Devcathlon: Mockup 4's Review

My software development class is about to start coding the “Devcathlon” system. If you read my last couple of entries, it will tell you what the “Devcathlon” system is. Before we can start coding the system, we have to decide on one user interface. Soooo… this week, I am going to review my team’s mockup pages and the other two teams – let’s get started.

This entry, I will be reviewing Mockup 4’s team. Their team consisted of J. Ly, R. Ranqueno, and A. Du. Personal, I think this team is stacked with developers who can think over the top and beyond.

Mockup 4’s main page after login shows most links that a user can click on to get started. The drop down menu bar right after banner also has most of the links for the user to examine. A user can get a team and a match started fast – just takes three to four clicks to get both a team and match.


The main page, user profile, and drop-down menu bar shows everything a user needs. All the pages looks like they are one page-r which is good because some people (I am one of them) do not like to scroll down a web page that is three or more pages long. I like their idea of using closeable drop-down pages within their pages; it saves page space and keeping the pages to one-two pages long. I do not like the user’s profile page where I have to scroll to the right in order to see the inbox. It is a hassle to scroll to the right of the screen in order to see the user’s inbox and scroll back to the left.


The pages organization looks somewhat consistent. The user’s profile has to be fix to get rid of scrolling right and left. Overall, the layouts looks similar, they are not confusing and “messy.” They have one or two widgets in place, like importing a file – a window pops up for you to find the files on your local machine.


Mockup 4’s Pros:

• the closeable pages within a webpage is awesome, saves space.
• two to three clicks away gets a team and match started.
• it has the facebook/myspace feel to it, overall the pages are consistent.

Mockup 4’s Cons:

• User’s profile have to scroll right to see the message inbox.
• not all the links are in the menu bar
• the closeable pages show have a drop-down indicator so user will know they are open-able.

Overall, the pages are consistent. I liked the idea of the close-open pages within each web page. It has a social networking feel to it, which is good because most people have a social networking site.