Reading Seminar 2

The most interesting part of the chapters were the part about the evaluation paradigms and techniques, how they were used together and when to use them.

The Quick and dirty evaluation is when the focus is on fast input rather than carefully documented findings. This focus a lot on how the user reacts in its natural environment.  

Even though fast input is good, sometimes you need specific things tested. That’s where Usability testing is better, since it’s strongly controlled by the evaluator and everything the test person does is documented. Fixed user tests in a more quantitative way.

If you as an evaluator needs more input from the users natural environment then Field studies  is better since it’s more about getting out in the field and realizing what the users need.

Predictive evaluation uses expert evaluators to find out what the average user need built on already set heuristics, any way existing of solving the problem at hand, the solve the existing problems. These tests aren’t connected to an actual user at all, no test person involved.

The techniques that go with these are observing, asking users and experts, user testing as well as modeling users task performance. Most of the different techniques apply in all the paradigms, like observing the users in question(exception in a predictive evaluation). But asking the users are more important in field studies, usability testing and quick and dirty evaluation when asking experts is more important in predictive evaluation as well as quick and dirty.

Ethical issues is something that has to be taken in mind, but also focus on identifying the practical issues like budget restrictions and also the time of the project.

Petter Andersson

When evaluating a project and product it is important to keep and follow a set structure. There are of course many ways to approach such an evaluation but after reading through the chapters covering this topic I feel there were some good tips to take to heart. First and foremost, taking advantage of the DECIDE* framework is probably very helpful no matter the product you're trying to evaluate. The described way of iterating through each step several times seems like a good way to do things which will allow you to continuously improve and add to the "plan" before actually committing any time or work to something that might not work in the end.

When conduction various evaluation methods in the field there are several points to keep in mind. You've got to know whether you want, for example an interview, to be structured or open-ended. Perhaps in some situations there is more to gain by just observing users interact with the product instead of asking them about it.

Another important point is to use and analyse the data gathered from the evaluation in a efficient and correct manner. Depending on the way the data was collected different methods should be used to analyse it. Some important concepts to consider are for example the reliability and validity of the data.

*DECIDE can be broken up into the following points:

1. Determine the goals

2. Explore the questions

3. Choose the evaluation methods

4. Identify the practical issues

5. Decide how to deal with the ethical issues

6. Evaluate, analyze, interpret, and present the data.

Ted Wanning

As i have understood it the core principles of the chapters was to evaluate, question the users and the running of tests. The core concept of the evaluation was first to acquire and stick to a rigid structure. For this purpose the book is intent on promoting the so called DECIDE framework. What this mean is that the framework can be summarised by the words Determine (goals), Explore (questions), Choose (evaluation methods), Identify (issues), Decide (dealing with ethical issues) and Evaluate (data). By using this framework in a process, where you iterate over the projects issues and solving the issues as the emerge.  Questioning users seems to be the most effective way of improving ones project since evaluating your own project can lead to bias. But for me, I felt like what the book brought up was just rehashing the subjects that has been discussed during the lectures, and doing quite the awful job at bringing up examples.

For example the book brings up testing and how it should be done but when actually applied in real life the testing as well as interviews tend to be rushed and with strange questions that promote vague answers. To summarise I found the chapters to be great at theory of evaluation and such things, but not so accomplished when it comes to apply it in certain work-projects.

Axel Swaretz

These chapters in the book was about evaluation and testing of a project, both during early stages of development and at later points of finetuning. A lot of what was mentioned seemed pretty obvious to me but I can see the importance in stressing the importance of continuous evaluation during the entire development cycle as well as actually taking what data is collected seriously. One of our lecturers told us a story of him starting a new job at a mayor state agency where they had developed a new computer system and hired several consulting firms to evaluate it, but they weren’t actually looking for feedback but more for a seal of approval and thus had hired several until they were satisfied. Thats not what evaluation is for.

I said I thought it felt obvious what the book brought up, but its probably more the case that it made a lot of sense when reading through it. Something as seemingly simple as coming up with a few appropriate interview questions takes a lot of thought to actually be effective, which is a problem we ran into when conducting our field-studies. I think the key to a successful evaluation is having a clear goal/direction or else time and effort will be wasted, the book presents several “evaluation frameworks” to achieve this such as DECIDE or GOMS.

