 2 hours- Matt B?
• Correct interaction of tool menu with undo button - 2 hours - Rob
• Icons for everything -5 hours - Dan
  
• Better Welcome Screen - 1 hour - Matt K.
• Predefined sizes for brushes in tool menus - 3 hours
• Stamp functionality -3 hours- Rob
• Multiple email recipients - possibly many hours
  
• Custom cursors (art) - 2 hours
• Custom cursors (code) - 1 hour

Prototype todo later list - times and owners unknown at this time

• Radial color selector
• Radial tool selector
• Video for welcome screen

Challenges and Issues:

• Continuing Issue: Drawing outside of canvas is possible with large brushes (bad)
• Continuing Issue: Mouse-up outside of flash is possible even in fullscreen mode (bad)
• Continuing Issue: "Undo" method currently causes visual anomalies with the tool menu (really bad)

Prototype of Canvas Painter

http://people.rit.edu/~rdg4902/painting/Painting1.html

Requires Flash 9 or newer.

Always starts in fullscreen mode - it is only ever meant to be run fullscreen.

Plenty of bugs still, especially related to the tools menu graphical glitches.

Help files are not included.

If you use the default email address, which is recomended for testing, check this page to see a log of the sent images: http://twitpic.com/photos/paintkiosk  (No login is required)

Also of interest: 

Log of code commits: http://code.assembla.com/wiipainting/subversion/node/logs

End of Week 5

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• User interface pattern analysis - 1 hour - full team
• Blog posting - 0.5 hours - Rob

Design Document:

• Document writing(documentation, prototype screenshots) - 4 hours - Full team
• Architectural view diagram : Components - 0.5 hours - Dan
• Architectural view diagram : Deployment- 0.25 hours - Rob
  
• Additional toolbar mockup - 0.5 hours - Dan
  
• Additional color wheel mockup - 0.5 hours - Matt K
• Cleanup for final submission- 0.75 hours - Matt K
  

Prototype development :

• Improved On Screen Keyboard, first tool menu - 3 hours - Dan
  
• Prototype development - Email Integration, Toolbar updates, Eraser, Welcome, Session Timer - 5 hours - Rob
• Help screens - 2 hours - Rob
• Color Selection Wheel - 2 hours - Matt K

Tasks to focus on next week:

Prototype todo list ( Some unclaimed items with no assigned worker - sign up!)

• Enable sessions by default, tune session behavior - 2 hours- Rob
  
• Remembering last entered email address until session ends - 0.5 hours- Rob
  
• Confirm that email went through- send boolean back from php script - 2 hours- Matt B?
• Correct interaction of tool menu with undo button - 2 hours - Rob
• Icons for everything -5 hours - Dan? Others?
• Better Welcome Screen - 1 hour
• Predefined sizes for brushes in tool menus - 3 hours
• Stamp functionality -3 hours- Rob
• Multiple email recipients
• Custom cursors (art) - 2 hours
• Custom cursors (code) - 1 hour

Prototype todo later list - times and owners unknown at this time

• Radial color selector
• Radial tool selector
• Video for welcome screen

Challenges and Issues:

• Issue: Drawing outside of canvas is possible with large brushes (bad)
• Issue: Mouse-up outside of flash is possible even in fullscreen mode (bad)
• Issue: "Undo" method currently causes visual anomalies with the tool menu (really bad)
• Challenge: Learning how to have interaction between custom Flex components
• Continuing challenge : Balancing flexibility of tools given to user with the desire for simplicity
• Continuing challenge: Icon design for showing multiple sub-functions

End of Week 4

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• More detailed prototype screens developed for first cognitive walkthrough  - 1 hour each - Full team
• Review of results from cognitive walkthrough - 1 hour - full team.

Notes:
On-screen keyboard layout needs modification

Color selection tool debates- perhaps a simple&advanced mode?

