Translate Your English App - Development #3

Today I've been continuing to refine my application in order for it to be of good and kind of high quality for tomorrows crit. I added the 'Community' feature to the app where users can communicate and socialise to other users. Initially, I though of having it so user can communicate to other users based on similar searches/the same searches. However, as I was making the extension of the app; I realised that having a 'Community Board' where people can share their translated search and add a comment would be much better as not only does it let user's see other people searches and click to them to see what it is, it also initiates conversation between users and generate conversation. It's also more humane, raw and accurate as the people that may comment may give them their opinions on the matter, giving them more insight on the social/environmental/political context of the word in relation to the country but also may give them other suggestions on other similar words that can be used. In addition, to a 'Community Board' I also made it so user's can go to the commenter's profile's where they can either follow/message them. I did this so this way, the user can initiate a more personal conversation and converse about more specific part of the language, country, culture etc. and I think this is effective as it gives the user's a much more informed information.

After I finished I decided to get one of my peers (Jocel) to try out my app and give me some crit and feedback. Overall, she thought it was good and pretty straightforward and easy to use, however she did point out some changes that I could make and they were more about the minor details that I didn't really pay attention to:

• Change 'More details' icon - She found it quite confusing how this icon work and so I had to direct her and click on it. She said to maybe change it to something clearer as it may confuse the users and may think it's for something else. I also thought of this before, however I didn't really know what icon to use so I decided to search up some references. Also, She pointed how I should make the heart the same as the save folder icon so the users will clearly know it's a save button because it looks more like it indicates it as a 'like' icon instead. From my research, I found that most of it are just three horizontal lines with a magnifying glass overlaid, therefore I decided to use a similar icon as it already indicates from my search that  it's a universal icon that most users will know about, therefore using this icon will stop confusing the users and they'll know once they click on it it'll take them to a page with more information and context about their search. 

• Make the type size consistent - Some of my type sizes were the same on both headings and sub headings and kind of defeats the purpose of the hierarchy of information. I didn't realise this until she pointed it out as I got so used to the screen that I didn't realise how it will actually look on a phone and how users will perceive the type info so I changed the type so that the headings are 20pt and the sub headings and 15pt, giving a clear indication of which information the users will read fist and attain. 

• More context transition should be 'Slide Down' - She pointed out how the context overlays sliding up are kind of disorientating and something she wan't used to, so she suggested that I try sliding it down. I tried her suggestion, however I didn't really like it and I think I prefer the sliding up transition better as it's an overlay quite similar to how a keyboard works (which is to slide up), keeping it to slide up is a much better option and is also consistent throughout the rest of the transitions used in similar icons like the keyboard. 

I found it really helpful to have someone else try my app as they saw it in the audiences' point of view and therefore saw different things that I did which really helped me in refining the details to my app and made me realise to focus more on the details. After, this crit I decided to have a more thorough look at my app and did a bit more refining to it. 

Looking through my content overlays, I thought that I'd add an extra pop-up for unique words used in the language, as I think it would help the users know and adapt more in the language as they can able to use these words unique to the country, to show their understanding as well as to show respect and appreciation for the tradition, society and culture that they are learning through the app. 

Thoughts & Reflection: 

This is what the app looks like after refining it and will be what I'm going to show for the crit tomorrow. Hopefully I can get helpful crit and confirmation that I'm doing alright and progressing well just so I know that I'm going in the right direction; and hopefully I won't have to make any drastic changes as it's the final crit and this version is what I'd like my final to be.  

I thought while refining and developing the app, I found it quite exhausting having to link each detailed transition for an action to another page, however at the same time it was very helpful to get me to consider each step and make myself aware of the how I'd want the user's to navigate the app. Also, doing this naturally made me think in the audiences' point of view and I thought more about what might the user want in the app and what kind of things they might like to learn. This led me to keep adding more and more features in my app and add little details to it like the pop up feature for the word 'po' in the context. Furthermore, it made me realise the (secondary?) effects of the app, as at first I only wanted to let the users know the english loan words and what they mean in their own English language use, however as the app became more detailed and refined, it made me think that the app can also be a tool where user can learn about the culture through the little niche words used iin the country and therefore be more self-aware not just linguistic wise to be able to communicate better, but also cultural-wise, where they can also learn to appreciate the unique traits of each country that they are trying to learn more about.