Low-Fi Prototyping and Distributed WoZ Testing Tool

[alihosseinikhayat]

Hi all,
As some of you may remember Patrick Wilson (a member of Dr. Maurer's
Agile SE Lab at the University of Calgary) designed a low-fidelity
prototyping and distributed Wizard of Oz testing tool called
ActiveStory. Following up on that work we have designed an updated
tool called ActiveStory Enhanced with (hopefully) improved usability
and flexibility and have also (hopefully) addressed some of the
concerns some users had with the previous version (no undo, large
eraser, etc).
Using ActiveStory Enhanced a developer or designer (or anyone really)
can design a quick pen-and-paper prototype, add some simple
interactivity (transitions between pages when a hotspot area is
clicked) and export the prototype to either an integrated web server
or IIS (6.0 and above). Test participants can then navigate to the
web address of the server and attempt to execute the designated task.
Like the orginial ActiveStory, participants can leave comments and
their mouse movements, hotspot clicks and time spent on each page are
recorded.
ActiveStory Enhanced supports using a tablet and/or a mouse.
Designers can also import existing images and resize and move them.
The new version of ActiveStory, (i.e. ActiveStory Enhanced), is
available at CodePlex for download. Both the source and an installer
are available.

Your valued feedback and/or comments would be very much appreciated.

Home: http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home
<http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home>
CodePlex page: http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced
<http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced>
Installer:
http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as
<http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as>
px?ReleaseId=23628

[Jon Kern]

got anything for Mac users to try (without using parallels)?



----- Original Message -----
From: "alihosseinikhayat" <alihosseinikhayat@...>
To: agile-usability@...
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:19:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [agile-usability] Low-Fi Prototyping and Distributed WoZ Testing Tool








Hi all,
As some of you may remember Patrick Wilson (a member of Dr. Maurer's
Agile SE Lab at the University of Calgary) designed a low-fidelity
prototyping and distributed Wizard of Oz testing tool called
ActiveStory. Following up on that work we have designed an updated
tool called ActiveStory Enhanced with (hopefully) improved usability
and flexibility and have also (hopefully) addressed some of the
concerns some users had with the previous version (no undo, large
eraser, etc).
Using ActiveStory Enhanced a developer or designer (or anyone really)
can design a quick pen-and-paper prototype, add some simple
interactivity (transitions between pages when a hotspot area is
clicked) and export the prototype to either an integrated web server
or IIS (6.0 and above). Test participants can then navigate to the
web address of the server and attempt to execute the designated task.
Like the orginial ActiveStory, participants can leave comments and
their mouse movements, hotspot clicks and time spent on each page are
recorded.
ActiveStory Enhanced supports using a tablet and/or a mouse.
Designers can also import existing images and resize and move them.
The new version of ActiveStory, (i.e. ActiveStory Enhanced), is
available at CodePlex for download. Both the source and an installer
are available.

Your valued feedback and/or comments would be very much appreciated.

Home: http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home 
CodePlex page: http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced 
Installer:
http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as 
px?ReleaseId=23628

[Dan Blaker]

Here are a couple options for Mac users:

Balsamiq Mockups is a novel UI sketching app that works in the browser  
or as a downloadable Adobe Air application on your (Mac/Win/Linux)  
desktop. It's "novel" because it uses a pen-sketched style for all its  
pluggable UI elements.  http://www.balsamiq.com/

iPlotz is another browser/Air app that uses a less sketchy style.  http://iplotz.com/

AFAIK, neither app has built-in click tracking, so you'd have to use  
something like crazyegg (http://crazyegg.com) to figure that stuff out.

I'd love to hear other people's suggestions about a Mac-compatible  
tool with built-in click tracking etc.

DGB


On Feb 23, 2009, at 1:15 PM, jonkern@... wrote:

> got anything for Mac users to try (without using parallels)?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "alihosseinikhayat" <alihosseinikhayat@...>
> To: agile-usability@...
> Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:19:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada  
> Eastern
> Subject: [agile-usability] Low-Fi Prototyping and Distributed WoZ  
> Testing Tool
>
> Hi all,
> As some of you may remember Patrick Wilson (a member of Dr. Maurer's
> Agile SE Lab at the University of Calgary) designed a low-fidelity
> prototyping and distributed Wizard of Oz testing tool called
> ActiveStory. Following up on that work we have designed an updated
> tool called ActiveStory Enhanced with (hopefully) improved usability
> and flexibility and have also (hopefully) addressed some of the
> concerns some users had with the previous version (no undo, large
> eraser, etc).
> Using ActiveStory Enhanced a developer or designer (or anyone really)
> can design a quick pen-and-paper prototype, add some simple
> interactivity (transitions between pages when a hotspot area is
> clicked) and export the prototype to either an integrated web server
> or IIS (6.0 and above). Test participants can then navigate to the
> web address of the server and attempt to execute the designated task.
> Like the orginial ActiveStory, participants can leave comments and
> their mouse movements, hotspot clicks and time spent on each page are
> recorded.
> ActiveStory Enhanced supports using a tablet and/or a mouse.
> Designers can also import existing images and resize and move them.
> The new version of ActiveStory, (i.e. ActiveStory Enhanced), is
> available at CodePlex for download. Both the source and an installer
> are available.
> Your valued feedback and/or comments would be very much appreciated.
> Home:http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home
> CodePlex page: http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced
> Installer:
> http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as
> px?ReleaseId=23628
>
>
>

[alihosseinikhayat]

