IAT235 Assignment 5 – Kenneth Lau & Krissy Lau

This Writeup addresses the notion to improve the user interaction and navigation of the realty site MLS.ca. It is divided into two large sections: Brainstorming and Iterations. Brainstorming contains ideas that were thought up by us, but fell short of being develop into iterations. Iterations is a detailed explanation of what ideas that we want to push into finalization.

Brainstorming

Desktop Idea I

This idea is supposedly situated in the “More Info” page of a specified property. One  was a user submitted review of the neighborhood of where the property exists. A user ranks the neighborhood on factors such as “People” (how friendly/social they are),  “Traffic”, “Beauty”, and other suitable factors such as “Pollution, Noise, and Accessibility.” These reviews will be applied to all real estate properties on sale that exists in that given neighborhood (eg: West End, Kerrisdale, Kitsilano)

Desktop Idea II

The other desktop idea was to have a frame in the same page as the idea above. It is an auto suggester that displays the closest competitor(s) to a selected property for sale. This auto suggester is based on pricing, building type, location, and housing features.

Mobile Idea I

When the Search page is reached by the user, there is an option to present the search criteria by the phone speaking or by visual text. The user can input his/her answers by verbally speaking into the phone to select.

Iterations

Desktop Iteration

This iteration features 3D viewing of the selected property. The viewing angle can be shifted by the user by clicking on the arrows around the image of the property. This will give a greater sense of presence of the house so that the user can visually find out more about this house better, compared to words and flat pictures.  On this page the description, search criteria, and mapping are kept so that these features can help complement and navigate through the website.

Example of 3D viewing page for desktop

Mobile Iteration

This iteration is actually comprised of two Mobile ideas merged into one (that’s why there is only one mobile idea listed in the previous “Brainstorming and Process” section. The first idea of of this iteration is to divide the search results page into a manageable 4 pages: “Search”, “Results”, “Map”, and a newly devised “Favorites.”

Favorites is a separate page where the user can view listings that were favorited in the “Results” page. Therefore the user can compare his/her potential buying picks.

The second idea is to place a navigation bar on the bottom of the screen, to jump to each page. This organization of the realty site set in the mobile phone medium will make it simple and quick to browse through, while maintaining complex features of the site, such as the numerous search criteria and mapping.

Example of the Map page

Example of the Resultes page

IAT235 – D201 Assign4 Iteration (Kenneth Lau & Xavier Yee)

Major changes were applied to our Information map that made it more enjoyable to use.

1. Aesthetically more pleasing. The old design had all the button and logos squished against the left. The theme was bland and had no texture. The new design had all the items spread out evenly, and has a definite theme to it with use of glow and shadow. It also incorporates movement of items with fluid motion.

2. Less steps taken to information. The old design had a website design layout that involved excess clicking and navigation. It even included a start page with no use whatsoever. The new design utilizes effective and simple scrolling on a single page to get to information in one step.

3. Effective Images. The previous design had little to no imagery, while the new design included images with purpose, especially noted in the “Different Licenses” section.

4. Fulfilling Information. This design is completely filled with useful information with references listed.

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