You initially completed this post in your Web/Mobile App Critique discussion in Week Two.
Review the instructions here and incorporate the peer feedback from the Week Two discussion in
your second blog post.
To complete this discussion, you will write a review of a web/mobile app that you are familiar with. Or, if you are not familiar with any web or mobile app, you may select one from the list provided in your text to explore and review.
Evaluate the app’s usability, design, and functionality. Use screenshots to show how the app works. Propose at least three recommendations for improvements. Your discussion should be approximately 500 words in length and include a minimum of two screenshots.
Guided Response: Review several of your classmates’ discussions, and respond to at least two of your peers by the end of Day 7. You should respond to reviews of apps that you are familiar with. In each response, you will assess your peer’s evaluation of the app’s usability, design, and function against your own experience. Identify the elements of your peer’s assessment that you agree with. Discuss the elements of your peer’s assessment that you disagree with. Review the suggested recommendations for improvements and propose at least one of your own recommendations.
If you are not familiar with any of the apps reviewed by your peers, respond to reviews of apps that interest you. In each response, discuss how the review of the app’s usability encourages or discourages you to try the app. Identify functions of the app that would be relevant for you. Identify one piece of information that you found missing from the review.
Nelson Stewart
Sep 14, 2020Sep 14 at 3:10pm
Class, when we consider use and functionality of an application, whether it’s a desktop, web, or mobile application one of the premier use and usability researchers on this topic is Jakob Nielsen. You can conduct research on his organization and you will discover that he has published dozens if not hundreds of articles and written many books on use and usability. Similarly, a researcher associated with the topic of perceived usefulness and the perceived ease-of-use is Fred Davis. Together with Viswanath Venkatesh, Davis published a document that contains a model for perceived use and usefulness, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), based on its original 1989 publication acceptance model. This model has been extended by others in the research field from its original 1989 publication. Dr.S
Jesse Neubauer
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 16, 2020Sep 16 at 8:47pm
I'd like to review the app known as Discord. Compared to my friendgroups, I was somewhat slow to join up on Discord, but I've become quite familiar with and acclimated to it now, and rely on it pretty heavily for most of my keeping up with friends, and for a few other purposes too. Other apps have caught up to a lot of the features which originally made Discord stand out, but I still remember being very impressed with its seamless transitioning between devices.
Here's the mobile app version:
Here's the desktop version:And for anyone concerned with security or who lacks the administrator permissions to download the app to the desktop computer, there's also a browser-based client (Links to an external site.):
Discord can be set up with two-factor authentication using a third-party app like Authy, which gives me the peace of mind as the owner/admin of a somewhat large server with 405 members. For those unfamiliar, Discord has a multitude of different chat formats that a user can join or create.
The smallest is a direct message (DM for short) to a single other user- this can be somebody who is on your friends list, or somebody who is not. You can change your privacy settings to make it impossible for a non-friend to initiate a private chat message with you if the two of you have nothing in common (as in, if you aren't part of the same groups). Private messages can allow users to initiate a voice call, a video (camera or screenshare) call, or both- video and voice simultaneously.
The next size up is a group chat, which is where a direct message with one person gets additional users added to it. This creates a separate DM conversation, which can be given a custom title and icon, and does not allow its members to see any DMs which were typed prior to its creation. Additional users can be added at a later time, and they will be able to see previous messages that were in the conversation prior to their inclusion. It is also possible to use voice and video calls in this format, though I personally never have. My use of group chats is mostly limited to the one that I share with my partner and house-mates (pictured in the screenshots above). We use this group chat for making grocery lists (using a searchable term with each entry), sharing memes and other funny things, and for organizing our shared meals. Group chats can have up to 10 participants at a time, and will remain in existence so long as at least one participant has not yet left the group.
