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esign
Overview
The overall structure of our application is similar to the one we initially envisioned when constructing our paper prototype. It is data-centric, with two dimensions of tabs controlling the information displayed in the main, split-pane interface. A graph is displayed in the top pane, with textual data and related actions (e.g. selling power, changing device settings) available in the bottom pane. Tabs across the top of the screen allow the user to change the source of the data shown: from consumption devices, generator devices, or from the power grid. Tabs along the left side of the screen allow the user to control the time interval for which data is shown. An earlier or later time period can be chosen by swiping across the graph, or by using the date pickers above the graph.
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Computer Prototyping Feedback | Original Design | Change |
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Many users complained that when one set of tabs was changed, the settings of the other tabs did not persist. For example, if viewing monthly price data, switching to the "consumption" tab would change back to the daily view. While we originally intended to have tab settings persist, the Android Activity paradigm made this difficult to implement. Because of the frequency of these complaints, however, we refactored the entire application to use Fragments instead of Activities, which allowed us to make the tab settings persistent. (See the Implementation section for more details.) |
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We also received multiple complaints about readability and alignment issues, particularly with respect to tab text. We made an effort to align text correctly, and to adjust font sizes to allow readability and to convey relative importance. |
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Our prototype included mocked-up date pickers, which were sized-down versions of a default Android widget. While users appreciated the external consistency afforded by using this widget, they felt that the size was too small to be usable. We addressed this concern by creating a custom widget which was styled to look and feel like the default one, but which was rotated horizontally so that it could be made larger. |
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Overall, many comments indicated that users did not have as much understanding of the problem domain as we had assumed. We tried to further adjust the labels in our application to convey more information about the intended functions of the application. For example, we renamed the "grid" tab to the "pricing" tab, which proved more understandable to users who did not have existing knowledge of the smart grid. |
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Implementation
The figure below shows the software architecture of the application.
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