Blogging with Word 2007 September 24, 2007

So here I am in my classroom typing a Blog entry in MS Word 2007. The big question for me is: “Is this better/easier/more effective than using the Word Press online editor?” Well so far so good. I created a new document with ease and typed in my blog URL and username and password. It appears to connect fine. So getting started seems easy enough, I suppose the next test is whether or not formatting performed in Word transfers correctly to Word Press. I’ll play with some sample formatting changes and pictures and check out the results.

Students in my ITT OYAP class are currently working on creating their own digital portfolio’s using Dreamweaver MX. I think this is a worthwhile task and hopefully students gain the following:

1. An introduction to HTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver
2. An awareness of themselves and their career goals
3. A polished finished product that will be useful to them in the future

   I have to give credit to my experience at UOIT and Dr. Liesel Knaack who assigned teacher candidates a similar assignment while earning our BEd. The students appear to be working well on their assignment. The only challenge for them really seems to be staying on task in terms of creating content; students love to mess around with how their digital portfolio looks. As a side note, the image on the right was taken from my BEd. digital portfolio. I think it was a great “fake” picture. I’m trying to look like I am teaching, when really I am in an empty classroom except for the friend who took the picture. As I recall, the work on the board behind me is a mixture of quantum physics and gibberish.

Well, all in all it seems that Word 07 does it right. Formatting text, and inserting an image (and placing it properly) was all much less problematic in Word vs. the Word Press web editor. The only thing I notice is that the image appears larger online than in my Word Document. So, in case you’re wondering, all my future posts will be posted via Word.

What Frustrates Me Most With Computers

What frustrates me most with computers are examples of poor usability.  That is, they are simply difficult to use.  The term “usability” has many similar definitions, but really when we are discussing an item’s usability, we are talking about how easily we can learn to use it effectively. Before computers, people could examine the usability of objects.  I can imagine two people eating dinner; with one person struggling with their fork.  This continues until the person says “You know, it’s much more effective if you use it the other way.”  That’s maybe not the best example, after all most people even if they had never seen a fork before would figure out how to use it.Affordance

One reason why people can figure out a fork so easily is that the fork has reasonable good affordance.  Simply, it looks like what it should do.  It has a handle, is sized easily to fit in your hand, and one end looks good for poking with.  Some objects are better than others.  Something with wheels you figure you either: ride, push, or pull.  It transports something; even if it just itself. 
Some things have poor affordance.   If you see something (like the object to the right) and don’t have a clue as to what it does, it has poor (or little) affordance.  By the way, it’s a hands-free faucet.

The Computer Connection

Computers brought a host of new usability problems (keyboards, mice, etc.) but where we still struggle is in software and web sites.  Software and websites are often digital representations of the real world.  So there might be a slider to change a setting, or a button to activate something.  In our digital world it is important to have good affordance. A button should just scream that it is ready to be pushed.  This is not always the case.  Although software has gotten better, it seems as if some web-designers who are trying to be innovative are really destroying a websites usability by making it difficult to navigate.

Frustration Abounds A website that is difficult to navigate makes things painful.  It frustrates the user as they try to seek out information.  Try visiting the site: http://www.gaia-group.com and find the News and Publications section.  This website is a nightmare all because the designer tried to do something different.  Examples not as bad are websites with many levels of dropdown menus.  In most cases these menus save space at the expense of ease of navigation.  There are other sites that are just bizarre and difficult to navigate.  I visited the site http://www.crumplerbags.com/ and all I can say is “I guess they sell bags?”  I didn’t want to endure the psychotic interface any more than I had to in order to find out more.  Cool is important, but usability comes first.  What else has bad usability?  The interface here to add images to this blog.  It wasn’t worth the frustration of trying to place my images where I wanted….I gave up.