Digital Media Convergence Ch 6

This chapter was surprisingly interesting.  I was worried when I saw that it was all about web interface design after I found the page design chapter boring,  I mentioned in a past post that my parents both work in tech so growing up I heard a lot of these terms and it was nice to learn what they meant. UI and UX were thrown around back and forth between my parents quite frequently even now. UI stands for User Interface which is the physical interaction that a person has with their tech. UX stands for User Experience, that is the overall experience someone has using their tech.  This covers things like how long it takes something to load, how easy it was to find information, is it appealing to look at.

 

One of the other things that were brought up in this chapter single verse multi-touch interfaces. Their first example was a Nintendo DS. This gave me all the nostalgia; I still have my metallic pink DS Lite which is getting close to 15-years-old and is still working great. It is an example of a single touch interface. This means that there is only one place to touch at a time. An example of a multi-touch interface is an iPad. You can touch multiple things on the screen at once like when you’re playing a game. Some games ask you to drag things across a screen or zoom on a document with two fingers. With a multi-touch interface, you can also use your fingers, stylists, or other accessories. With a single touch you typically only use a stylist.

 

It is so important to understand how all of these components work together to create the multimedia experience that we have every time we turn on a device. When I am scrolling through an article or doing online shopping it’s easy to forget how much work goes into every little detail. Details like how a picture looks or how many times you have to click something to open it or if you click on an item if it opens in the current tab or a new tab. Those details really make the whole UX it’s best.

 

What is a device that makes you feel nostalgic? Let me know in the comments below!

 

~Anne with an “e”




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