Finally, Discord allows for the creation of "servers," not to be confused with a computer server (Links to an external site.)... A Discord server has no limit on the number of users it can contain. A user in a server can (with the adequate permissions) generate a link which can be shared with anyone, allowing more users to join the server, as opposed to each user needing a personal invitation through the app's friend list. Most importantly (in my opinion), a server can play host to any number of "channels," where separate conversations can take place simultaneously. These channels can be labeled or designated for specific purposes, and each channel can be set up with its own permissions/privacy settings, allowing servers to keep adult content or triggering content separate, or hidden from those who shouldn't see it. Servers also allow their users to take on "roles," which can ALSO be set up with their own permissions/privacy settings. This can allow for a great many different setups for a huge variety of purposes- from something as benign as letting users change their display name from white to a different color, to something as serious as keeping entire channels completely hidden from the view of some users. Channels can even be sorted into categories for better organization. And servers can also have multiple Voice chat channels as well, allowing users to select one of multiple simultaneous calls to join in on. The admins of a server can also upload images for use as custom emoji, which can be fun in servers that are based on a shared interest in a specific fandom.
Discord also has a paid premium membership, which I personally don't partake in, so I'm not sure of everything it includes, other than the ability to use a server's custom emoji in other servers/chats/DMs.
My gripes with Discord are few and far between. The biggest one is probably with the usernames- when creating a Discord account, you are prompted to create a username. Whatever you type is then supplemented with a four-digit # suffix. I wanted to use "neubauje" as my username, but instead my username is "neubauje#0830" and I cannot change or remove that numeric addition (although I can change the part that comes before it). My big pet peeve with this is that somebody cannot find me on Discord to add me as a friend or send me a DM without including the #0830 in their search term. I've always made a conscious effort to retain the same username (or as close to it as possible) across various online platforms, to establish consistency/accountability and make it easy for those interested to find me. So for Discord to nullify that effort is a little disheartening to me. Fortunately, it does have the capability to connect with other platforms, to ease the process of networking with your friends.
Telegram (Links to an external site.) has a feature where a user can create their own "sticker pack," which allows them to upload a set of pictures, often associated with specific emoticons, and have them readily at-hand for use in reactions. While not the most practical of features, I've always enjoyed this playful addition, and wish that Discord had something like this, aside from the server-specific custom emojis.
Chatzy (Links to an external site.) had a feature where the admin of a room could select different colors for the room's background and default text color/font/format. I wish that Discord servers would allow for this (to make a different palate of colors become more readable), or even if the Discord client could allow for a user to alter their own personal settings in this way, so that users with different accessibility needs could tailor the app to accomodate them. It does have a "dark mode" (which is default) and a "light mode" to this end, but having just these two options seems unneccesarily limited to me.
There are a ton of other features that I'm surely forgetting about right now, and the development team adds new ones or refines existing ones quite often. Needless to say, Discord is definitely a staple on any device I own.
Kommeng [redacted]
Sep 17, 2020 at 2:29pm
Hi Jesse,
Discord is an amazing program. I use it just about every day because I play video games. Free servers are a great way to communication with hundred of people at one time. I use it mainly to play Call of duty and World of Warcraft. I do agree that the number after your username is a big turn off and defeats the purpose of having a unique name to yourself. Did you know that you can do a musicbot in your server and everyone in that channel can play music from YouTube. Use "-play Taylor Swift Teardrops on my guitar" to play music. It helps a lot with people who can't open up multiple tabs on browser and their internet is too slow or computer is.
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 17, 2020 at 7:07pm
I think I had seen that feature in a couple of the bigger servers I've joined, yeah! It's not something I'm personally interested in, but very impressive that it's there. Cool beans!
Janice [redacted]
Sep 19, 2020 at 1:14am
Hello Jesse,
Discord seems like a great app, I have never used it, Personally. I am going to have to check it out now. It looks pretty amazing. I like how you have the screen shots of all the layers of screens instead of having to switch to other screens. Very well written and held my interest to the end. Thank you for sharing and enlightening me.
Janice
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 20, 2020 at 7:09pm
Oh, thanks Janice! Just to clarify, the three screenshots you see there are all showing the same group conversation, it's just that one is in the mobile app version of Discord, one is on the desktop app version of Discord, and the last one is the in-browser version of Discord. What you might be looking at is the folders of servers. Discord is used by so many different groups that I have wound up a member of a LOT of different servers, so many that I sorted them all into folders for organization purposes. In the browser-based screenshot, you can see all the folders collapsed. In the desktop app screenshot, you can see the first two folders expanded, and I just noticed a bit of a graphical glitch in the lower-left-hand corner... not sure what that's about. In the mobile app screenshot, the list of server folders is tucked away and hidden, accessible through the menu icon in the upper-left-hand corner (the three horizontal lines).
