mkpostman jandbeyond

MKPOSTMANRe-Designing the newsletter component

Table of contents

das MedienKombinat GmbH = page 3

I. Introduction

II. Usability study

III. Presentation of the new MKPOSTMAN component

IV. Challenges within the implementation

V. Final reflection

Introduction


further

development+ +

=

for Joomla! 1.0.x

The target was to transfer MKPOSTMAN into the new Joomla! 1.5 framework.

One focus within that was a feasibility study which included

a. the check of the necessary measures for the transfer

MVC design pattern

b. the examination whether a 1:1 transfer was useful or a conceptual

revision was needed.

usability study

Introduction


Table of contents


I. Introduction

II. Usability study



V. Final reflection

Usability study


How to identify the usability of software like MKPOSTMAN?

Ask the users about their opinion!

Which method can be used for this?

e.g. a statistical survey by the help of questionnaires

What questionnaire did I use?

the commonly accepted ISONORM questionnaire which is based on the

norm DIN EN ISO 9241-110

Usability study


DIN EN ISO 9241-110 consists of 7 principles which should be considered

when creating software

Principles:

• Suitability for the task

• Self-descriptiveness

• Conformity with user expectations

• Suitability for learning

• Controllability

• Error tolerance

• Suitability for individualization

Usability study


The ISONORM questionnaire asks the users about the 7 principles of DIN EN

ISO 9241-110.

Example:

Additionally, the test person can indicate how important each principle is for

them.

The software … --- -- - -/+ + ++ +++

The software…

is bad is good

Usability study


Period of the questionnaire:

• 4 weeks

Manner of the survey:

• online questionnaire (based on the ISONORM questionnaire)

Languages:

• German and English

Participants:

• subscribers of the MKPOSTMAN mailing list (140 people took part; 58

filled out the questionnaire completely)

Result:

• MKPOSTMAN was not considered as utilizable.

Usability study


Usability study


Suitability for the task

• easy handling of software

• software adjusts to the user and not the other way around

Problems with MKPOSTMAN

• special functions, which were regularly needed, did not exist (e.g.

copying function of newsletters)

Implications (abstract):

• copying function of newsletters

• possibility to create a permanent sender address which differs from

the one of the system administrator

Usability study


Self-descriptiveness

• software uses comprehensible terms and symbols

• software offers context-specific help

• software gives information about the accepted values and formats

for input fields


• missing help function

• incomprehensible terms

Implications (abstract)

• help function and tool tips

Usability study


Conformity with user expectations

• software is designed uniformly and consistently

• software is permanently structured and can be used according to a

single principle


• nothing special


• statistic function which informs the user if the system really sent the

newsletter to the selected addresses or not

Usability study


Suitability for learning

• software can be learned without any help or manual

• only little time should be needed for being able to use software


• nothing special


• help function and tutorials

Usability study


Controllability

• included possibility to change between different input forms and

navigation without any big barrier

• software can be operated both by mouse and keyboard

• user can organize tabular list by themselves


• mutual hidden dependences of single component parts (traced to

the peculiarities of Joomla! 1.0.x)


• find a way to abolish these dependences

Usability study


Error tolerance

• input fields are always checked whether they are completely and

correctly filled in

• inform the user about errors in a comprehensible way and tell them

about possibilities to solve the problem

• special actions should only be carried out after the explicit

confirmation by the user


• input fields were not always checked for errors

• error messages were partly badly formulated

• success messages were delivered although an error occurred

Usability study


Error tolerance


• error messages should be indicated if errors occurred

• error messages should be formulated in a comprehensible way

• error messages should include hints in order to undo the error

• creating a recycle bin which archives deleted entries

Usability study


Suitability for individualization

• color and language can be adapted by the user

• user can decide about the arrangement of the system areas


• missing possibility to add data base fields in order to add more user

data

• missing personal adaption of the personalization e.g. by the

personal adaption of the display on screen (limited by Joomla!)


• adaption of the backend language

Usability study


The results of the usability study and the assessment that the transfer of

MKPOSTMAN should be effected on the basis of the MVC-principle led to the

following conclusion:

An absolute conceptual revision of MKPOSTMAN was needed.

Usability study


Implications to further adaption to current legal and technical conditions:

• When subscribing to a newsletter via frontend there should be the

possibility to integrate the terms of use and to display them together with a

check box. The potential subscriber will have to cross the check box in

order to send their subscription.

• Only the email address may be displayed as an obligatory entry. All other

contents should be voluntary.

• When collecting statistics, e.g. concerning the opening rate of newsletters,

nobody who has the newsletter open is allowed to take part in logging.

Usability study


Implications to further adaption to current legal and technical conditions:

• If a user unsubscribes to the newsletter service their data should

automatically be deleted from the data base.

• The subscription should be created according to the Double-Opt-In-

procedure.

• It should not be possible to send the same newsletter several times.

Table of contents


I. Introduction

II. Usability study



V. Final reflection

Presentation of the new MKP


video/mkpostman_hq/mkpostman_hq.mp4

Table of contents


I. Introduction

II. Usability study



V. Final reflection

Challenges


Tab system

• separate search and filter functions, separate sorting possibilities for

each tab

Problem

• Joomla! 1.5 offers a tab system in which the tabs do not act

independently from each other

Solution

• development of an own tab system which reloads the content of the

different tabs within every change between the tabs

• the tab system uses cookies to save the tab specific settings

Challenges


Dealing with faulty data

• reload of the form if the user tried to save faulty data; the reloaded

form should already contain the input data

Problem

• Joomla! 1.5 does not offer such a functionality

Solution

• If the user tries to save faulty data all input data will be stored within

the user session.

• Then the view will load these data into the template and the data will

be removed from the user session.

Challenges


Dealing with possible abandonment during mailing process

• If the mailing process stops unexpectedly the mailings which had not

still been sent should not be lost.

Solution

• If the mailing process is started, all receiver addresses will be stored

in a special database table.

• Then the basic mailing process starts.

• Thereby the system catches the next entry from the table and tries

to send the mailing.

• If this succeeds the system catches the next entry but if this fails the

entry will be written back into the table but at the last position.

Table of contents


I. Introduction

II. Usability study



V. Final reflection

Final reflection


Possibilities for further development and improvement

• statistic function

• bounce management

• possibility for sending attachments

• help function

• template area

• …

Final reflection


URL to my master thesis about the re-design of MKPOSTMAN:

http://archiv.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/2010/0025/index.html

Thank you for your attention!

WWW.DAS-MEDIENKOMBINAT.DE = [email protected]

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