Bits on Bytes bits on solaris, programming, and all things tech

$ sudo service com.apple.DirectoryServices stop

Not fun.

So in my last post I touched a little on usability and I’ve been thinking about that word a lot lately. Like how on earth are we going to create an interface to myACU that is both extremely functional and usable. And by usable I mean easy enough for Joe Shmoe freshman to figure out. For those of you who don’t know what myACU is, well it’s ACU’s student, faculty, and staff portal. From myACU users can access the standard stuff like email, calendars, documents, files, and ACU account information as well as get the latest news and participate in the ACU community. So the big question is, how do we pack all that stuff (and more!) into the iPhone?

In order to answer that question I think we need to back up and ask the following:

• Exactly what content do we want in a mobile version of myACU and how should that content be organized?
• How do we integrate that content with future applications in the learning and social environment?
• How will the content adapt based on the user? (ex. professor vs. student)

Once we have some answers to these questions the design and interface options available to us will become a lot clearer. So one day soon (hopefully) we’ll actually have some things to show off!

* Just for clarification, the acu.mobi website is more a proof of concept and a place for links to our development applications. I for one hope that the final mobile version of myACU is a lot more functional and feature-rich!