Anthony [redacted]
Sep 22, 2020 at 1:55am
Hi Jesse,
You have a lot going on here and it looks like you are reviewing one of my favorite communication apps. Discord is such an amazing idea and I am so happy to be interacting with someone that uses this application as well. Sometimes it is better to not have the same username across each platform as there are some weirdos out there that can track your digital footprint. What are some features that you would add to discord? I think that I would see if discord could somehow interface with different gaming platforms to make it easier to use. I enjoyed reading your discussion and I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.
Kind regards,
Anthony [redacted]
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 26, 2020 at 9:23pm
Anthony, the only feature requests I could think of were the ones I listed above- more platform integrations, more custom emoji/sticker options, and more UI color-scheme customization. I don't worry too much about stalkers tracking my digital footprint, mostly because I don't think I have much of anything they'd be interested in. I know that Discord does have a gaming overlay that works with Steam and probably some others? Heck, it even has a streaming mode! I don't stream enough to use it and know what it does, but I'm honestly just impressed that it's even there.
Steven [redacted]
Sep 17, 2020 at 6:30pm
Hello Class,
The app I want to talk about would be Twitch which is a great multimedia app that you can use to watch people do multiple things such as play games, exercise, cook, TV channels, unboxing videos and etc. The app itself is pretty easy to navigate once you get used to it and how and it helps you in a sense connect with other people kind of like Facebook, snapchat, and others, but the main thing is usually it's all live chats and things going on in real time instead of videos from a few days before, but you can watch older videos if you chose to. This app can be found online on pc's, consoles, cell phones, and tablets so it covers most multimedia devices that we all use in our daily lives. Twitch was created June 6th, 2011 by two people named Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, but was originally started technically in 2007 and it was at the time known as Justin.TV which eventually evolved into Twitch mainly because it was originally split up into 6 groups gaming being one of them which grew the fastest out of them all and considering the company was growing fast at a rate of 35 million new users a month so by 2011 Justin and Emmett teamed up and created Twitch.
Now we'll talk about how the app works and how you can set it up to use for yourself to stream a game, cooking, creating a chat room just to talk with people and much more.
Screenshot (7).png
This first picture that I uploaded shows what the main page will look like depending on the interest you picked during the sign up process so with everyone it will be different and on the right hand side you can see that is the sign-in area where you can access your account on multiple levels such as your wallet, friends, subscriptions and more also you can switch between light and dark mode to make it easier on your eyes.
Screenshot (1).png
This next photo shows some of the interest that I picked out that have currently live active feeds that you can jump in and watch so their is something always going on in this app also almost every group you go to will have a live chat box that you can talk with other people and the creator of the video. You also as a user can have as many interest as you want in your profile so the list can be endless if you so chose to.
Screenshot (6).png
A big benefit with this company/app and if your a gamer is if you have Amazon Prime you can unlock extra rewards for the games you play which is kind of cool if your into gaming a good amount and want to score some extra in-game loot on whatever you wanna play so I would say pretty decent perk.
Screenshot (8).png
Also you have multiple music channels that you can get into and listen to whatever genre of music your heart desires and even watch people perform live music from their homes to you on a computer so in a sense this app can be like YouTube, but its more interactive with other people then what YouTube is.
Screenshot (9).png
The last picture I'm throwing up here shows the live video feed I picked which is a woman cooking on a grill and explaining on how she is cooking the food and what type of spices and what not she is using. You'll notice their is a live video chat on the side where you can communicate with the community that is watching the same video as you as well as the person creating the video. You can also chose to follow the people that create the videos that you like so you can see more of their content if you chose to.
