Here is the emoticon I showed in class. Actually Taiwanese doesn't use them all. They usually use only some of them while chatting. For me, I use no more than five. Here are the popular ones:



^_^ smile

T_T cry

>_< onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigKpwzzRsSQUZNPE9_4keg95FWQPdG0Ea-bZpYXyimCSPR51F6JLjfz-CsMJCXROXZQLov4Y9ckOr4jnuYyIu6tOB1BrDLVI5ukNN6z-VVrqcLJD8myCPnGBGauGXsmpiBDJocdQ/s1600-h/xd.gif"> This face is a little like American's lol (laugh out loudly). You can treat it as a kind of smile face. Almost every Taiwan BBS users know what XD means, and it is the emoticon which communicates the most. Besides XD, orz and 囧 are used very much in Taiwan, but these take time to explain their meaning.



Emoticon takes an important part in Taiwan internet culture because they like to show their emotions. I love to use them, too. Take a look. :D

　

❤

Recently, I'm playing Super Mario Galaxy on Wii, which was released in Nov. 1. It is so amazing. Just like the 3D Mario series before, you have to search totally 120 stars on every planet. There are many shapes of planets and all stars in the screen. The music is grand, and the game is exciting. I can't stop playing it.

The factor I appreciate the most is its control. Although the way to play is the same as before, this time the background is in the space. Notice that when you are in the space, you may get upside-down many times. You are playing a "real" 3D world game. You can go not only one plane and you can use the gravity of other planets to move there. But the point is you won't get lost when playing. Besides, the camera always takes a good point of view so that you can know how to move easily even if you are upside-down. And you know, the spirit of Mario is run and jump. So you only need to know that pushing A for jump and swinging controller for spin, and you can enjoy the whole game. It has an extremely simple design, so everyone loves this game.

There are many kind design of the interaction, too. When there is new information, and you can see a mail icon when you approach postman. The mission of every planet will give you a clear indication. Even if in the universal world, the route is linear and you can know where to go easily. What surprised me the most is, you can grab the stardust by pointing screen with controller. Thus in the game you almost don't need to think over how to play. It's so intuitional.

Intuitional. It is the most important factor of every design. There were so many 3D action games between these ten years, and there were many games that were similar to Mario. But why is Super Mario Galaxy so popular? I think it is not only because Mario is well-known. If Mario has dozens of game function more than today, and there will be no one likes it. The basic fun of gaming is to use the function you have, follow the rules, and do your best to reach the goal. Too many services will let user get confused. Today Wii has its strong power to do creativity and diversity, but it don't need to show them all at once. We can enjoy the game with just a little creativity and get big surprise. That is simplicity.

I have read some dialogs of Mario's producers. They have more other details that make the game feel smooth, like they match the sound effect with the music in a special technology. I feel so amazing that they did so many efforts and let players feel comfortable unconsciously. Maybe there are more other secrets in there design. You know that you can jump with A button in Super Mario Galaxy, but do you know that there are five different ways to jump? They didn't tell you in the game unless you search your instruction book because they are not necessary. They are for experts, so they are "hided." What a good job!

The founder of EA, Bing Gordon mentioned an interesting concept. Many animals learn and improve their survivability by playing. Sometimes we play with cats or dogs, and that is a way to make them exercise with playing. Thus, games has an important part to animals, and so does human. For children, they develop their brain with gaming. The game has its fun, and the player do efforts for the goal. So, the gaming is a good way to inspire human's potential.

The video game is just an electrical game. Because the video game can create any space that doesn't exist, so it has the power of imagination and diversity, and there are more and more types of games. So, EA's game has three target groups: preadolescents, teenagers, and adults. With different group, there is some different preference for them. Children may have low requirement; if they can control it easily, and they can enjoy the game. Adults may require for the reality or the quality of the performance.

However, the EA's game as I know today have a great proportion of sports game. Not only the information I've received, when attending to its official web site, there is almost 50% of sports game. And SIM series gets 30%, and the war simulation and movie story has the rest. Thus, in my observation, EA wants to make games for everyone now. You can see that the sport, living, and movie are all the subject of our everyday's life. Like NBA, FIFA, NHL, they have every kind of sports game. The SIM is the series that let player enjoy a new life and create a story by themselves. Spider Man, Superman, and Harry Porter are the famous stars we know, too. There are a part of war simulation game like Medal of Honor, but it doesn't have much proportion. So I think that EA's game design is based on "virtual simulation." It creates the environment that everyone is familiar with to attract people. If the interaction is real-like enough, and the game will be interesting. Of course, EA emphasize the interaction not only between human and computer but also the players. With the subject of sports, the number of players could increase. Even if the SIM series, there is The SIM Online now. EA tries to let everyone enjoy video games.

