Email Notification in Piazza

The email notification feature in Piazza is automatically turned on when account is created and user will receive an email every time a question is posted in the question board. In most of the time, this causes users to have over 20 emails a day. Most of them don't need this feature and they have to change the email setting. Many users complain about email notification because they have a hard time finding where to turn the notification off. There is no option for users to unsubscribe in the email received. The only way to unsubscribe theses notifications is to log in piazza, click on the small button on the top right corner and choose account/email setting, and the page below will be shown. Users can turn off notification in the below page.

Although the complaints never stop for the three years I have been using Piazza, no changes is made on this email notification feature. It is like a barrier or challenge for every new user to overcome. This problem can be easily solved if one of the people maintaining Piazza system has read the feedback given by users and make some changes with it (ex. decides not to notify users with email if users do not specify).

This problem shows that building a good interface for users should not stop after the application is done. Maintainer can improve the interface with the feedback given by users to make the application complete and this is an important step of building an interface.

Android Interface and ios Interface

There are difference between Android interface and ios interface.

Android interface

Start page on the left and Application page on the right

Android interface's idea is similar to the one of computer interface. Android has the icons of application placed on the desktop/start page, and applications are stored in a different page. User can place or delete icons in start page but operations on applications can only be done in the application page.

ios interface

In ios interface, application icons showing in start page are not just icons. Operation on applications (delete, change position, etc) can be done in start page and application page does not exist.

Many users choose ios's interface over Android's because when being introduced to two interfaces at the same time, they find it easier to understand ios interface with one page than Android interface with two pages. At the same time, they find the start page and the application page are too similar, and the application page is duplicated.

Although it seems the designer of Android interface tries to introduce interface through guiding users to associate phone interface to computer interface, it does not work as successful as ios interface's idea which is simply based upon direct manipulation. Since at all time, a concise interface is what users want to see.

Citation:
http://www.greenbot.com/article/2061282/android-4-4-kitkat-review-an-only-slightly-better-android.html
https://developer.apple.com/ios/human-interface-guidelines/visual-design/animation/