T-SHIRT DESIGN SOFTWARE?

Mechanical design software usability (seeking researcher #3)

• We recently launched beta of a new mechanical design Windows software package in connection with our http://www.emachineshop.com - the first on-line machine shop. The software is a free download on the site. What parts of the user interface need improvement? Is anything in the software unclear. Are any messages confusing? Are there any bugs? Are there any problems creating a design from conception thru ordering? Can anything be improved? We seek researchers ranging from software experts to novices and those with and without mechanical design knowledge. Please explain your level in these areas and which version of Windows you are using. We will post this question more than once to get the views of different researchers. We seek actual answers to the questions - not information on how to research an answer. This requires working with the software and performing real tasks such as designing one or more of the shapes shown on the main web page.

• Answer:

  Hi swisscheese-ga! First of all, let me give you the background you requested. Outside Google Answers, part of my job is to write reviews of software - not in the technical sense but from the point of view of novice and intermediate users. My expertise in mechanical design is limited - I have used CAD programs before, but not in great detail - so I am coming at this more from a novice point of view. My system runs on Windows 2000 Professional. Like other researchers, I found the download manager a little confusing. At first, I thought I was downloading the entire program in one step and it was a bit frustrating to realise that I had to download a second program to install the software. Perhaps if you made this clearer in the text on the page, rather than letting the user find this out for themselves, it would minimise frustration. Installing the program didn’t cause any problems – smooth sailing right to the end. The tests for the video card was also quite simple, although it took a few seconds for me to realise that I should have been clicking on the outside of the shapes rather than the centre. I might suggest a more contemporary look for the buttons that guide you through this process, but that is purely aesthetics and merely my preference. When it came to actually drawing the shapes, I picked up the process quite easily, despite my limited knowledge of mechanical design. The help menu is quite detailed and anything I didn’t understand could be found here. It was easy enough to get the drawing you wanted, tweaked to your satisfaction. When I tried to view my finished image in 3D mode, I got the following error message: “Error: Material is not specified” After a bit of searching, I found the menu option to set the material, but maybe you should make this a bit clearer for more inexperienced users. The text tool: The text I typed on to the machine (for engraving) failed to show up on the preview. This should be addressed, either by informing the customer that it won’t show up on the 3D view, or fixing it so the text appears. Also, is the font fixed or can it be changed according to customer preference? One thing I missed was the ‘Undo’ option most Windows programs have – although there was the option in the ‘edit’ menu, it seemed to be inaccessible when I needed it most. This means that users will have to have a certain level of precision, or be forced to start again if they make a mistake. I liked the fact that if there were any problems with your design, a pop-up message would inform you straight away, likewise with the message that informs you of possible cost increases due to design changes. However, I did run into a problem or two when I tried to input my address – I’m not sure if it is an actual bug with the software or if it was just a freak occurrence. Trying to change the country from the drop down menu produced the error message: “Access violation at address 008C6E58 in module ‘emachineshop.exe’. Read of address 00098053” This occurred a couple of times, so I restarted the program. I could now input the address without any difficulty. The final part of my test was to analyse and price the machine I had drawn. This is a useful feature of the software, but hen I changed the shipping address and re-analyzed the price, it was exactly the same. The shipping costs should have increased, as I had moved from a US address to one in Europe. If this occurred because the company does not ship outside the US, I suggest you get rid of the list of countries on the drop-down menu. If not, perhaps building a way into the software to refresh the price is the best option. In summary, I found this software, for the most part, easy to use. As for the main user interface, the layout of the tools on-screen makes them easily accessible. There are one or two issues that need to be worked on, but most are quite minor. I hope that this helps you. If you need anything further, please request clarification and I will do my best to address your question. Thanks cobrien