David Sjöblom

Additionally to identifying user needs and setting requirements on your product according to those needs, some kind of user testing is of great importance as well. User testing results in useful data which tells the developers the usability degree of their product by the target user group in their specific environment. In order to optimize the usability design of the product it is a good idea to test your product among the intended users. There are of course different ways of approaching the user testing and which method to use depends on what kind of data you want to retrieve. In other words user testing discovers flaws or problems with the product as well as the advantages. It also makes the users' feel more involved with the product and ensures us that the product meets their needs, participatory design. It is not always true that the requirements set on the product at the early stages of the design process holds true in the end.

Therefore developers should follow the user-centered design models which includes user testing. Using different techniques like the GOMS model, Fitts' Law and the keystroke level model will help optimizing the product predicting the user performance. Apart from the data gathered, additional insight is gained which further helps with the future development of the product.

          Robert Wörlund

The chapters deal with the evaluation on of a product. The main topics brought up are what are the main attributes of the product that ought to be evaluated, how these attributes are to be tested, and how the data gathered from said tests ought to be evaluated. Of particular interest for our design process is the DECIDE framework as it can be directly applied. This framework allows us to more fully explore the evaluation process and to a greater depth understand the failings and triumphs of our product.

At our current time the most interesting of the DECIDE steps is the evaluation and analyzes of the data step seeing as we are nearing the point of having to do exactly that. Among the vital points of the analysis presented in the chapters (validity, reliability, bias, scope, and ecological validity) the one I found most relevant was the bias aspect. As no one in our group is a qualified researcher or an expert interviewer the danger is that the results from our interviews are distorted by our actions. However this problem might not be as fatal as we expect if we acknowledge it and try to not completely base our evaluation on methods that are especially prone to bias (like interviews).

            Jonas Hongisto

Summary Design Exercise

In this exercise we split our six person group into two three person teams and both groups were tasked with creating a tangible model for our final product, namely a load-balancing system for a museum of art. To spice up the exercise both teams were given a specific theme. Group A (Petter, Robert, Jonas) were to make a whacky design, something truly outside the box, while group B (Ted, Axel, David) were tasked with making a mundane but extremely feasible design.

Both groups found that a detector system at the entrances of each of the gallery halls would be the best way to track the number of people in each of the gallery and thus monitor the flow of traffic inside the museum.

Group A spitballed some crazy designs, and talk quickly turn to what can only be described as the realm of science fiction, beamers and floorcovering conveyor belts all. The group however decided on a whacky, but still feasible, idea namely a point based game system where visitors to the museums would gather points by being in less populated galleries, points that could be exchanged for prizes at the end of the museum tour, and thus incentivising people to move around rather than clogging up the most popular exhibits. These points would be stored and recorded by either a central computer system or a smartphone application that would let the visitor know exactly how many people were in each room and how many points he had already gathered.

Group B focused on an interactive map that would not only inform the visitor about the population level in each gallery and the restaurant but also contain information about both the exhibits and the artworks themselves. we discussed several ways of implementing this but came to the conclusion that the most effective way of preserving a good flow of people in the gallery halls was simply to inform the people on which halls were emptier than others and thus people would gravitate towards these rooms. And thus no other other incentives were required.

Naturally group A’s idea was met with an air of incredulousness but in the end we decided to try to incorporate an incentive system into the application. The idea of door mounted detectors was well received by both groups and it is in all likelihood going to be a fixture of our final product. In this exercise both group A and B used tools discussed in the related prototyping lecture, the photography-powerpoint method demonstrated during the lecture, along with paper, post-it stickers and drawing utensils. These tools allowed us to better demonstrate to our peers what our ideas and thought processes were when working on our designs. This exercise also highlighted the importance of a purely theoretical brainstorming session and we felt the exercise to be both a extremely creative interlude but also as a valuable bonding and team-building session.

Early prototype sketches.
 
Picture 1: Simplified navigational assist and flow control. The colourful people are representing the amount of people in the current room. 

Picture 2: If you press a specific exhibit, then you get more information about that room and also shows again the amount, not precise, of people in that room.

Personas and Scenarios

Here is our Personas and our Scenarios for those personas.

Jonas Andersson

29 years old. Interested in photographics. Has a life partner. A bachelor in Gender studies.

His Computer skills, is a bit better than the average user.

He works as freelance journalist.

As a freelance journalist Jonas has a lot of time on his hands. Which means he is free to frequent museums to art galleries, at his leisure. He dislikes loud noises, except if they are at a young trendy club. He enjoys visiting art galleries for arts sake, but also for it’s social status that such activities bring him. He dislikes crowded spaces at such art galleries and in particular hates queuing for the exhibits or for the cafe.

