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Paul begins by launching the FourPlan program. The initial screen prompts him to either create a new map or open an existing map. Whereas this is his first time ever using the software, he presses the ‘NEW’ button.
Before the application can generate a course map, it prompts Paul for some basic information about the degree (degree start year, graduation year, major, and concentration in the major). These fields are filled using combo-boxes, allowing Paul to select the data from lists. After he selects his major, the combo-box for ‘CONCENTRATION’ is generated with valid values pertaining to the major. When all of the fields are filled, Paul presses the ‘CREATE’ button. This solves some initial constraints and builds him a basic course map.
The map takes up the majority of the window providing a physical representation of each of the courses. The courses are arranged in columns, where each column relates to a semester. This UI design follows a Direct Manipulation approach. Though some courses may be fixed in place due to hard constraints in the curriculum (these courses are displayed in a different color to illustrate their fixed status), all other courses can be clicked and dragged around the map. On the map, each course is represented as a bubble that has some basic information about the course.
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