Surya Vamsee Kodimala

Rahul Soma

Bhargav Goud Arukonda

UI Redesign for Teamspeak client

Teamspeak Client:

Teamspeak is just another Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Some of the Famous VoIP’s are

Skype, Hangout, Raidcall etc. For usage of Heavy memory usage Applications like online

multiplayer games, Skype is not ideal since it uses a lot of memory. Some games do have in-

game VoIP’s but others don’t. For such games which require multiplayer communication,

teamspeak is Ideal. There are a few defects in its design, they are as follows.

Security:

Teamspeak users do not need an account to sign into the network, For instance other VoIP

clients require account’s to sign into the network. A server is hosted in the teamspeak client, and

user can access the server using an IP address or teamspeak address (ts.hostname.net). User has

to create a nickname, and enter the server. Server may contain many channels and the user can

enter the designated channel which he needs. The quest for security arises when another

impersonating user can create an account and join the server. This requires redesign.

Redesign:

Asking the user to create an account before signing into the network can overcome the defect of

security. The requirements for creation of account must require Username (Nickname), Age,

Location, Profile Picture etc. Using intuitive and smart design, implementing selective options

while filling up the application will save time of the user, implementing of drop-down menu for

selecting country and a drop down calendar will make the design more user friendly. On the first

launch of the application creating a user profile should appear.

Account Login (Redesign):

From the next launch , user should be redirected to a login page which . This page was not present in

the actual design, as mentioned above the importance of security. The redesign includes a login

page where the user enters the login credentials and a sign up option available for a new user. An

option "Forgot Password" is implemented, so that the retrieval mail is sent to the user's email

address with which the user has created the account.

Account Information UI or the user profile:

Upon clicking on the user this is how the account looks like. Country, Nickname and Online

since are visible, No other information of the user is seen which is a problem. And recognizing

the users is important as well. The UI is too ambiguous and is of very less help to other users.

There is no option to add the user to the friend's list or send any message if the other user is

offline.

Redesign:

And the account information UI which contains the profile picture of the user, with his location,

Username/User ID, Age and signature. Any user is able to verify the user by browsing the

profile. This is how a user's profile will be visible from another user's perspective. There are

options like sending a message to the user, viewing the profile picture and viewing the channel

subscriptions and ownerships. A user is also able to add other users to his friends list. A separate

UI is designed for editing the account information which is mentioned in the next segment.

Account Editing UI (Redesign):

This option was not available in the initial design a default account details page was present and

user could not edit what information to show or hide. And there also was no profile picture

adding option available, changing the nickname, option to show or hide the age of the user , edit

the email address, changing the password and uploading a desired signature. Along with this user

will be able to accept requests from other users.

Channel Selection:

For a separate server there are multiple channels for example a Host with domain

(ts.hostname.net) can have like 20 separate channels for different purposes for example, one

channel for Customer Support other for user chats etc. The channel users are listed directly

below the names of the Channels. This causes problem for the user to search for the required

channel.

Secondly there is no search Option to browse through the channels. Since there is long list of

channels which are not placed alphabetic wise it creates problems for the users to search for their

channels as well.

Redesign:

Instead of listing the channel users right below the Channel name a lot of free space to the right

end of the page can be utilized to show the channel users ,which causes the user to search the

channel easily which he is looking for.

And a small “Search” Bar can be placed in channel selection section for searching the Channel

name.

Address Bar:

In the Actual design to connect to any server, user had to open the connections tab from the

HUD and type the address. If a user uses 2 separate servers , it is very time taking.

Redesign:

Instead added an address bar to easily connect to multiple servers, which is placed on the top

portion of the UI.

Friend's list and HUD redesign:

Since accounts were not present initial design did not consist of Friend's list online friends are

mentioned by green icon and offline friends are grayed out. The HUD now has a recent history ,

a private message box, option to log off and a welcome message. The announcements were

shifted to the top from the bottom as in the initial design.

Chat Section:

The chat section seems to be very compact and forced. Plus the chat shows the user enters and

joins the channel and other system messages. This causes difficulties for the user in reading the

chat messages

Redesign:

Chat section can be placed right between the Channel Selection section and User list section

which makes the chat readable and a longer history of chat can be visible at one instance.

“I have neither given nor received, nor have I tolerated other’s use of unauthorized aid.”