Options Button Y=, Tables and Lists Panning and Zooming Graphing Transformations Factoring Formula Library Fractions Simplified Button Layout More Ideas

Options

Evolution of Prototypes

 

Initial Design

Since the "Options" button is a feature that is integrated within other interfaces, the "Options" button was tested with other parts of the calculator.

Try prototype (Graphing)

This context-sensitive menu would be overlaid on top of the current screen with a list of possible actions that the user can do. The button was originally named "Actions" to indicate possible actions that users could do.

The button was originally named "Actions".

 

 

Iteration 1

Try Prototype (Graphing)

Design change: Rename to "Options"

  • "Actions" renamed to "Options".
   

Rationale

1/3 students

One users said that the actions button "doesn't mean anything" to him

1/3 students

One user explicitly commented that the button should be labeled"Options", because "it gives you different options to do things with whatever you're doing. "

 

Design Change: Frame the options menu to improve clarity

  • Improved the look-and-feel of the options menu by adding a frame, which indicates that the user is dealing with a "dialog box".
   

Rationale

1/3 students

The menu did not look like a menu. One users thought that the one row of data shown in the background was the only row that the action was applied to.

 

Iteration 2

Design change: more refinement in Options screen

 
  • The functions to be included in the "Options" menu should be refined.
  • Need to decide items to include in "Options" menu to apply this model to all features
   

Rationale

1/3 students

One user was aware of the "Options" button when trying to find the line of best fit. User was looking for the line of best fit option in the "Table" view and not the "Graph" view.

More Findings

10/12 users

It appears that the "Options" menu model is ready to be applied to other aspects of the calculator. Most users pressed the Options button without assistance. Once users found out about the options button, they keep using it. 1 user expressed that he likes using the "options" button and checked out the options menu for every place.