When I conduct user feedback sessions with Morae software, I use the markers frequently. Event when not recording the start and end of tasks, I make notes for myself so I can refer to them when I review the video.

Well – I often mind myself knowing that I created a marker for a particular thought, but not being able to recall exactly which user said it, nor when they said it.

I know there is a search function inside Morae Manager and that I can use it to search Markers. But without being able to type in the keyword I’m looking for, I don’t consider this a true search function. In fact, the first time I used this search, I had to consult the Help module, because I thought I was doing something wrong since I didn’t see the keyword entry field.

Morae Recorder Search Function

In this particular session, we were only looking for open ended feedback, so there were no discrete tasks involved. So that means the markers were especially important.

Ideally, I would be able to choose the recordings I wanted to include in the search and type in one or more keywords to find the corresponding markers.

I like Morae but this looks like a case of not being aware of all of the user’s goals. Just my two cents.

So right now, I’m driving a rental car. It’s a Pontiac G5. Not really my kind of car, but whatever, it’s a rental. My biggest issue with it thus far is that there is no analog engine temperature gauge in the dash. I can tell how much gas I have, how fast I’m going and how whatever it is the tachometer tells me. But what I really want to know is how cold or warm my engine is. Upon investigating a little, I found a button on my steering wheel that allowed me to flip through a few different options on the single line digital read out. It told me stuff like the outdoor tempurature, my tire pressure, oil life and lo and behold, the engine temperature.

Here’s the problem. The readout only told me the engine temperature without giving me the context of the range. If it tells me 35 degrees, I don’t know if that’s too cold, acceptable or too hot for an engine. I’d be better off with just a range that looks similar to my gas guage without knowing what the exact number is.

Poor usability strikes again.