Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
Hello,
Hi, welcome aboard.
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
I am hoping to create a gear-ratio helper as a part of my third-year project at university.
CS?
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
I want it to be aimed at people who know very little about fixies and bikes in general for that matter - I am very much a bicycle novice myself. The reason for starting this thread is that I was hoping for some suggestions on what people think would be the most appropriate questions to ask in order to determine the most suitable gear-ratio.
My first thought is that, as a novice rider, it may be rather difficult for you to effectively assess the needs of another novice cyclist. Given that you don't think the other existing apps are very user-friendly(*) could you give a use case or two to demonstrate the kind of interaction you're trying to implement?
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
So, I need a question to get a gauge for the terrain the rider will be on?
If you trust the user to have some clue you can ask directly. You could also ask indirectly by way of what city they're riding in then, based on where that city is and, perhaps, some computed "hilliness" factor (you'd need access to terrain/elevation data to calculate this). You would also have to consider that even in a hilly area they may be able to plan their routes to be "flatter" than whatever hilliness factor you computed for their city.
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
A question regarding the users physical fitness (age? cycling-propensity?).
Good luck with that one. Age is definitely not a good indicator at all. You could, possibly, ask how often, how far, and how fast they ride. Bear in mind that people will tend to exhibit the
Dunning-Kruger Effect when evaluating their own skill level.
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
And maybe a question that more directly seeks the riders personal cycling preference?
Preference with regard to what, exactly? New, inexperienced (weak legged
) riders won't be likely to have meaningful preferences.
You should also consider what kind of cycling they plan to do, as well. What kind of distances and how much stopping/starting. That is, the gearing I'd use for commuting to work or school (if I were still a student... though I work at a university...) would not necessarily be the same as what I'd use for long distance riding. Likewise, I'd use a different gearing if I wanting to go to the velodrome and race. (I've been to the Superdrome once, I've really wanted to get back for another "fix" ever since)
Originally Posted by
TomMaltby
Any suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated and thanks very much in advance for your time,
Tom
You're welcome.
*) Keep in mind that many interfaces that are easy-to-learn are not always easy-to-use. For example, wizards. What could be friendlier than holding the user's hand and directing every step of the way? While this is nice the first time or two you're doing a new task it quickly becomes cumbersome. (Think of using, say, the WinZIP wizard everytime you want to open a ZIP file) Also, consider the size and type of devices your program will run on, and what kind of input devices they have. (fingers vs. mouse+keyboard)
All that said, anyone care to guess what I studied in college?
Alternatively, just print "53x13 - HTFU!" on the screen.
