The prototype

After the analysis phase we moved to prototyping. Here I present the prototype of our application.

Information about the application:

• it will be run on a single computer (PC)
• it should be in Finnish
• the layout should be similar to the paper based calendar
• it should be easy to understand, intuitive

Below there is proposed layout of the main window. We were aiming at the interface similar to the paper-based schedule's interface.

After clicking the bar on the left, the short week's schedule will fold out, the same as the one placed on the cover of paper file.

Adding new clients is being done by entering their names into the upper text input and clicking "Add", instead of putting them directly into the list. We thought this solution will be easier, as if there is no places on the main list, the person will be automatically put into the waiting list and the application will prompt for the client's phone number. The user can see if there are free places, because of the green "tick" next to the input. If there's no places the "tick" will disappear.

It is possible to delete a person from the lists by clicking the small red cross next to their name. The application will ask for confirmation in this case.

It is also possible to mark the people on the list who come and ask for the pass. Then it is enough to click the circle next to the person's name, and it will turn green.

Switching between the classes is done by clicking on the above tabs. Also the user can go to the previous/next week by clicking the blue arrows next to the class information (the first line of text). There is always a possibility to go just one week forward and then go back - as there is no need for archiving the data, and there's possibility to sign up only for the upcoming classes.

On the right, there are two buttons: "Schedule settings", which will be described later, and "Print", which allows to print the current list. There's also panel with current date and time, which we thought will be useful to the user.

After clicking the button "Schedule settings", a new window will appear for adjusting the classes information. The user is given a possibility to edit the classes' time, day of week, instructor's name, level, room, ... All the changes made in this window, after clicking "Done!" button, will affect both thetabs and the short fold-out schedule. Below is the picture of this window:

Each class is represented as a row in the table. To add a new row, the user needs to press the "New class" button, to delete existing one, there's a cross in each row for deleting. To edit the information in each cell it is enough to double click on the cell and edit the information. To move the class up/down, the user can use the little arrows in each row.

The user can navigate away from this window by clicking "back", then no changes will be made to the schedule.

This prototype we were going to show the user, and in process of pluralistic walkthrough evaluate our prototype.