When comparing EA's games with ones before, we can find the type is different. Like Archon, the first games EA released, used the fantasy style to show the game. It's the fight of two wizards, and we can see goblin, troll, dragon, unicorn, golem, and so on. But we can't see the word "fantasy" in the EA's game today. Maybe in these 20 years, they find that the reality simulation could attract more players. They don't have to "learn" anything about the knowledge of fantasy world and they can know how they have to do in the game. That's the thought of EA's game design.

Zune is the new MP3 player which is sold in last November. But actually I haven't heard about Zune until now, and it's almost one year. It was given the name "iPod killer" to it, but its name seemed not so loud by now. In the past 5 years, there were many challengers tried to fight with iPod but were defeated soon. Today the new challenger is from Microsoft and it might be the strongest competitor iPod has met.

If Zune want to defeat iPod, it has to have something different. What special does Zune have? From users reflections, Zune doesn't have every function as iPod. It concentrates on the music and video playing. With Toshiba's sound device, it has better sound quality than iPod. The most special feature of Zune is the Wi-Fi service. We can listen FM radio with it, and we can share the music, too. For the outline, the size is larger than iPod. It has a big screen and a circle panel, but it cannot rotate. The panel is four direction button, and there are one button each on two sides of the circle.

Does these feature attract user? Most of the user think that Zune has much less beauty than iPod. Apple's design is famous for delicacy and usability. Besides iPod's beautiful outline, it created the circle panel that let user control with intuition. What more, it sets control buttons around the circle panel, and user can always control what he wants without leaving his finger to other place. In Maeda's view, people will organize what they see and categorize it according to psychology. Thus, it will be well organized when the buttons are set around the panel then divided in other place. And now Zune divided them, so it is less easier to manipulate the device than iPod. What more, when most users are used to the circle panel, creating one that couldn't be rotate will confuse users. Everyone said Zune is big and heavy, and the color is not so cool. When Zune doesn't have a good design, it shall have some service greater than iPod. However, many user doubts that Wi-Fi sharing is useful. First, it can only support the same Zune user to share, and it's not easy to find one. Second, even if we find one, we won't ask him what he has. The most important one, the music shared by others can be listened only 3 times within 3 days, and it will ask you to buy the music or not when time is up. I'll say this is a bad idea. The thought of sharing is good, but it doesn't have good usability. This is the problem of Knowledge in the Head vs. Knowledge in the World. What Microsoft thinks is not really what users want. In this case, the sound quality is Zune's only weapon. Without this feature, Zune has nothing better than iPod.

However, it is too early to declare Zune's failure. After all, the maker is Microsoft, and there should be 2nd or 3rd version of Zune. If it receives users comments and improve it, Zune may have its advantages in the future. But iPod's advantageous position in design is hard to defeat, too. There is a long way for Zune to go.

When talking about the HCI, I have to complain something about the cell phone. Actually, I always consider that the menu in the cell phone is so hard to use. I don't know how people feel about it, but I get confused when I open the it.

I have changed 3 or 4 cell phone so far, and I had a hard time with every time it asked me to set up something. I could just follow the instruction, but I had to think carefully while it takes much time to find out where the option is. To be used to a new cell phone needs a lot of time. Not only me, my grandmother, who doesn't know how to use machine well, got more confused with it. For example, she often asked me: "How to change volume?" I think I was not allowed to tell her "read the instruction yourself." She couldn't realize it by this way, and so did I. I could find out the answer by searching the menu carefully and solve the problem. However, I couldn't tell her how to manipulate it with a short sentence. She had to write down the memo, and asked me again when she lost it or forgot how to control. And I don't hope she will ask me how to edit the ring one day. To tell the truth, I think this kind of important device which everyone can use should not be so complex. At least, it has to let elder also know how to use.

Maybe someone would say, "The elders will know it in the future," "Cell phone is not so hard to use." In fact, when one uses others computer, he won't have any problem with it. However, if one gets others cell phone, "How to use" must be the first thought in mind. Cell phone doesn't has regular design except the 10 digit buttons. Besides, there is a problem that makes cell phone so complex, there are too many functions. I wonder that people will use how many functions of it. For me , changing ring and setting alert are enough. Other people will send message, take pictures, or play the game, but I haven't seen anyone edits music, listens to radio, or takes note with it. (at least in Taiwan)

When there are so many functions, I found that the smaller the screen is, the harder it can be used. That is because if there is not enough space to show the items, it will be less convenient when searching the functions. Thus, the design of the menu is important. However, there is not a good designed menu for me yet. This is the problem of "Mapping." In my opinion, the category of the menu shouldn't be organized only by the classification. At least, the volume or ring which is frequently used should be put on the top or be seen easily. In the other hand, this is a problem of conceptual model, too. They don't have to put everything in cell phone. I think most people rather use PDA than cell phone for their work. If it is really needed to add so many functions, setting hot key is important. It could be easier to use when user can set a custom menu.

The cell phone is prevailed today, so the HCI design of it is essential. Does cell phone need to be for all purpose? This is a question.

