This repository contains two fairly large projects that seek to understand how humans best interact with technology and how to construct an intuitive user interface (UI) that promotes understanding and minimizes errors.
The first project (Parking_Meter_UI) contains the design for a next-generation touchscreen-based parking meter kiosk that is implemented in C#. In addition to the features present in most parking meters (e.g. supporting cash and card), it acts as a retail hub with promotional offers for nearby stores that can be printed after paying for parking, offers the ability to get refund of time for returned tickets, and the ability to send SMS parking reminders to phone numbers before the parking expires. All of this packaged within a distinctive and usable UI.
The second project (Mouse_V_Touchpad) is a user study that compares the usability between mouse and touchpad. Using newly designed and traditional input device experimental tasks, as well as novel paradigms of testing and assessment, this study demonstrates that mouse and touchpad are essentially equivalent in overall usability, though they can vary significantly under certain conditions as they are better suited for different tasks by design.
Michael Balas