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Following the suggestion, Aly presses the "Invite Friends" button. The "Invite friendsFriends" window pops up and now Aly can type in the email addresses of the people she wants to invite. She can invite both the people who have and have not used RideShare, and invitations will be sent through email. The window also shows the summary of her ride posting and gives her the option to modify the content of the invitation email. When she's done, she presses the "INVITE" button.
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- Having all the main features on a single webpage greatly increases visibility. Users do not have to navigate around to find the things they need. It also increases efficiency by decreasing loading time because the user only loads a section of the page every time they perform he performs a new function.
- Asking the user to provide an MIT certificate when they enter upon entering the website lets the website identify them the user immediately. For instance, when the user opens the site, the page can notify the user immediately if someone is interested in sharing a ride with themher.
- The "Recent Activities" section increases the learnability of the website and helps users advertise their ride posting, as has been explained in the Story Board section.
- The auto-completion feature increases efficiency and prevents typing errors.
Cons:
- Asking users to provide a certificate when they enter the website may turn them away, especially if they don't have the certificate installed in on the computer they are using.
- This single-page design may be more challenging to implement than the designs that uses multiple pages.
- The "Recent Activities" section may discourage users from using the website when there are not many active users. It may be a good idea to add the feature only after the website has many users.
- Specifying a range (±1 mile for location or ±30 minutes for time, etc) when a user fills in the "Find a Ride" or "Post a Ride" form reduces efficiency and may not be necessary. The task should be performed automatically by the website.
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- Using tags to refine search results (rather than requiring the user to enter all the information about their desired ride) allows the user to browse a broader spectrum of rides and might help them find what they want faster if they don't know exactly what they're looking for.
- The tag-based searching system is used throughout the site, providing simplicity and consistency.
- Tabbed navigation makes the purpose of each window very clear and organizes the layout nicely.
- The design provides good feedback on what the user is doing (i.e. showing the user exactly what he posted after he presses submit).
Cons
- More navigation is required in this design than the first, where basically everything happens in one window. This could be confusing to new users.
- Although the ticket metaphor looks nice, it may not be the most efficient way to convey the information about the ride to the user.
- The tagging system might slow down users who know exactly what they are searching for.