Best online store - My Top 3

I often shop online.  Here are my recommendations across categories

Home Needs – cloverpeek.com 

1.  Best home needs store.
2. Great Discounts on everything.
3. Prompt Service.
4. Cash on Delivery.
5. 1-hour delivery to Electronics City and HSR layout.
6. 3-hour delivery across Bangalore.

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 Fashion – koovs.com 

1. Huge collection of Product
2. Great quality of product (never received damaged product.
3. Great payment options
4. Great customer service

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Books – landmarkonthenet.com  

1. Books much much cheaper than flipkart.com
2. Great service
3. Great supply chain
4. Flawless customer care. 

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I am not mentioning cons because for these 3, till date I have had the best shopping experience and that is why I recommend to others. One limitation with cloverpeek.com  is that it caters only to customers in Bangalore.I do not recommend buying electronics online. i had a bad experience and post that i decided never to buy electronics online.

Happy Birthday : Anirban Sirkhell - some old memories shared

God of War 2

Hello today I am going to review God of war 2 . I have been playing I have been playing God of War 2 for last 1 year. This is perhaps the best game that i have ever played.

Storyline: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Control: 8/10
Ingame Visuals: 10/10
fight Sequence: 10/10
Weapons: 10/10
Usability: 9/10

The game storyline runs great. The player is thoroughly engaged in the Game. Cutscenes are excellent and its great to watch them. However there are lot of places where you can get stuck while playing the game. But do not worry and do not give up. It took me 4 month to finish the game first time I was playing. After that, I have finished this game as many many as 8 time. All these 8 times i started in friday and was done by sunday afternoon. Youtube have videos of all the stages so there would never be situation, wherin you would be stuck forever. And the best part is once you get going with the joystick on PS2, fun gets unlimited and its thrill to play it then.

For the first time the cutscenes are a feast to watch. However from the second time, you might find them 'too long a wait'. I believe there should have been an option to skip the cutscene from the second time. However, that in no way a drawback for the game. God of war is simply out of the world. So get your copy today.

Usability: Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users

Author: Jakob Neilson & Tom Landauer

Problems found(i)= N(1-(1-L)ⁱ)

where

ProblemsFound(i) indicates the number of different usability problems found by aggregating reports from i independent evaluators,

N indicates the total number of usability problems in the interface

L indicates the proportion of all usability problems found by a single evaluator.

In six case studies (Nielsen and Landauer 1993),

The values of L ranged from 19 percent to 51 percent with a mean of 34 percent.

The values of N ranged from 16 to 50 with a mean of 33.

Using this formula results in curves very much like that shown in Figure above, though the exact shape of the curve will vary with the values of the parameters N and L, which again will vary with the characteristics of the projet

Contextual Inquiry: The Art of User Centered Designs

The Art of User Centered Designs :Contextual Inquiry

Contextual Inquiry is the most important aspect of the Web application development. When we are talking in terms of developing Web Application with a fixed set of users in mind ie. User Centered Design(UCD), contextual inquiry would go a long long way in developing the application. I have worked extensively in Developing Web Application for the Clinical Trial Industry, specifically dealing with the Phase 1 drug testing. I always had this in my mind that my users are Doctors, Nurses, Phlebotomists, Medical Practitioners and others related to the Pharmaceutical Industry, do not look at Web Applications like I do. They treat it like any other web site.



Introduction

Getting Introduced to the user is the first step to contextual inquiry. For a user a UI Engineer is no different from the Programmer or a DBA. Moreover, the user need not understand what actually you are trying to achieve. That would dilute the essence of the Contextual Inquiry. The effort of the UI Engineer should be to build a good rapport with the user. This would assure that he would speak his mind out when you inquire him. He complains to his best. The notion of the contextual Inquiry is not hear good things about the Application. It tries to find the issues and concerns the user is facing and attempts to address and resolved them.



Data Collection and Compaction

Data collection and compaction is the most important thing to do before you start speaking to the actual user. Data collected gives you the understanding of needs and the want of the users. However it could also lead to a mind block. Data at time could be misleading. So study the data carefully but do not jump to conclusions. 90% of the application users prefer mouse over keyboard does not mean that your contextual inquiry should eliminate the query related to Keyboard/mouse. Keyboard/mouse usage is much broader than that. Data collection should be done for reference and better understanding of the process and the product. They contributes extensively to the understanding of the functionality as well.



Query and Inquiry

More then often Contextual Inquiry starts as an inquiry and end up being an Interview session. The UI Engineer sits with a pen and paper taking notes aggressively, asking probing questions. User out of words and being interrupted time and again, tends to get afraid assuming he is giving some legal commitment that he need to sign at the end.



Keep your paper and pen aside. Talk to your user without any obstruction. Let him speak his mind. Let him complain. Let him come up with his wants and desire. Remember that we are building a User Centered Web Application. The user is in the center of this entire process. Ask him simple and straightforward questions.



General Questions

1. So Mike, how is the software working.

2. Is it better then pen and paper (be careful when you are being sarcastic).

3. You are able to enter data easily using keyboard and mouse(be prepared to listen all kind of answers)

4. What kind of issues you face.

5. Are you okay with the color of the Software

6. Some select boxes are too small/big. Don't you think so?

Process Specific queries.


Process specific query should be absolutely open ended. The user has been the part of process on a day to day basis. He has been doing that again and again every day and knows it in and out. Let him speak as if there is no tomorrow. Let him try to explain things to you. This not only would be fruitful for the contextual inquiry, it would also help you in better understanding of the process for which you are trying to develop/enhance the Web Application.



Workplace

Better understanding of the user workplace is important to realize the way the Web Application should be designed.

God of War 2. not able to open the door after killing prometheus

This has bogged me for 2 full months. After killing prometheus in the fire, I climbed the series of levers and pulley, collecting orbs,feathers and what not on the way to the door. But I was not able to open the door, however hard I tried. The reason being I was not able to activate the 'Rage of titan'. to do that I was suppose to press R3. I was wonder where is this R3 on my joystick. And then one day, I was able to press R3.

Let me show you where R3 was:

this key kept me bothered for months together and the finally one day, by fluke I was able to move further. Have fun. I am still very much into God of war. Every time I am stuck, I will write the resolution here.

Indipepal : India's Premies social networking Web Portal

Indipepal would perhaps be the most remarkable startup for 2009. A complete social networking site . The most remarkable feature of Indipepal is the way it address the social concerns of india and connects people to share the concern and knowhow. I am really impressed the way indipepal has come up with. UI and interface is very innovative and usable. Certain areas where it geniunly lack is nitty gritty data display concern. But since this is only the alpha release, I am sure these guys will give everyone else, a run for money.

The most remarkable thing thing that I like about Indipepal is the way it has covered the Defense and NGOs in India. It is truely a social netwroking website. it captures the imagination of India. However, the two most significant thing where it failed to attract the Indian audience is

1. Politics
2. Cricket.

Cricket and Politics sells, and sells huge in India, probably more then books, bollywood, NGOs or for that matter Defense.

But yes, Indipepal managed to capture the imagination of India. Bull Eye..