Cog walk through - exploring the toolbar

Screen 12
1)quit is right under the "file' menu, not a safe placement visually. This maybe a personal opinion so feel free to ignore. few question in this case...
(i)is it necessary there?
(ii)is it a standard according to KDE? I am not too familiar with KDE UI
(iii)it didn't even prompt before closing... now that is scary

2)new "file".. now is that for a completely new financial management? the file concept for a personal "account" is confusing.. login might be a better metaphor. few question in this case...
does new file =
(i) new finance management file?
(ii) new user?
(iii) Why would same user want two different files to manage his finances?

Cog walk - Bug report

Nice to see "report Bug"
(i) Will it gather information about the current context user is in?, would be good as the user may not be very descriptive or specific while filing a bug
(ii) if collecting such data care should be taken to not breach and privacy or gather any sensitive financial information. just the screen landed or path to the screen could be sufficient

Cog Walk through: Getting Started - part 4

Screen 11
1. Why did this show up when I deselected the opening balance?
- About the dialog: lengthy, the wording is confusing when indirect... click yes to Cancel, No to Save and Cancel to return, cant it be direct?

2. After click cancel why is it not allowing me to select the transaction back?

3. Couldn't get the screen capture with the dropdown when ppp is selected. why? ppp was set as an asset account. Is that default, wasn't sure it was explicit while taking details of ppp? Define asset account. How do I change it?

4.For the "Search" how about setting sample data in grey in the text field to give users a clue as to what is expected?

5.Number a column is present. But there is no numbering

6. 'c' ? What is that column for?

7. Fiscal year does that mean financial year? define term Fiscal year
- is that different for different countries? Are localization issues handled?

8.Payment? Deposit? how r they different from expenditure, income? explain terms clearly.

9. Cleared 0.00... what does that mean?

10. Never reconciled.. whats that? how, why, what and everything about Reconcile? Define term

11.On Selection of 'new' - why is default set to withdraw? the tab usage to select type of transaction here is confusing and isn't very intuitive.

12. "viewing details of transaction' and editing them should be separate. good example to learn from is of the interface of yahoo mail beta. You have a list of email, of which one could be selected. And the details of that particular email is shown in the lower half. and only actions related to that email are listed there. To create a completely new email... a task unrelated to the current email in viewing, set these actions out of this tab layout... the "new/compose" are out of this layout of things

13. How do we go back to the Account Summary page? Back navigation fails here. Consider a universal back and forward buttons like in a browser.

14.Status? (i)tried "cleared" and the entry got deleted - this is little scary - there is no prompt and no way to undo. (ii) but then I set the status to not marked and the entry was back in place (iii) the reason for this confusion could be the fact that, the affordance of a drop down on right corner is not that of a "selection" criteria (iv) still not clear on how to set the status.

Cog Walk through: Getting Started - part 3

Screen 8
1)Finish button is disabled? How do I save? Why is it pointing to a default location at which it is not able to save and later recall, remember at Screen 1 wasn't able to open recently created files?
2)More thoughts, why doesn't the application have some login name and passwd... account based rather than "file" based. login and pss offers better security which is important for finance aps
3)Finally could save it on changing both name and location, this time as I consciously decided the location I could find my file easily on logging in next time.




Screen 9
1)Scroll could have been avoided
2)Layout needs more work,
a.use color code,
b.work with a grid- follow a consistent grid visually across pages.
c.Typography needs work building proper visual hierarchy in Title, labels and data
These small things allow user to perceive information in an organized and intuitive way.
3)How about defining the technical terms in the first time viewing of them? could be done on hover or select and right click or a simple section at bottom of the page that is allotted to a dictionary.




Screen10
1) Why did clicking on PPP take me to Ledger instead of Account (since PPP is an "account")?
2)No direct way to go back to "Summary page". First time user will not know Summary page = home
3)Page layout need to parse meaning into it well. The current view doesn't have a clear task division. The 2 panel selector pattern can be used more clearly.

Cog Walk through: Getting Started - part 2

Screen 4
1. Date format is not easy to read, though it is the standard format. Using something like “01-May-2008” or “May-01-2008” would be easier to read and not confusing as well.
2. The graphics of the calendar could be improved, more sleek


Screen 5
1.Doesn’t expand as expanded,
a.felt it wouldn’t just work sometimes
b.visual affordance that it would expand on clicking is low
c.Always selecting the country by scrolling down the long list is taxing, specially if your country is at the end of the alphabetical list. Can the software remember country, currency previously entered to preselect and put that selection in focus? This can avoid the scrolling.
d.Clicking on the small > triangle was a chance which is when I realized the list will expand, consider making the triangle 3-d to increase affordance to click or consider making the whole country name as the hot-spot to click and expand the options


Screen 6
1.Sentences can be shorter
for eg: To skip and do it later: click next.
2."open configuration DIALOG" sounds geeky, could use "Configure preferences now"
3.Text can be
a.more conversational instead of computer-ish
b.point based
c.short, crisp and direct
4.Nice to see keyboard functionality


Screen 7
1.too many things to be set
2.Can few main issues be differentiated from the rest? is "general" for that?
3.Too many tabs and too many windows, novice users could get confused.
4. Would like to see instant feedback like in case of setting up the views, like in windows "Apply is different from OK"

List of Financial terms that need explanation

Ledger
Reconcile
Institution
Account
Deposit
Transfer
Withdrawal
Payment
Deposit
IBAN while creating new account
Routing number
Checking account
Parent account?
Asset is an account?
Auto-VAT assignment?
Preferred Account?
Absolute limit in account limits
BIC in institution
Difference between Tax and VAT




... will add to list as I go over more tasks, also in the screens I will underline the terms as I come across them.

Cog Walk through: Getting Started - part 1

In this post and next series of posts are notes of cognitive walk through (refer to previous post) and UI Design ideas and suggestions for that context.



Screen 0
1.On first look it looks simple and straight forward to go ahead and set up your account.
2.Set up account equals creating new KMyMoney file. That is a little confusing concept.
3.Couldn’t find previously created and saved file. Probably the s/w could not remember the location where the file was saved, didn’t show recently used files as well. The location where the file was set to save by default was also a very deep and cryptic location. Came back third time to this point where I could not find the previously saved file. Fourth time tried to save the file with same name as previous, and it wasn’t allowed. That is when I saved the file on desktop and then on I could retrieve the file.


Screen 1
1.Go to My Financial summary doesn’t say anything – Should be disabled if not applicable as in case of no existing financial record.


Screen 2
1.Can this be skipped? If you skipped – can we maintain a “finish later” list? Does it remember half filled information? How to quickly get to “finish later” list?
2.Can these forms be smarter?
a.Auto fill
b.Drop downs for country
c.Format clues
d.Format checks
e.Forgiving formats: not strict
3.Nice to see “load from address book”


Screen 3
1.Nice to see “load from address book”, but couldn’t really understand how to maintain an Address book, is it part of KMyMoney or an application outside of KMyMoney
a.Content of the dialog box, can this be put in simpler words?
b.Rather than say unable to load, can it explain why it didn’t unload and say what would make it work?