I spent the first few weeks after joining the project getting to know the program's mechanics (no pun intended) and testing. I did not find any notable bugs during this time, but I did develop a basic understanding of the software and have come up with a few suggestions for improvement.
A few things I am going to look into changing are:
-The system icon. The icon used currently doesn't look very professional. I am planning on remaking this.
-The checklist being in a separate window. I feel that moving the notecard to the right side of the screen would allow the addition of a pop-out checklist on the left.
-An eraser tool. Currently, to delete a line, it is necessary to hover the mouse over that line and hit the 'x' button. This seems inconvenient and time consuming if there are major changes necessary to the truss. I propose either making a clickable eraser tool or allowing a keyboard button press to toggle pencil and eraser.
More pressing, however, is the design for the proposed application for the Android. This poses a few problems due to the large amount of information on a tiny screen. The following are some proposals for how to fit the interface efficiently.
This would be the main interface page. I feel that while the pencil cursor is effective in the full, computer-based version, it is unnecessary for a touch-screen based application. The menus are condensed (see following pictures) to maximize work space.
Clicking on the tab that appears at the top of the screen drops the problem sheet. Here, the problem is listed along with any related images. Clicking on the tab again would pull it back to the top.
Similarly, there is the checklist. Clicking on the left-hand tab brings out the checklist that informs the student what is left to be done.
When the check mark is clicked, the program would either display a message that the problem is complete with a link to the next one, or would display a similar error message to the one pictured above. The continue button would remove the message from the screen.
Clicking the menu button on the phone would bring up a sub-menu containing all relevant tasks, such as saving, submitting, or moving on to the next problem. If possible, the back button could act as an undo. If not, a button could be added for that purpose.
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