Assignment 8: Web Application Review

I recently explored Google’s Google Calendar, for the web application review assignment. The URL I is: https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=cl&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fcalendar%2Frender&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fcalendar%2Frender.

As I was evaluating it, I had no idea that there was anything like this out there. What it is able to accomplish is really very interesting. The site functionality is “Organize your schedule and share events with friends.” Using the online application you can coordinate your events with friends and family, add events through e-mail, see your friends or family’s schedules next to your own, create invitations, and keep track of RSVP’s. It can also set up automatic event reminders, including mobile phone notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar using the search tool.
The site itself is designed simply with lots of organizartion that provides Google Calendar pictures, bold lettering, and brief and clear descriptions. It’s set up like an instructional manuel; providing easy access and understandable phrases that an 8-year-old could understand. Color is also dispurted systematically throughout the website on each page. However, not so much color is used to take away from the descriptions, but just enough from keeping it called plain. The appearance of the Google Calendar is very fair. I will say that the pictures are a bit too small and blurry. You have to squint to try and decifer what is on the calendar and what the picture is trying to convey. The problem I forsee is that people respond well to pictures and not so much to writing no matter how simple and clear it is written. People like to use both the image and descriptions to formulate ideas in their mind and if one or the other is not clear the ideas won’t be clear and people may pass up the chance to use the Google Calendar. Also if they have set up an account with the Google Calendar and they are confused on how to match events up with the rest of their families, if they go to look back for instructions they may not be able to understand what they need to do using the pictures as help. But all in all, I think most people would be fine being able to use it.
The social aspects of the site is that you can be in contact with your family and friends through events and you can even match them up right next to your own to avoid scheduling conflicts. You can also create invitations and send them out to friends and family as well. In addition, if your mother has e-mailed you about a family reunion coming up you can go into your e-mail and add it to your Google Calender from your e-mail. Google Calenders can be searchable for other users as well. If a professor wants to use the application for class, the class could easily search for it and find it. As a precaution Google Calendar allows you to control who you want to share this information with so there is a privacy factor there.
I think this site can be useful and beneficial in a way that if you have trouble keeping up with family and friend events this would be a good way to keep track of things. I found the site pretty interesting because it wasn’t just a calender. It provided much more small applications and choices to choose from and you could control how you use it. You could see that it also made contact with others and events much easier to access and maintain. It accordingly provided feedback on all the choices you could add to your calandar which in turn I think made it very appealing to a user.