:Web Application Usability

Why is a console present in central? My guess is that the console is there to present glancable information visualizations. It sits on the side and shows changes as new data comes in. Reading information from the console should be quick, with very little interaction. The user would want to keep the console open to see new information when the view changes. If this is the reason, both the initial apps got the console wrong. The acuweather and the movie app pods continuously change the display, which is like an annoying flash Ad. The user wants glancable information on the console, not a big table with lots of text or an annoying animation. It is a distraction and makes it difficult to notice new information. The pods would provide more value if they present the recent most information that is important to the user. For example if a new movie comes up in my favorite theater, or If the rating of a movie increases or decreases, I want to see it there. Also, it would be nice if the console had “always on top feature”.

One more thing, every time I click on something the movie finder starts downloading the xml file again to see if there are any changes. Why can’t it display the data it already has and then try to see get new data? Showing a downloading icon is enough to tell the user that it is getting new data. On another note, Kevin Lynch posted another short post after a long time, but no new info there.

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