Designating Required vs. Optional Input Fields

This week's blog will be a little bit different from what I've done so far.  Instead of talking about the design of an item, I will be discussing an article from sigchii.org regarding input and output methods.  This particular article, entitled "Designating Required vs. Optional Input Fields," discusses ways to make it easy to differentiate between required input fields and optional input fields when filling out online forms.

Fig.1 -- Various methods for indicating required fields are shown above.
Methods include bold type, chevrons, checks, colored fields, separate
areas, and status bars.
Source: http://www.sigchi.org/chi97/proceedings/poster/tst1.htm

A study of 18 people was performed to determine the preferred method out of 6 (see Fig. 1).  Most methods did not show much difference in time to completion -- the two exceptions were None (no differentiation between required and optional fields) and Status Bar (a status bar at the bottom of the page showing if the highlighted field is required or optional).  Both methods would require you to select each field individually to determine whether or not it was required.

I expected the colored field to outperform the others.  This might be because the colored fields are much more visually appealing than the other options.  Apparently, however, visual appeal does not directly correlate to significantly higher performance.  Out of the four options that all did relatively well, the separate fields option had the fastest performance for filling out forms, most likely because it would be readily obvious which fields to fill out, and they would all be back-to-back.  Perhaps the best solution would be to combine visual appeal with pragmatism and have all required texts next to each other, in color.

The Lenovo Thinkpad T61

Well, well, well.

Let me start with the positives of this laptop.  It is absolutely gorgeous, for one.  I got this laptop the summer before I came to college, and at first I was a little put off by its aesthetics.  It looks like something from the 90s.  However, after having had it for two years, my impression of it has grown remarkably.  The very reason I didn't like it before is why I can't stand any laptop other than it now -- all these 21st century laptops we see nowadays are sleek, curvy, glossy, like race cars.  In other words, they scream immaturity.  Lenovo's Thinkpad, in contrast, is boxy and dull black -- and it looks durable (which it is).  It screams SHARP; using a Lenovo makes one look like they're serious business.  Compare it to the latest Dell flagship, the Studio XPS 16:

What is going on here?  It's got this artsy white stripe going across the front, a huge Dell logo, shininess abounds...I could go on, but the point is to just notice how its aesthetics look, dare I say, dull in comparison to the Thinkpad's uniquely mundane appearance.

Moving on, to the insides of the Thinkpad...

I recently purchased a Solid State Drive to replace the hard drive I've had in my Thinkpad since I first got it.  I was expecting a hassle to open up the case, with screws all over the place and all that jazz -- but that was not to be.  Upon examining the bottom of the laptop, there is a symbol clearly indicating which screw had to be removed to remove the hard drive.  It turns out, there was all of one screw to remove the plastic encasing the hard drive enclosure.  From there, the drive literally just pulled out -- evidently, Lenovo was thoughtful enough to use a hot swap system to store the drive.  This means that there absolutely no screws to take off before the drive would come out.  I literally pulled it right out by a small plastic tab on the drive.  The process of putting in the solid state drive amounted to sliding it right in.  No issues whatsoever.  No problem even getting the rest of the system to recognize the drive.  Everything...just...worked.  It's not often I get to say that about computer hardware.

For the last few months, the 'D' key on the Thinkpad keyboard hadn't been working, so I did the sensible thing and ordered a new keyboard (some people might be silly enough in the same situation to replace the whole machine).  This time, there were five screws to unscrew from the bottom of the case.  After taking them off, the keyboard lifted right out, and it was a mere one connection to undo to take it out.  Installation of the new one was just as easy.

So, overall, Thinkpad mechanics and aesthetics are both an A+.  Now, onto the less than good -- the battery.  Both appearance-wise, and usability-wise.  First of all, even though I've highly praised the aesthetics of this laptop, or maybe because of the overall amazing aesthetics, the battery sticks out like a sore thumb.  It's rounded and sticks out past the end of the actual laptop.  If it weren't for the battery, the laptop would be a perfect rectangular box.  Luckily, the battery is hidden behind the screen most of the time it's being used.

The other problem with the battery is that it lasts, at best, about two hours.  Granted, this laptop is about two years old now, but the battery I'm using is brand new.  The best battery life these days peaks around 12 hours, around 6 times better than what my little thing is capable of.  It's frustrating to be required to have my charger with me at all times.  Ideally, the battery could be charged at night and, in the morning, the laptop would be ready for a whole day's worth of use.  Alas, it was not to be for this one.

Overall, the Thinkpad was definitely designed with the user in mind.

The Sperry Boat Shoe

This shoe leaves me utterly conflicted, because there are incredibly nice things and incredibly frustrating things about it.  On the positive side, this shoe slips on incredibly easily.  They never need be untied to put on.  Additionally, they are built for comfort -- having been wearing this type of shoe for a good 3 years now, I can say it's one of the more comfortable shoes I've worn.

The one huge detractor about them is that they have these completely useless laces.  First of all, if the shoes are slip on, why do they have laces in the first place?  The only purpose they serve is an aesthetic one, which would would be fine if it weren't for the fact that every now and then, the laces come undone and you have to needlessly tie them again.  Actually, it's not just every now and then, these laces literally come undone every day, due to the type of material used.  It's some sort of rubber material that really doesn't like to stay tied.  There's a reason you don't see any other shoe using this type of lace.  Sure, it looks nice, but it serves absolutely no purpose and it needlessly hinders the wearer.

The other problem with this shoe is that it stretches very easily.  After only a few months of having them, they lose their firm shape.  This is okay if they are just being used for lounge wear, but for more formal purposes, they quickly become unsuitable.