Skip to main content

Web-Based Applications

By
In the last few days my wife and I have fought Blogger and SurveyMonkey. For two applications that are used by a lot of people, especially writers and academics, the applications are horrible.

When an engineer and computer programmer can't figure out the choices to accomplish basic tasks, something is wrong.

I have used Blogger for several years. This is a great platform, but some of the tools need improvement. The help to accomplish tasks leaves much to be desired. We wanted to create a multi-author blog. While we were able to get the setup to allow anyone to post, the author name was always the same. It took several passes through the settings to realize you needed to create special "inbox" addresses for each author.

Sure, it was a logical fix once we realized the issue, but it wasn't obvious on the surface. That's not good.
Also, the editor has some problems with formatted e-mail. I wish the editor were more like Google's Doc application. After all, Google does own Blogger. I am sure that change will arrive soon, but it can be annoying to edit posts.

SurveyMonkey was tedious to setup a moderately long survey. Again, a great tool, but not easy to use for some things.

I wanted to skip questions if they did not apply to a situation. SurveyMonkey skips complete pages, based on the last question on a page. This means you have to create several short "pages" to skip questions. The result is a very long survey if you want to skip sections based on answers. I would like an option to "Skip to Question X" instead of "Skip to Page X." to make things smoother.

It took hours and hours to create a 21-question survey. Really! I had to break questions that on a form were two or three-part queries into separate questions. This changes the wording, out of necessity. The changes were minor, but when you make such changes you have to resubmit the questions to the IRB for quick approval. Minor thing, but annoying.

Losing a day was not a problem, but complex logic would be nice within SurveyMonkey. Still, it beats the old ways of doing surveys!

I just want to see more usability testing of Web applications. Eventually, things will be better as technologies improve.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Writing Ideas

By
Online composition and participation are always a requirement in the courses I teach. When I began teaching at Fresno State as a graduate student in 2004, I was one of the few instructors who required students use Blackboard on a weekly basis. I believe there are several reasons to use tools like Blackboard / WebVista: Students can read and respond to the thoughts of their classmates. I have a record of how writing (and thinking) improve during a semester Peer editing can occur online, in small groups. Students less vocal in class discussions tend to participate more online. Normally, I post a " Weekly Response Question/Topic " based on class discussions during the week. Students can then extend the in-class discussion online. Those who were unable to speak up during the class have time to reflect and post their thoughts, too. By requiring every student to post at least 50 to 100 words a week, they soon engage each other in discussion. I always use threaded discussions...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Than a Typewriter: The Power of Word

By
Visalia Direct: Virtual Valley March 3, 2014 Deadline April 2014 Issue More Than a Typewriter: The Power of Word Typewriters still amaze me, especially the antique mechanical models. There’s something wonderful about the feel of levers, gears, springs and rollers working together to transmit thoughts into words. Typewriters possess a romance computer keyboards and touch screens lack. But, please, stop using your word processor like a typewriter. Word processor abuse mars many otherwise good documents. Bad habits people develop over time lead to documents that are ugly and difficult to edit and revise. The numerous excuses for improper word processing deserve dismissal. It does not take days or even hours to learn to use tabs effectively. Paragraph styles take minutes to understand and appreciate. Even a complex looking table of contents takes only a few mouse clicks to create if you construct a document properly. When you know more about your software tools, you also kno...
Post a Comment
Read more

Word Macro for Word Abusers

By
I overuse some words and phrases in my writing. Most writers have some problem words. It isn't that the words should never be used, or that we use them incorrectly. We simply use them too frequently. The following Microsoft Word VBA macro marks words I should check for overuse. Also included are words and phrases I should avoid. Feel free to copy and modify this macro. I encourage my students to try this macro, too. Once you have the macro in Word, you can alter the word list to reflect your preferences and habits. Sub macWordsToAvoid() Dim vFindText As Variant Dim txtWord As Variant 'list the exceptions to look for in an array vFindText = Array("about", "all", "almost", "a lot", "already", "always", "along with", _ "anxiously", "absolutely", "as well", "believe", "certainly", "clearly", "definitely", _ "eagerly",...
Post a Comment
Read more