Paparazzi Mary Hodder Jeff Towle Dan Perkel

Overview Goal: To create a tool that would enable people to –Use blogs to read conversations across blogs –Browse blogs by topic –Understand context of blog and blog authors Iteration of the interface has been largely about two things: –Development of a site model and layout that works –Solve the problem of chaining through blog linkages

We had issues… How do we design a text-heavy interface that is easy on the eyes? What is an appropriate site structure for three different types of searches? How do get people to understand context and chaining across blog entries?

Chaining and Context –expandable search results –the notion of a larger "conversation" of which an entry is just a sub-chain Paper Prototype: Successful failure Site Model and Layout –keyword search, topic browse,find-a-blog

First Interactive Structure+Layout

First Interactive Context

Heuristic Evaluation New model worked (unified search) General layout was inconsistent and confusing Icons and placement Terminology Layout of Context Page

2nd Interactive: Layout Changes

2nd Interactive: Context Changes

v3 - color!

v3 - context

User Test

User Test: What We Learned Site structure, layout, color, etc worked really well Need to distinguish between News and Blogs Blog profile page is crowded Context is still a problem, though once users get it, they really get it Terminology is still a problem Need to address loops in the chains

User Test: What We Learned 2 Future tests need to have real content; we have pushed the limits Terminology issues may be related to confusion in task wording as much as interface Quantitative measurements did not really work

What’s Next? Implement topics filter Clean up blog profile page Clean up icons Implement help New terminology for context Make “sorting” terminology consistent Add history to blog chaining

WHOA!!! Comments? Questions?