Due to the time limitation, we were not able to implement all the functionalities provided in the design of the messenger.
The web messenger has been designed to meet as many designs goals as possible.
The goals that have been considered in this implementation are:
-
Provides a easy way of communications (messaging) among the instructor and students for a particular course
-
Provides ways to log the system usage and conversations among contacts.
-
Supports multiple platform
-
Simple interface that is easy to use and learn
The messenger allows people to create chat rooms specific to their courses where instructors and students can log on and talk about the course. Another functionality provided is anonymous chat (similar to webboard) where users can type messages from the chat room and the message is displayed to every user logged into the system. Private chat rooms can be used for specific courses guided by the instructor.
In order to use the messenger the users have to log in using a user name and password.
Based on the user name the user is assigned a display name that is used during the conversation. Typing messages in the common chat room does not display the user name, but instead shows “anonymous”.
The messenger is programmed in Java which is platform independent therefore allowing the messenger to run on multiple operating systems.
Their interface design is extremely simple and only provides the basic functionalities. The buttons are labeled to clearly indicate their use. To differentiate between the private chat room and the common chat room, a new window is displayed when the user wishes to conduct a private chat. The logout button is provided in each private chat window making it easier for the user to decide when they want to quit the conversation.
Due to the lack of time, the interface design has been kept very basic, yet providing the essential functionalities. After viewing the design specification for the messenger, we had to decide upon the functionalities we wanted to consider and implement. In our version of the messenger, we have excluded the fancy interface, but rather we opted for a simple interface that is easy to learn and use. Furthermore, we decided to implement as many system goals as possible. Thus, allowing the users to conduct a conversation with their friends and instructors.