Moving 'corner icons' to a toolbar at the bottom instead

A new two-level 'tools' menu, first select tool, then size of the tool

Elevation of 'undo' to its own button

Make sure Help screens do not require scrolling

Remembering last entered email address until session ends

• Assignment of detailed prototype screens for Assignment 2 - .25 hours - Full team
• Blog Posting .5 - Rob
• Research of KidPix software - 0.25 hours - Full team

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Work on design document for project using the provided template - 3 hours - Full team
• High fidelity versions of prototype screens finished in Flex - Full team - 4 hours each

Tasks being covered in prototype screens for deliverable 2:

1. Welcome Screen + Basic Drawing with Brush 

2. Color selection + Basic Drawing 

3. Email screen

4. Help screen

Challenges and Issues:

• Balancing flexibility of tools given to user with the desire for simplicity
• Icon design for showing multiple sub-functions

Radial UI for Corner Buttons

Alternative UI Discussion

With our decision to use buttons extending from the corners, we have come to a dilemma as how the canvas size should be handled.

In the example UI above, we have our corner buttons in black, with the sample canvas size in grey. In a possible full canvas, you can draw behind the buttons, which is disconcerting to the user and hides a portion of the drawing. In a possible small canvas, you could shrink the canvas size, but would minimize the impact of the corner buttons, since they would not be in the corners... We are unsure how to proceed and are leaving any options open to discussion.

End of Week 3

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• Worked on SRS - 5 hours - Full team
• Summary
• Users
• Use Cases
• Usability Requirements
• HTAs
• Prototype screens
• User classes and layout brainstorming - 1 hour - Full team
• Splitting up project for prototype implementation - .5 hour - Full team
• Exploration of Flex capabilities and limitations - 2 hours - Full team
• Created working 'flex image -> email' web service using PHP - 5 hours, Rob
• Performance enhancements in prototype drawing code - 1 hour, Rob
• Create icons for the GUI - 2 hours - Dan
• Create working on screen keyboard for the email screen - 2 hours - Dan
• Blog Posting .5 - Rob
  

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Integration of 'email' and 'drawing' screens in functional prototype (evolutionary) ~ 2 hours - Matt B
• Preparation for cognitive walkthrough ~ 1 hour - Full team
• Begin a concise Design document for project using the provided template ~ 2 hours - Full team
• User session implementation ~ 2 hours - Rob
  

Challenges and Issues:

• Matching HTA's to a common style for the SRS
• Defining how to best present the capabilities to a new user. One good idea that developed was to explicitly ask the user if they had used the program before.
  

New prototype layout

Possible layout for our main UI with expandable menus from the corners.
From class on 03-23-09.

End of Week 2

Tasks accomplished for the week:

• Project proposals developed through meetings, emails, and chat sessions - 3 hours - Full team
• Painting project brainstorming on interface options and possible end users - 1 hour - Full team
• HTA for Painting, Erasing, Color Picker, and Emailing - 1 hour - Full team
  
• Blog setup & postings - 0.5 hours - Rob and Dan
• Wiimote connection research - 2 hours - Rob and Dan
• SVN Repository setup at assembla.com - 0.5 hours - Rob
• Learned and practiced Flex - 3 hours - Rob
• Figured out how to change color picker properties - 1 hour - Dan
  

Tasks to focus on next week:

• Develop SRS - ~4 hours - Full team
• Split up project for prototype implementation - ~1 hour - Full team
• Exploration of Flex capabilities and limitations - ~2 hours - Full team
• Test PHP (or similar) mail server interaction with Flex - ~2 hours - Rob and Matt B
• Create icons for the GUI - ~2 hours - Dan
  

Challenges and Issues

• Wiimote bluetooth connection requires specific driver packages, can BSOD XP in vmware.
  

Prototype Interface 0.01alpha

Here it is our first interface prototype in all its glory.

Project brainstorming from week 1, wed class

We can try to build up our ideas for the projects here, which will be compiled into a document to be submitted by saturday @ 11:59

For each idea, assume a goal of comparing the presented method to a traditional approach, with metrics gathered from actual users

Ideas

-Wiimote as a kiosk-type interface device

• pointing a device at what you want, is it more intuitive than a trackball/mouse/touchscreen?
• accelerometer could be used as well

-No-click gui, actions initiated by hovering or cursor gestures

- Context sensitive 'ring menus, ala Maya or Quick Silver.

Ideas for applications to test these ideas for usability strengths/weaknesses

- Card game, such as solitaire or blackjack

Post in the comments section with follow-up notes or new ideas
-rob

Blog created

first post
-rob