Interface Research- think along!

Post by **usistudent** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:29 pm

Hello everyone!

I am a postgraduate student at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. I study User System Interaction, see link http://usi.tm.tue.nl/pub/page.php?pid=10.

I am looking for enthusiastic people like you guys to actively think along what would be a user friendly interface (for PC) for configuration and control of the electrical devices in your home.

Requirements: my focus group will be young parents between 30-40 years old, with max 2 kids between 0-10 years.

There will be three nice studies! You can participate in one of them.
1. The first study is this week and you can do it yourself in your home to get a better understanding of your natural behaviour and interaction in your home environment. You and your partner will also evaluate some visualisation concepts

2. The second one (for the ones who live in Holland) will be a very nice design workshop! This will be done at the university or in Amsterdam.
3. The third one (for the ones who live in Holland)will be testing the prototype and will also either be done at the university or in amsterdam.

The results will be used for a project I am doing for the company BeNext who are busy developing their product. So your input will be used in practice

!

Do you belong to the focus group and are interested in participation? Please let me know as soon as possible!

Thank you all very much in advance!

Cheers Paula Deisz

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:44 pm

No kids here but.. if i where to make a design i would like it to be slick like apple normally does. Too much home interfaces are butt ugly. Take homeseer.com for instance, it does what you want but it looks like a 3 year old did the html design. (the normal layout that is)

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **Bwired** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:59 pm

Good study, I have two kids but unfortunately no spare time on my hands!
Succes

Post by **usistudent** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:20 pm

thanks for the replies! I agree with your comment about aesthetics Erik

I will take that into account!

For everyone, even if you don't have the time or interest in participation please feel free to share thoughts about usability problems and look&feel considerations for user interface design for a webapplication.

All thoughts and comments are highly appreciated!

thanks, paula

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:52 pm

Main issues, Price (good systems cost to much), placing (you dont always want to rewire), speed (x10 or others can be slow to respond in certain situations), compatibility (not every system can be linked together), closed source (not every protocol can be rehacked for open source stuff), time consuming (your never done), geeky (not a girl magnet job)

Good parts, fun (we all love fun), money saving (no more lights on for nothing), central control (sit in your lazy chair and do everything), automated work (no more vacuuming), door opener (you can still have your hands full with supermarket stuff and open the door), protection (random lights, or a real system), hobby (everyone needs to have one), controlled heating (although that comes in most houses, but without a remote)

Hope this helps a bit in your study.

// Erik (binkey.nl)

Post by **usistudent** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:27 pm

thanks for your ideas! It helps to have an idea how you perceive the added value of home automation in general. However, specifically I am studying usability problems and visualisation ideas for a webapplication. Research shows there is a strong need among people to have an interface that is intuitive and simple to use so that's what I am investigating. In this way users will be able to configure and control their home system in an easy (and fun would be nice

) way.

The BeNext gateway will use Z-wave technology by the way so remote control will be possible.

If you have any ideas or wishes about interface improvements? Problems you have with the software you use now? For example, how would you want to represent your home in the interface for easy navigation? And how would you want to control your lights? By clicking on the lamps, or by colour coding red=off, green=on, or by selecting on/off?

thanks for your active particpation!

Post by **Bwired** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:45 pm

Hi Paula,
For me the most important thing for a controlling web application (Gui) is:
-real time status update without refreshing the whole screen
-Smooth and fast handling
-Total control over the layout, be able to make a own Gui even suitable for Kids (for example, place and size buttons where ever you want)

I will think some more about it
regards Pieter

Post by **usistudent** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:59 pm

hi Pieter,

thanks for the ideas, i am very interested in your ideas how to make it usable for kids and if you feel user acces control restrictions would be needed for your children.

cheers paula

Post by **Snelvuur** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:41 pm

Well the pronto allready does menu's for all kinds of people. But nobody is an artits (most of us are not) and ofcourse you want a intelligent menu (2-way communications) so you want a button which shows that the light is on. Push the button and the light goes off but the button is now change to "off" something like that.

// Erik (binkey.nl)