Introducing the Real Clear Politics Website Real Clear Politics (realclearpolitics.com) is a website that aggregates links to news articles from a variety of other credible, online periodicals.  The links on Real Clear Politics are updated at least twice daily, with a Morning Update section and an Afternoon Update section.  The site is organized by days […]

Peapod.com bills itself as “America’s leading internet grocer,” allowing its users to do their weekly shopping without having to step foot outside their door. Designed to mimic the store shopping experience, users “browse” the online aisles for typical grocery store goods and add purchases to their digital cart before scheduling either a home delivery or

Perhaps designed to do too much, this wall-mounted interface was customized to control all the audio/visual components, telephony, and lighting for a large conference room.  Attempting all-in-one simplicity, the device instead presents its users hodge-podge complexity. Two of its issues – and some solutions – are explored below. ISSUE: NAVIGATION Because the hardware provides a

  silive.com is a mobile news app of Staten Island’s local newspaper, the Staten Island Advance. The app allows users to “get the latest Staten Island news, weather, sports, jobs and entertainment info on [his or her] phone or tablet.” As a long-time resident of the borough, I have used this app a fair amount and

Do I have time to grab a coffee, or do I need to start sprinting? The MTA’s Subway Time app is the official solution to that eternal dilemma, serving as a mobile extension of the underground train timers. While it succeeds in presenting useful information, actually using Subway Time can often be tedious and frustrating.

As a frequent online shopper I find the search functions on eBay.com very confusing. Like most online shoppers, I want to browse through various listings with the least amount of time and energy spent. In my recent search for a floor lamp, I visited eBay to see if I could find something that was easy to

  David Stark Designs is a design and production company for corporate and private events. Through their website they are trying to show potential clients how fun and creative their work is. However multiple design elements on the site lead to user error which in turn creates annoyed potential clients. With a few changes to

iMovie is a program that is designed by Apple, a company known for their design aesthetic, but less so the usability of their products. iMovie attempts to make creating films from movie clips easy, but several problems with the interface make executing these tasks difficult. The most pressing design problems I have found involve saving

Usability Theory and Practice LIS-644 Rachel Pisciotta Introduction The NYU Library System consists of a large number of Libraries and Library users including global and consortium libraries. All users are directed to the same sign-in screen that will either allow or prevent the user from requesting items for delivery, InterLibrary Loan, electronic resources, and recalling

FastLane is the online system used by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the management of research proposals and awards. This critique focuses on the system functions related to proposal creation. The proposal template provided by FastLane is comprised of a list of forms, which are edited by selecting the ‘Go’ button to the left