For American music history, guitar has a irreplaceable place. The guitar is known as the main instrument in blues, country, flamenco, or some of the pop music. It started the diversity of modern music. And then, the electric guitar created a new style of music and became fever.

There won't be rock 'n' roll without the electric guitar, and we have to thanks for its creator, Leo Fender. When he was young, he was interested in radio and amplification. At the time, many people tried to make guitar sound louder and set the pickup on it. Also, the guitar has a sound box which is a hollow space in the guitar and it makes guitar big and heavy. Leo Fender wanted to solve the problem of holding, he started to produce the solid guitar with the knowledge of amplification he had. Then, the first electric guitar, broadcaster, has been made in 1948. And in 1954, Leo improved the broadcaster, and produced the most famous guitar now, Fender stratocaster, or strat. The electric guitar today is made with the model of strat because it has a great design for the guitarist. Strat doesn't use the sound box for amplification but the tremolo arm on six strings. When it is made solid, the size can get smaller and the guitar can be lighter and played easier. And also because it doesn't use sound box, the outline won't be constrained by the shape sound box needs. It has two horns and bright color to show its heat. Most of all, the componets are cheaper than classic guitar. It is easy to change and repair. Therefore, in every aspect, strat is functional and has a great looking. That's why strat is so popular between the guitarists.

From the evolution of guitar, we can see that the basic point of improving is the thought "Make it easy to use," but not the unique sound it has. Because Leo wanted to lighten its weight, he found out the way to replace the sound box. Also, the reason why he could replace it successfully is because he applied the profession knowledge he already had. From this point, he changed to use solid body, and then changed its looking to give a wild image. Finally, the electric guitar has its hot sounds to make more different music style from the classic music. Leo knew how to form image by design, and everyone likes it. However, if it were hard to use, there wouldn't be so many people want to use it. So it is the point: "Make it easy" that makes people will to have it, and so do other instruments.

To summarize, Fender's design starts from user's view. Therefore, there are so many advantages of strat and it became popular so fast. The maker knows what user needs and the user can know how to use at once, and this is the meaning of the interaction design. And this is one example of the interaction design.


Reference:

Patrick Taylor. "Patrick Taylor Web Design" http://www.patricktaylor.com/fender-stratocaster (accessed October 8, 2007).
　

In these quarters, I usually heard about web 2.0, but I can't understand how it works. All I know is that web 2.0 is just a concept now, and it works like wikipedia. Maybe because it is a concept by now, there is no example for me to realize it. As my imagination, web 2.0 makes the website can be built by everyone, and refined be anyone, to create a site for public and no one can control it.

Why? Why they want to make such a website? Is that really good? If they want to create a site that no one will complain about, I will say that is impossible. I can say that, even if there is one person disagrees with the site, they can be hard to compromise, not to say there will be more than one man. If they don't concede, they could seperate into two parts, and finally the site can be "controlled" by a certain group. Furthermore, sometimes there will be people add something meaningless on it, and they just want to bother or confuse others. This can be worse than group conflict. Even if the wikipedia, there is such person, too. I heard my brother said that he search Bluetooth on the wikipedia before, and the first sentence is: "Bluetooth is gay." That's really rediculous, so wikipedia has power level. Level 1 is any visiter, level 2 is people who they can trust, and level 3 is expert. This means that even wikipedia, they have to manage their site.

So I think that when we talk about web 2.0, there should be a manager, too. They have to think more about the policy, or the work can be complicated. But when there are managers, there is nothing different from the web 1.0. Maybe they just change the stuff from certain group to public. That may be a good idea, but they still have to prevent the trouble maker. If they just change the way they hire the stuff, web 1.0 can do it, too. In this point, why we use web 2.0?That's why I'm confused.

Of course, if I misunderstand the concept of web 2.0, you can ignore this article.

The definition of e-commerce is very easy: a place where we can do purchasing, selling, and trading behaviors on the internet is e-commerce website.

Bestbuy, Target, and ebay are good examples of the e-commerce website. On the other hand, most online game sites sell their game service on the internet. With the definition above, they are e-commerce site, but lots of the navigation are the introduction of their products (the game itself.) Like Magic: The Gathering Online, Magic is a card game and it sell virtual card online, but we don't know it when we first access to the link. If you want to buy the cards, you have to click the "onlind card shop" in the middle part of the page.

We can find that the e-commerce of the entertainment site uausally doesn't appear as an e-commerce site. It is more important to attract the user first, so the introduction of the entertainment itself has a bigger part. Except this kind of site, most e-commerce site could be identified by their products in the homepage. We can know they are selling products easily when there are many price numbers or the explaination of quality. When we find that the site is doing the advertisement and want us to purchase, that could be the e-commerce site. Thus, what makes us think it is e-commerce site is the "tone" of the site. That's why the design is important, because user will pay attention on what we emphasize first.