He owns a Mac computer, Airbook, along with an Iphone and an Ipad, which he always carries with him. He usually likes to stop by the cafes in order to write.

He also enjoys reading poems and poetry.

Jonas has an active personality and he devotes much of his time to promote social justice and promoting animal rights. He is always ready to argue about arguments which he is interested in and calling people out on their ignorance in relation to social matters.

Jonas goals:

Current goal:

Get some peace and quiet, space and to acquire a nice workplace.

Also get some work done.

Become Inspired

Long Term Goal:

Finish his work in a good way

Jonas Scenarios:

Scenario 1:
It is Saturday morning and Jonas has just eaten his breakfast. He remembers that he got an assignment last week about writing an article about human rights issues. Since his small apartment isn’t suitable for working, Jonas travels into town, heading towards the Fotografiska museum to find peace and inspiration from the exhibits. When he arrives at the museum he starts to feel troubled. There is a long line out of the museum and he starts to worry that he won’t find calm environment when the museum is overfilled by people. He wants to be able to walk through the exhibits without any hassle and also get a spot in the restaurant without unnecessary queueing and loud noises. He wants to relax and have his work done in a soothing environment, that the museum usually gives him.  

Scenario 2:

It’s been a rough week for Jonas. First some issues at work and his relationship, that has been a little back and forth these last weeks, has now come to an end. Jonas really feels like he needs to get away from reality, he needs to go somewhere where he can be alone, find his inner calm and let himself get inspired. It’s late autumn and the newest exhibition at Fotografiska is coming to an end, and he really wanted to see it. When he arrived he realized that he wasn’t alone with the idea of going to the museum today, the line is longer than ever. Will he really be able to find his inner calm and soothe his strained nerves in such times while experiencing the exhibition?

Estelle Admundsson

Estelle is 63 years old, she is retired. Along with her husband she has invested, what little money she has, into property which she now leases. As an retired person she has a lot of time on her hands, which is the reason she tend to frequent the museums in and around Stockholm. She does this not only to fill her schedule, but also get a scent of belonging you can only get at a museum of art. She is particularly fond of photographic art as it reminds her of her younger years.

Estelle is a happy woman. Although her political views are rather conservative, she still enjoys the liberal arts.

Estelle goals

Current goals:

To meet with some old friends

have a nice time

enjoy some good coffee

Long term goals:

To join the museum going community and enjoy fine art.

Estelle Scenarios:

Scenario 1:
She and an old friend, whose retired as well, have decided to visit the museum. They’re heading there a Tuesday night after meeting up for lunch in the city. They’re both bringing their husbands. The museum is populated but not crowded. Estelle has specifically been looking forward to a relatively new exhibition by Mr Popular-Photographer and as long as she get to see his work then she will be satisfied because shes pretty sure she’s already seen the other exhibitions available. Her friend hasn’t though so they’re planning to see as much as possible still.

Scenario 2:

Estelle’s grandchildren from Skåne is on a visit. They’re 12 and 15, Karl and Lisa, and are only here a few days during the break. She tried to think of an activity they might both enjoy and Fotografiska comes to mind as well as bowling. They settle for the museum first then go eat and bowl somewhere. Estelles husband is brought along as well. They intended to be there when the museum opens but don’t make it until 12 o’clock. They are faced with a large number of people in the lobby queuing for entrance tickets of just sitting around. The gift-shop is crowded and the line substantial. Estelles husband sighs. But now that they’re here they might as well go in.

Updated concepts about the product:

Balancing the flow of the museum.

The product should not be a burden to handle, it should help your museum experience.

Powerpoint Exercise 1

Here is a link to our Powerpoint that was made to the first exericse.

Powerpoint Exercise 1

Interview conclusion

After all the interviews, we found a few key points that most interviewed people had in common. Taking into consideration we conducted this field study during lunchtime when most people might still be at work on a work day.

Most visitors we spoke to were at Fotografiska at their own volition because of their innate interest for the exhibits. From this we concluded that our product ought to enhance the experience rather than supplement it. The visual experience and the soundscape at Fotografiska was greatly appreciated. This accentuated the environmental requirements of our product, in particular the need for the product to not disturb the cool atmosphere in the galleries.

