Now that we've explored the three key principles of Usability Design, it's time to explore and talk about it:
Think about apps, games or websites you visit on a daily basis, and judge them against these principles. Which one uses a principle effectively? Does any one app or site use them all three effectively? How could they improve?
Efficiency: when you open the app you're met with one ad that you can skip immediately, landing in the For You Page based on your activity. A video post immediately plays full screen, like a movie drawing you in (the objective), as the app learns what you want to see. Simple, clear icons (heart for like, etc) are buttons superimposed on the current post (profile, like, comment, send, song playing, link to your following feed, profile, search, and inbox all in the immediate view while you browse)
Effectiveness: whatever algorithm is behind Tiktok's for you page is extremely effective. even if I only use Tiktok once every couple weeks, my for you page always captures my attention. the content is so varied and bizarre that it's addictive. like Instagram, you can't scroll through the videos so you're forced to watch the whole thing if you're interested, which seems to hook users even more.
Satisfaction: when it was created Tiktok already had a fanbase of nostalgic viners. Like its precursor, the method of montaging videos together with music and dialogue offers a uniquely powerful method of expression, which seems to always makes me laugh, sometimes even pick up a new interest or even art inspiration. Also like Vine and YT, Tiktok has a distinct culture rooted in storyline and dance trends that somehow lure the most bizarre creatures and creations out of the darkest corners of the earth. People seem to present the most crazy they're willing to share with the internet through this app. The encouraged free self expression feels liberating but becomes a double-edged sword in the comments, where it can get nastier than Twitter; and if term free self expression makes you think of hippies, you're not far off as there is a huge subculture of drug glorification among teens and the montage platform makes for an excellent selection of trippy content; and this app is just as popular with teens as it is with people age 3 to 100 (there are tons of old people, it must be the full screen). There is a family mode that limits inappropriate content and screen time, etc. but it has been known to be ineffective. However, most all platforms share these issues and due to the quality and variety of fascinating content, Tiktok offers prime entertainment perhaps over YT or even the almighty deceased Vine.
Tiktok could improve by perhaps creating an entire section or even another app, Tiktok playground or something, for kids in which all Tiktokers could tag their videos as intended or safe for kids which Tiktok can review and make visible in the section/app.
The website I’m choosing is https://ebird.org/home . While I don’t visit this website daily, I do think it uses the three key principles of usability design effectively. For some background, eBird is a website that bird watchers use to log the birds that they’ve seen. The homepage prompts you to enter more bird sightings, making the site efficient. eBird’s secondary goal is to share bird related scientific information through articles and online courses, which leads to the users’ satisfaction. eBird also displays the user’s statistics on its homepage, which makes the site effective because it accomplishes its main purpose of telling users’ their bird watching data. One thing eBird could improve upon is their user summary page. I think it is from an old version of the website, and it jarring to see the modern design of the most popular pages then the old style on the user summary page.
An overview of Catalina's accessibility features can be found here: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/use-accessibility-features-mh35884/mac
I think the app could improve when it comes to its font usage. All of its font is white, which works well against most of the colorful background, but then there's the tabs with light colored images.
