Week 5 - Painkillers make you Sleeeeeeeep zzzzzzzzzz.

This beautiful scene greeted me through my window on friday afternoon. Still as awe inspiring now as when i was a little child.





Hellooo, It is week 5 already. I have had a week on painkillers for my whiplash and i cant remember much as the dosage is sooo high.


The Lecture.


We have Daniel Cunliffe this week who spoke about Userbility in the Modern world. Part of the lecture was to show us an old Television Control Panel from one of his old tv's. It had just 6 buttons, BBC1, BBC2, ITA1, ITA2, volume and on. "Anyone remember using one of these?" he asked us. I became distinctly aware that i did and there was no way was i owning up to it either.

I learned from the lecture that you have to be very aware as a designer that your interface has to be relevent to its subject audience. If you are making an interface for kids then you have to make it appeal to them with something familiar to grab their attention. Last year i made a small calculator program in Visual Basic, the buttons 1-9 were coloured smarties with a Pokemon background.
My daughter immediately noticed it and it kept her attention span due to the design and not the way it worked. Just as well really as it was complete crap.

The Tutorial.

Andreas has taken this weeks tutorial and handed us a load of A4 paper sheets (always a bad sign.)
These were questionairs on a chosen web site. We chose the University site as our group all have used it and pretty much know it inside out.

We answered questions on the pro's and cons of the site. I personally find the Glamorgan site ok. Its easy to read, easy to navigate and on the whole fairly responsive to my needs.

The only real negative on the site is that i'm fed up with the colours blue and yellow. I think its time for a colour change now guys. And i already know that i am extraordinary and i don't need reminding. After all the medical experiments i've already come to this conclusion!!

Reflection.

I dont really relate that well to paper sheets anymore. i think i have become so used to the blackboard learning tool and have come to like it. Going back to paper seemed like a real chore and it seemed the others in the class felt this way too.

On the plus side Daniel is a really funny guy and he got the attention of the auditorium with his unique way of speaking. I have to admit that he was very good. I found the lecture inspiring and a great way to finish off the week.

Link to Daniels blog is found here. Its quite complex but nonetheless an interesting waste of fifteen minutes - especially as im perched on the porcelain throne.

Now wheres that air freshener gone. Phoooooooooooooooooey.

See you next week.


ss.