Overall Twitch is a pretty decent app that you can use to watch videos and communicate with others in real time while doing so, but their are 3 things I can pick out that could use improvement that would or could make it better. The first would be instead of logging in and instantly seeing video game videos have your preference list up that you chose with a sub category list of of other interest that might be suitable for your liking. Second I would say have your friends list added up by the top next to the E-sports tab and also have it give notifications when your friends show up online or if their in a video chat room it pops up so you can instantly join them if you wish. Finally using the app can be somewhat confusing at first so I think they should add a tour video or page to the site to teach new users on how you use the app and add in videos along with showing what the rules are using the site instead of being tucked away and having to try to find it. That's all i got tonight folks i hope you enjoy this read and let me know what you think thanks.
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 17, 2020 at 7:31pm
Steven,
I've used Twitch a little bit before- mostly for watching people play games or make art, and a little bit of trying it out for those purposes myself, I didn't realize it had expanded its seemingly-narrow focus to include more subjects! I popped into the Art/Creative section just now and happened to see a familiar name in the live streams- Leo_Tux, a fellow pipe-cleaner sculptor! How neat. Too bad the creative streams seem to be de-emphasized, compared to the gaming and other hype categories.
Sean [redacted]
Sep 17, 2020 at 8:50pm
Hello Class,
The mobile/web app I have decided to review is the one I am probably most familiar with on my phone; Hearthstone. Hearthstone is both a desktop and mobile digital card game created by Blizzard. It features both single player as well as online multiplayer where you can compete with other players in a variety of different match options and game types. For the purpose of this post I will not be reviewing the game or its mechanics, but just the web app and its usability, readability, and how it functions especially in relation to the PC version.
When first opening the app you are treated to a very bright and colorful entry screen with boisterous tavern music playing and an almost cartoon feel to everything.
Screenshot_20200917-191121.png
This helps accomplish two different things right off the bat. One is it starts to set the mood for the app or an overall feeling for it. by having these bright cartoonish colors and over the top music and actions taking place it shows that it is a game more on the whimsical side, intended to be more lighthearted and upbeat as opposed to a darker style card game such as Gwent. The second important piece it does is provide a layout and directory to both manage your account and to navigate to various different parts of the app and game. It provides a nice center points from which to navigate through the various menu's and options and provides a good snapshot overview of anything might might be new or missed by you.
Functionality wise there is a bit of a shift from the menu into an actual game itself, where the arena for the game takes center stage. It does keep on the theme of being bright and colorful and does provide a a good amount of readability features to since there is a fair amount of text and numbers that need to be available to each player for them to properly play.
Screenshot_20200917-192548.png
The aesthetic choices I think work really well both in game and in menu with the ultimate goal of keeping a large amount of information in a readable state.
There are a few usability and functionality changes that I would like to see take place in the mobile app, mostly concerning its graphical elements and readability. The first is some of the animations can be quite lengthy, and pretty hard on the phone processor. Many of the animations are copied straight over from the desktop version and if too many of them start flying around in rapid succession it tends to start bogging down or slowing the phone considerably. Since most turns in this game are timed there are circumstances where you can lose out on parts of your turn while waiting for your pone to catch up to animations that have not ended yet.
A second gripe I have which may be more related to my specific phone applications is that if I receive either in game or text messages while playing, it can block portions of the game and screen for extended periods of time that prevent me from playing. I am unaware of any feature that could force Hearthstone back to the front while in a game, or even a feature that could respond back saying "busy, just one moment" automatically until your game is complete.
The final usability change I would make is in relation to the size and scope of the app. The app itself is a massive program taking up 3GB itself on my phone, and its update process is always long and involved, including both the app store as well as in app updates every time. If there were options to trim off parts of the game or app you never used, or to consolidate parts of the app that are extraneous it could help to bring the overall weight of the program down.
Jesse Neubauer
Sep 18, 2020 at 9:29pm
Ah, I dabbled a little bit in Hearthstone a few years back! I do remember that the automatic animations and sound clips that accompanied almost every type of card were rather annoying, but in my early stages I was using them as a learning tool, and I assumed they could be turned off when they proved more annoying than useful. You're right about the sheer size of the app, it IS huge! I'd never before considered the idea of an app which allows you to opt out of certain features for the sake of removing them from your phone's storage, that's a very novel approach- I'd only ever figured, "eh, I guess I'll just wait to play this until I upgrade to a bigger phone."
Grade: 4 / 4
You provided all of the discussion posting requirements to earn full credit for your contribution. Nicely done.
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