Hi,
Just wanted to quickly point something out. Although the
ActiveStory Enhanced designer tool requires a Windows-based PC,
the actual usability Wizard of Oz testing is done inside a web
browser and test participants can run it whether theyre using
Windows, Linux or Mac, and whether they're using Internet
Explorer, Firefox or most other popular browsers.
Also, the original version of ActiveStory should work on a Mac,
although the setup file wont. If you download the source code and
compile it (or set it up on a Windows machine and copy over the
files to the Mac) you should be able to use it. I'm not quite sure
if the built-in server for the orginal ActiveStory would work on a
Mac though.
In case your interested in trying you can get the original
ActiveStory setup here:
http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStory/ActiveStoryDownlo
adPage
The source code for it was previously available on SourceForge,
but I can't seem to find it there anymore. If needed email me and
I'll look into making it available again.
Regards,
Ali Hosseini Khayat
--- In agile-usability@..., jonkern@... wrote:
>
> got anything for Mac users to try (without using parallels)?
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "alihosseinikhayat" <alihosseinikhayat@...>
> To: agile-usability@...
> Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:19:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
Eastern
> Subject: [agile-usability] Low-Fi Prototyping and Distributed
WoZ Testing Tool

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Hi all,
> As some of you may remember Patrick Wilson (a member of Dr.

Maurer's
> Agile SE Lab at the University of Calgary) designed a low-
fidelity
> prototyping and distributed Wizard of Oz testing tool called
> ActiveStory. Following up on that work we have designed an
updated
> tool called ActiveStory Enhanced with (hopefully) improved
usability
> and flexibility and have also (hopefully) addressed some of the
> concerns some users had with the previous version (no undo,
large
> eraser, etc).
> Using ActiveStory Enhanced a developer or designer (or anyone
really)
> can design a quick pen-and-paper prototype, add some simple
> interactivity (transitions between pages when a hotspot area is
> clicked) and export the prototype to either an integrated web
server
> or IIS (6.0 and above). Test participants can then navigate to
the
> web address of the server and attempt to execute the designated
task.
> Like the orginial ActiveStory, participants can leave comments
and
> their mouse movements, hotspot clicks and time spent on each
page are
> recorded.
> ActiveStory Enhanced supports using a tablet and/or a mouse.
> Designers can also import existing images and resize and move
them.
> The new version of ActiveStory, (i.e. ActiveStory Enhanced), is
> available at CodePlex for download. Both the source and an
installer
> are available.
>
> Your valued feedback and/or comments would be very much
appreciated.
>
> Home:
http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home 
> CodePlex page: http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced 
> Installer:
>
http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases
.as
> px?ReleaseId=23628
>

[Jon Kern]

i use balsamiq ;-)

jon
blog: http://technicaldebt.wetpaint.com



Dan Blaker said the following on 2/23/09 4:35 PM:

>
> Here are a couple options for Mac users:
>
> Balsamiq Mockups is a novel UI sketching app that works in the browser
> or as a downloadable Adobe Air application on your (Mac/Win/Linux)
> desktop. It's "novel" because it uses a pen-sketched style for all its
> pluggable UI elements. http://www.balsamiq.com/ <http://www.balsamiq.com/>
>
> iPlotz is another browser/Air app that uses a less sketchy style.
> http://iplotz.com/ <http://iplotz.com/>
>
> AFAIK, neither app has built-in click tracking, so you'd have to use
> something like crazyegg (http://crazyegg.com <http://crazyegg.com>) to
> figure that stuff out.
>
> I'd love to hear other people's suggestions about a Mac-compatible
> tool with built-in click tracking etc.
>
> DGB
>
> On Feb 23, 2009, at 1:15 PM, jonkern@...
> <mailto:jonkern%40comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > got anything for Mac users to try (without using parallels)?
> >
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "alihosseinikhayat" <alihosseinikhayat@...
> <mailto:alihosseinikhayat%40yahoo.com>>
> > To: agile-usability@...
> <mailto:agile-usability%40yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2009 6:19:17 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada
> > Eastern
> > Subject: [agile-usability] Low-Fi Prototyping and Distributed WoZ
> > Testing Tool
> >
> > Hi all,
> > As some of you may remember Patrick Wilson (a member of Dr. Maurer's
> > Agile SE Lab at the University of Calgary) designed a low-fidelity
> > prototyping and distributed Wizard of Oz testing tool called
> > ActiveStory. Following up on that work we have designed an updated
> > tool called ActiveStory Enhanced with (hopefully) improved usability
> > and flexibility and have also (hopefully) addressed some of the
> > concerns some users had with the previous version (no undo, large
> > eraser, etc).
> > Using ActiveStory Enhanced a developer or designer (or anyone really)
> > can design a quick pen-and-paper prototype, add some simple
> > interactivity (transitions between pages when a hotspot area is
> > clicked) and export the prototype to either an integrated web server
> > or IIS (6.0 and above). Test participants can then navigate to the
> > web address of the server and attempt to execute the designated task.
> > Like the orginial ActiveStory, participants can leave comments and
> > their mouse movements, hotspot clicks and time spent on each page are
> > recorded.
> > ActiveStory Enhanced supports using a tablet and/or a mouse.
> > Designers can also import existing images and resize and move them.
> > The new version of ActiveStory, (i.e. ActiveStory Enhanced), is
> > available at CodePlex for download. Both the source and an installer
> > are available.
> > Your valued feedback and/or comments would be very much appreciated.
> > Home:http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home 
> <http://ase.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Home>
> > CodePlex page: http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced 
> <http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced>
> > Installer:
> >
> http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as 
> <http://www.codeplex.com/ActiveStoryEnhanced/Release/ProjectReleases.as>
> > px?ReleaseId=23628
> >
> >
> >
>
>