As we visited Fotografiska during slow hours (weekday 12.00-15.00) we avoided the major crowds, and visitors we spoke too commented on that they too visited at that particular hour to avoid the great crowds. This implies that during rush hours the internal movement flow is hampered as the narrow gallery rooms are clogged with visitors.

We also managed to interview a member of the staff and she confirmed that the visitor pressure. She also stated that although the queues did move pretty fast, they tend to stil get quite long.

Our interviews helped us explore the user needs of the visitors at Fotografiska, and the most striking of these were the need for an efficient way of handle rush hour flow. That is some way to counteract the clogginess of the galleries and restaurant. To this end we have decided to entertain the idea of designing a inventive booking system.   

The interviews also gave us a profound insight into the person that would be using our system. The age-variance, the knowledge of the exhibits, the time-scale of their visit, and the frequence of their museum visit all became quite clear. This will no doubt be useful information when we create a persona of our particular target group of our product. 

Summary of personnel interview:

The amount of people at the museum varies a lot with what kind of exhibition that is currently held. For an example it is significantly more crowded when an exhibition from a more famous artist than the contrary, especially towards the end of the exhibition period. The most crowded weekday was without a doubt saturdays, around midday time. Fall is probably the most crowded season of the year, because people tend to do other stuff than watching museum exhibition in summer-like weather. Apparently the queues in the restaurant is just as crowded during the popular visit periods, but there is somewhat always an empty seat available when the flow is smooth.

State of the art analysis conclusion

One thing that was something we all noticed in our state of the art analysis, was that some user-centered systems still had some unfinished or unnecessary functions that could have been removed to make the usage of system much easiter.

As mentioned, we are focusing on booking systems, so these systems were tested in different scale. One of the main points we also saw was that graphical presentation goes a long way towards user-centered design.

An overall feel was that the focus on the different systems should be on how the information is presented. Some systems had too much clutter and the most important things didn’t stand out.

State of the art analysis

Here are all the state of the art analyses. In our group we are focusing on booking systems, so everyone made individual analysis about different booking systems.

Petter:

We decided in our group that we will focus on booking systems, so I choose to analyse the company Smarteyes booking of eye examinations. The first thing I did was I went onto their website, and it was a big icon with the name “Book now”, which was pretty straight forward and not confusing.

On the new page, the first thing that caught my eye was a dropdown menu, which said “Choose the type of examination you want”. When I pressed it I only had one option which felt a bit odd, which was eye examination for glasses. I then read in the text above “Currently you can only book times for eye examination for glasses. If you want to book for lenses, then call you nearest store.” Since I could only choose one alternative, it felt kind of weird that it wasn’t automatically selected for me, so I would say it was pretty bad.

When I selected the alternative, another drop down menu appeared below the last one which said “Choose your store here”. When I selected it, all the store names were either named as their city or the city name together with the streetname, which was fine, but since there are five different stores in Stockholm, I had to make a new tab to check which one that was the closest to me, since I don’t know all the streets by name. It could have been implemented here to feature a map view over all the locations since I wouldn’t usually name a certain store after the name they were on.

Now a list of all the available times for tomorrow showed up, and it was very clear how I changed to next day and so on. I noticed that I could only book for three weeks ahead, and I could only change one day at the time, which I think is viable since the company probably don’t want to handle bookings four months in advance. It was simple to choose a certain time and when you selected a time, you could fill in your social security number and then the date was booked in your name.

This was a good user-centered-design  overall in my opinion. The booking system was very straight forward and there were no big flaws with it. Even though something should be altered, I think it doesn’t affect the bigger picture of this particular system. I feel like they want to implement booking of eye examination for lenses into the system aswell, or maybe they had it before, but something is (hopefully) going to happen with that feature in the future, either removed or implemented.  

Axel:

Booking systems; specifically the booking system of SJ.

The first thing that you are greeted with is a sort of question, from where are you coming and where are you going? After this you get to put in when you want to leave and if it should include a trip back. In my opinion this is paramount to have at the first screen, because it does not just dispel any doubt about going through the system twice but it does it so early that there can not be any confusion. I must also mention that you have the opportunity (in different tabs, but still visible on the first page) to acquire tickets for different periods of time, cheaper and immediate tickets and the option to know when its the most cheap to travel.

During this screen you also have the option of choosing several methods of transportation including busses and such.

