In Exercise 34, we mined our experience to find applications of Shneiderman's guidelines for error messages. A good time was had by all, because we've all made more errors than we can remember and error messages--both good and bad--can be so memorable. We found that Shneiderman's rules really do account for what makes an error message seem good or bad, though bad rules are often characterized by the lack of particular traits, while good messages are often characterized by the presence of other particular traits. And we found that these characteristics hold even for us, who are experienced, savvy users, and not just for naive users. There must be something to what Shneiderman is telling us.
In Exercise 35, you are beginning to consider how the use of color affects the user's experience...
What issues must we consider that are specific to the Web?
Here are some sample rules that students often give:
On almost all web pages, color is a secondary device, not solely responsible for conveying meaning, only meant to reinforce the meaning in a text or other element of a document.
A rule exists because not following causes a problem. What is the problem addressed by each of your rules?
A rule applies in a particular context. Narrower rules--rules that apply in fewer situations, a narrower context--will have fewer exceptions, but they will also be less generally useful. Beware of rules with no exceptions--and rules with too many!
This is yet another exercise in marshaling evidence to support a position -- and finding exceptions to our positions.
The bottom line is: if you don't think about these things, you will end up implementing your personal biases, with no other reason to think that you have done a good job.
Briefly review and discuss each other's critiques.
Make a list of things that you liked better about your version of Homework 4 than about the one you critiqued.
Then make a list of things that you liked better about the version of Homework 4 you critiqued than about your own. Be sure to comment on both the content and the form of the papers (75-80% content, 20-25% form).
Construct a list of "the best things we saw in someone else's paper". Again, your comments should reveal elements of both form and content.
Then construct a list of comments and questions that you have about the idea of extreme programming, based on your reading, your writing for Homework 4, and your review of someone elseUs Homework 4. Your comments and questions can deal both with extreme programming as a methodology and with the possibility of supporting extreme programming with software tools.
Not yet...