Rosetta Stone language tutorial (as an HCI examplae)

www.rosettastone.com

I should have sent away for the free demo CD last semester when I was in DCTE770 (the tutorial class)
with Dr. Snyder. I would have TRIED to emulate some of the techniques used in a professional tutorial.

Unfortunately the demo CD never did get past the introduction, where you did get a feel for the
"immersion interaction" of the Rosetta language tutorial. The CD hung and wouldn't go into any of the
actual demos. It is probably my computer not having the right drivers.

Of course it was only me, myself and I doing my project tutorial, but my tutorial looks and sounds so
amateurish compared to the professional version.

The most obvious problem for me was my audio quality. Rosetta Stone HAS to be using quality audio recording equipment instead of a cheap microphone plugged into the back of a PC.

I spent A LOT of time re-recording audio clips and never was satisfied with the quality and sound (volume) level from clip to clip.

NFL home page

Well it's Super Bowl time and I decided to visit the NFL home page:
www.nfl.com

Talk about cognitive overload!!!

1) There are 14 menu menu items running horizontally across/below the banner
2) The "Teams" menu pulldown has over 30 submenu items: one for each team in the NFL
(Does anybody remember the concept of "seven plus or minus two"?)

There are hundreds of links all over this page, most of which you don't even know they
are there unless you run your mouse over it, and then you are not even sure if you're on top of what you're trying to click to!

I have done some (not a lot) of web site design.
The main issue/problem I have with this page is that it is designed for a 1024 x 768 resolution screen and there are WAY! too many screen elements and they are too small.

Yes, there is a trend for larger screen sizes, but there is also a trend toward smaller screens such as found in iPhones and mini-laptops.

I don't have an iPhone or a Blackberry.
If anybody does, can they look at this site and tell me what it looks like on those devices?
www.nfl.com

Thanks

Map Colors

Normal Vision
with NO filtering









Deuteranopic View
(A form of red-green color vision deficiency)
of the first picture above










Hi Everyone,

I was going into Manhattan the other day and needed to find out what the schedule was
for the LIRR (that's the LongGisland Rail Road)

I came across the first map above realized this was a GREAT! example of how NOT
to use color in a map. They broke so many rules, I can't even start to list them.
Of course the person who designed it must surely think they did a great job.

The first picture has NO filtering, so a person with "normal" vision should see
about six or seven different colors.

The different lines running East-West are color-code in so many colors, I got a headache
looking at it. Thankfully I knew which line I wanted (and I am NOT color vision deficient)

A color vision deficient (CVD) person with "deuteranopia", the main form of
red-green deficiency would see the map as in the second picture I attached
which has a special filter to simulate red-green CVD.

I'm not sure if a CVD person who didn't know where they were going could
figure this out. I am VERY glad I don't have to deal with this!

Sal