The next presented is of the different options of what train one chooses to take and what class one chooses to travel in. The are different prices based on how luxurious one wishes to travel. I think it is important to have this feature of previewing the price to avoid choosing travels one does not have the money for. You also get the information if you can reschedule your trip.

After this you are met with screens concerning different ways of traveling, such as if one want a private room lunch and so forth. This is also an important part and all the prices are added up for simplicity. One also has the ability to choose where one sits.

All in all, I believe that this system is incredibly efficient but could make use of more graphical interfaces for choosing seats instead of tricky searchfields and bars. It is a stable and allround solid system.

Ted:

In the text below I make a short analysis of a system that is related to the one we are trying to create for our project. Since the group decided the area our project was gonna be touching on was booking systems I took a look at how sf.se handles bookings for tickets for their various movie theatres in the Stockholm area.

On the start page there is a big option labeled "Biljetter" which is straight forward and simple. After that you get to choose whether you want to check your reservations, purchase a gift certificate or just buy tickets. This was done using a dropdown-menu which seems like a good idea because all the options fall under the same category, "biljetter". On the next page the actual booking process is started. Firstly there are two dropdown-menus which let you specify the date and which particular cinema you would like to go to. This is all organized in a logical time-order or alphabetical for the cinemas. So far it has all been very logical and straight forward. One thing to note is that the interface is white to a red background which makes it easy to see. Nothing melds with the background or is blurry for example. Another important fact I think is that there isn't a lot going on on the screen. Basically the only thing shown is what you actually need to worry about, above and below there's some advertising but in the actually space where you "work" the focus is on the task at hand.

Now on to actually choosing a movie. At first there's a toplist with popular films. This is a good thing to include as most people are probably looking for either of those options and this way they'll find what they are looking for quicker. Down below that there's an alphabetical list of all titles currently available. On the side of each options theres information on the age restrictions and also some additional info on whether theres Swedish subtitles for example. It's all very neat and practically impossible to miss interpret. Once a movie has been chosen more information shows up on the right side of the initial menus. Now you get to see the various screenings during the selected day. For every time choice theres a number which indicates hopw many seats are available. This is not really expressed anywhere so theres room for misunderstnadings here. A simple solution would be to include a headline on the top. Another thing that seems unneccesary is the fact that the screenings that have already started and/or ended pop up aswell. There's really no reason for them to be there and clutter the screen.

When you've found a time that suits you you get to move on to a graphic interface. This is where things get most interesting. The interface is a representation of all the seats in the chosen cinema. Those marked with red are already occupied and those that are blank are available to be chosen. On the left theres a scroll-menu that lets you set how many tickets you want. One scroll for adults and one for children. As you increase the number of tickets desired the "box" with which you choose seats in the interface increases. This is pretty neat and in my opinion intuitive. One problem that might occur is the time-restraint they’ve put on the system. Once you enter the page you have approximately 2 minutes to finish the booking or the page will move you back one step. This is probably to keep people from “holding” seats without actually booking them but it might be hard for a first-time user to get it all done in the time-period they have at their disposal.

On the sides there is also some information on the length of the movie and other interesting tidbits which is good to know but not super-important so the focus is elsewhere.

After everything is in place you move on to the payment page. Here you get to choose betwenn various options (credit cards, cash at location etc) and it's all very standard and hard to fail at. After that step you're tickets are hopefuly booked and you get to go see an awesome movie.

All in all I found this booking system highly efficient and super-easy to use. I have of course used it in the past which might factor in but I think they've made sure there's hardly anywhere that you can actually make a mistake. And if you should, against the odds, make a mistake you can always go back at every step on the way. Things I take away from this is that it's important to keep the screen as clutter-free as possible while also keeping the focus on the important parts. A graphical interface can be really helpful when dealing with something like seating and is probably a good idea for most booking systems.

Robert:

Because of our groups focus on booking system I have decided to analyze the booking system of hotel booking via “booking.com”. To get a feel of the pros and cons with this particular system I am analyzing the booking process of hotels on the previously mentioned website.

Initially you are presented with a logical box asking for the travel goal or the name of the hotel. Additionally you are to check between 2 alternatives the purpose of your stay, which day and month you are to check in/check out, or simply check a box saying that you haven’t decided upon a date yet, and a last box asking for the amount of “guests”. The option is also given to choose among a set of extra alternative boxes. Most of these information fields in the initial box makes sense, because you are letting the system know the specifics of what you are looking for, not really anything complicated here. On the same page a bunch of advertisements and hotel suggestions are presented which, in my eyes, dragged down the quality a bit of the first page, but as long as the most important feature was presented at the top of the page in an appropriate way it wasn’t really that much of a deal.

