First of all, I need to analyze the signature file. They are consisted of xml, htm, and alot of image files. So in this sense, normally people would just use some text editors to modify xml and htm content. It should be very straight forward.
Why would they struggle? What people don't realize is that with the fontsize and style differences, the template spacing would change accordingly. It may go to next line, or it may shrink the container if too small. It's not designers or anyone's fault. No one seems to have a solution to do it with ease.
To lessen the frustration level, a solution must come up. People struggle alot when they try to edit their custom signature files. They either don't know how to open the files, or they open the files and mess up the format. I now know the issues that caused the situation and where people struggle at, I just need to put together a solution that is friendly to all users without asking the designers to help modify manually.
After seeing the signature files, I actually opened each file and saw the connection between them. I realized that signature file was embedded as htm format in outlook. That gave me an idea to write a simple php script to input the information without changing the attributes of them. What would be a better experience than input text boxes that we use it everyday while browsing the internet?
It's crucial to know the issues, needs from users' end and what really causes the frustration from the designed product. Different angles of seeing things makes me think even deeper from both designers' and users' point of view.
If I have more timeframe on this project, I would definitely improve the form UI.
Entering personal information is still a lot of work compared to looking up employee id and filling the form accordingly. It would be a better experience although it doesn't affect users from achieving their goal.
Currently the simple script is for the specific outlook signature only, but what if someday designers make a new one? I need to write a better script that read content from files so that the script would always work even if designers replace the files.
DEVELOPER