When proceeding, information about the desired hotel is presented along with pictures of the hotel and its rooms. It is a bit messy with information being a little all over the place, but after scrolling up and down for some time you get a clear picture of what is going on. From here on you basically choose any of the presented free rooms and proceed to the payment.

Overall the site is user friendly, what it lacks is maybe focus and more elegant design. The most important information and features could be presented in a more refined way, making the overall booking experience more pleasant. A part from that it was easy to choose and book a hotel of your liking. To sum it up, the essential features were user friendly but the overall user interface could be polished to some extent for an increased user experience.

Jonas:

In this exercises we were tasked to individually analyze a product that is closely related to our own intended product. Our project centers around an inventive new booking system for a arts gallery, namely one that ensures an efficient flow of visitors during rush hours both in the gallery and in the adjoined restaurant (Author’s note: our idea was in works BEFORE Wednesday’s lecture which dealt to a great extent with booking systems).

To get a feel of how a ONLINE booking system works I have decided to analyse the Finnair Flight booking system on Finnair’s homepage.  Although our product will probably incorporate physical aspects as well it is fortuitous to analyze different solutions and as such Finnair’s booking system, one which I use quite extensively when traveling to Finland and back seemed excellent.

I have decided to focus on the two most important pages, namely the booking pages, rather than on for example the payment page as that is less relevant to our project.

It seems clear from going through the booking process that principles of user-centered-design have been applied throughout the design and flow of the booking system. The average daily prices of the flights to and from a destination are clearly shown on a large calendar-like table, which makes finding your flight intuitive. This graphical interface gives one the feeling of standing in front of a calendar which has each day marked with the average price of a flight to the given destination on said day. When you have decided which day you want to fly you simply press on said day in the table which takes you to the following page.

The following page lets you choose specific flights during the chosen day. This page is not quite as good as the one before because the amount of information in exceedingly high and there are few ways to restrict what you want to see. The average price from the earlier page is also just that, an average, and you can’t easily find two way flight with the average price.

All in all the two page showcase both highs and lows when it comes to the user experience. I for one wasn’t too bothered by the great amount of information on the second page but I can see how it could be a big problem for some. On the other hand the first page seemed extremely focused and useful.

David:

I have chosen to take a look at bookatable.com since its in the vain of what our early vision for our project. In order to test this service I decide to set out and try book a table at that Chinese restaurant on Söder what I’ve been to multiple times but “just can seem to remember the name off the top of my head but I’m sure I’ll recognize it if I can find a picture or something similar”. Now:

The service does a good job of not presenting an overwhelming amount of information on the initial page even though a large portion of it IS in fact covered up with ads of some description.Luckily thanks to a large and friendly-looking search-bar in the middle of the page prompting you to input your area or a name of a specific restaurant, proceeding is simple. User-friendly since i immediately was able to proceed with what I came to do, find the restaurant I want to book a table at.

I input “Stockholm” and hit enter and is presented with a substantial list of restaurants in a seemingly random order scattered over Stockholm, not very helpful. These “newly added” entries is not what I came to browse for, I doubt anybody would to directly to a booking service without having  decent idea of what they’re looking to book. After a brief moment to analyse what I’m looking at and figuring out how to proceed (which took considerable longer than the previous page) I manage to narrow the search area down to Söder as well as to Asian restaurants. Among the now thinned out list I do find a name familiar to me: Ho’s. This is in fact what I was looking for but unfortunately it seems the booking service is unavailable for this particular restaurant. Shoot.

After  clicking around for a while among other restaurants I ran into serious problems with the quality of the error messages provided when a booking was unable to be made. A generic message was displayed prompting you to revise your booking settings and try again, not very helpful to say the least. At a restaurant I was unable to do a booking so I tried numerous combinations of settings and figured out that they only accepted bookings 2 days in advance, something the booking system failed to inform me of, not user-friendly.

All in all was it relatively straight forward to find the restaurant and book a table which is good but dealing with errors and different ways different restaurants deal with bookings was lacking at times. Different restaurants also had varying amounts of information available on their page, presumably are the restaurants partly responsible for filling out the details, but inconsistency is annoying and lessens the user experience.  Bookatable.com serves in the end as an adequate database for restaurants but lacks in the actual booking department.