Homework — Assignment 3-Assessing Zoom’s Features and Usability for Screen Recording
Review one software and show us how you came to your evaluation. You can write your review as text, text and screen captures, a talking head video, or use the software itself to make a video. Blog your review of the software you test drove. Positives, negatives, thumb up or thumb down or wiggly-finger indecisive.
- What is the importance of screen recorders to UX designers？
Screen recorders allow UX designers to observe how users interact with an interface or prototype. This helps identify usability, pain points and opportunities for software and product improvement. The designer can see where users get stuck, what confuses them, and how they navigate the interface.
As a beginner with technology who feels intimidated by using complex applications, I choose to review Zoom as it was the first online class, video conferencing platform and video recorder I used in China in the spring of 2022 during Covid19 pandemic to connect to Canadian colleagues in Ontario. For UX/ UI researchers, Zoom is a popular and user-friendly tool for interviews, video conferences and video recorder all over the world.
- What is Zoom？
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing platform that can be used for video conferencing meetings, audio conferencing, webinars, meeting recordings, and live chat.
Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing software systems on the market because of its easy-to-use feature set and affordable pricing. According to Zoom’s S-1 filing in early 2019, more than half of Fortune 500 companies are using Zoom, and it earned an average NPS of more than 70 in 2018. Today, more than 500,000 companies’ meetings use Zoom Software on a daily basis.
Zoom One Basic
| 1. Free | Yes |
| 2. One button install | Yes |
| 3. One button launch | Yes |
| 4. Basic Recording Needs | Yes |
| 5. Lightweight output | Yes |
| 6. Editable output | No |
| 7. Help | Yes |
| 8. Tutorials | Yes |
| 9. Positive industry reputations | Yes |
| 10. Provide free transcription | Yes |
| 11. Provide free translation | No |
| 12. Highly customize | Kindof |
1. Pricing
- Is Zoom free to download?
Zoom is free for download and use on desktop computers and other internet-ready devices through the “Basic” subscription plan. The free Basic plan for individuals allows up to 100 participants and 40 minutes of meeting time per call. This plan includes many of the same features as the paid plans, such as virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, and improved security. However, it does not include streaming, reporting, live support, and so on.
Here is the table of detailed Zoom pricing.
As you can see, Zoom pricing starts at $12.49 per user, per month for Zoom One Pro, which includes Zoom Meetings of up to 30 hours in length, Team Chat, and 5GB of cloud storage.
My perspective：
I think the time limit for the free version is acceptable to users with basic needs and the host can ask the participants to join the link again after 40 minutes session. But the drawback is that we can just download the recording of meetings to our own computers without cloud storage using the free version.
2. One Button Install
Zoom Meetings are supported on a range of devices, including but not limited to mobile devices, iPad, Chromebook, as well as operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux via the available client download.
The Zoom app installs easily with a simple download and setup process.
My perspective：
Zoom app is easy and simple to install and set up and I just spend 2-3 minutes in total to install it.
The first thing I do is to open up the Internet browser Chrome and go to my frequently used search engine Google. Then, on the URL address line, I just type in Zoom. It is very easy to find the first link is the official website of Zoom. Below the title, I just see “Download” very clearly and click on it.
It leads me to the website and the first option is Zoom Desktop Client. It is used for any laptops or desktop computers. (You can also use cell phones to download the Zoom-One Platform to Connect app.) After clicking on “Download”, it takes me just around 10 seconds to get an exe file on the upper right-hand corner of the Chrome. Then I click on it and initialize it in a few seconds without malware or virus reminders as it is a legit site.
Then I see a very clear home page of Zoom.
3. One Button Launch
I find that whenever I am using Zoom to create a meeting, join a meeting, and record a meeting, it is super fast and easy, which may just take me less than 1 minute.
- Do I need a Zoom account to join a meeting?
No. While the person who starts a meeting and invites you will need an account, participants aren’t required to sign up for Zoom. Join a Zoom meeting from a Browser (you will need the meeting ID and passcode) In your web browser, go to zoom.us/join. Enter the meeting ID provided by the host/organizer. Click Join.
- How to host a meeting in Zoom?
I try only 5 steps to host a meeting in the navigable Zoom.
1). Sign in to the Zoom desktop client
2). Click the Meetings tab.
3). Near the Upcoming tab, click the tab to schedule a meeting.
4). Change the Topic and the Time. I click on Recurring meeting to make it recur on a daily/weekly/monthly basis and click “Save”. So I don’t need to schedule a new meeting too frequently.
5). Click Start.
4. Basic Recording Needs
- Is it simple to start a screen recording in a Zoom meeting?
It is very easy to start a screen recording within an ongoing Zoom meeting.
1). Sign in to the Zoom. In the navigation menu, find the Record tab.
2). Click the record tab to start recording.
3). Click the square button on the top left corner to stop recording.
4). After clicking End Meeting with Everyone, Convert Meeting Recording just pops up and I wait for around 1 minute. It converts the meeting recording to an MP4 file. It shows on the Recorded tab.
5. Lightweight Output
Software is considered lightweight if it utilizes a limited amount of RAM. For example, an operating system is considered lightweight if its kernel requires a small amount of memory (said to have a “low footprint”).
- How much space does a 1-hour Zoom recording take?
Recording screen sharing uses about 20MB of storage per hour while recording video uses about 200MB of storage an hour. This is an approximation, since the resolution and types of video or screen sharing content can affect the amount of storage used.
My perspective:
Zoom is a lightweight app because I record a 16 min video conference and it uses only about 40 MB. Recordings are saved as MP4s which are reasonably light. The quality is satisfactory.
6. Editable Output
My perspective:
I cannot edit recordings within Zoom, but the MP4s can be edited in external video editors, so this this the drawback of Zoom.
7. Help
My perspective:
Zoom offers a wonderful support tab on the main page and gives users access to a FAQ and search page easily. Users can also read feature articles with the most typical problems of using Zoom and can use a Chatbot to chat with the artificial support team online.
I think users can get very clear answers quickly by searching their answers to their questions in the search box. But the Chatbot seems not very smart in understanding every question.
https://support.zoom.com/hc/en?_ga=2.195135980.1969842599.1706919625-909900721.1706919625.
8. Tutorials
Zoom provides short video tutorials on common topics, which are very helpful for green hands on https://support.zoom.com.
9. Industrial Reputation (Pros & Cons)
Zoom has a positive reputation as an easy, reliable video conferencing tool.
According to Forbes Advisor, Zoom became a lifesaver for many companies with employees working at home. The brand is an industry leader and one of American’s favorite telecommuting apps.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/software/zoom-review/#:~:text=Security%20Concerns,reluctant%20to%20create%20an%20account.
As quickly as Zoom gained popularity, it also gained a fair bit of backlash over its privacy and security issues. While Zoom remains a top-rated web conferencing platform, its spotty security history might make some reluctant to create an account.
10. Provide free transcription
Zoom provides free transcription services which are very convenient for textual analysis. I just click More and choose Caption Language to English. Then it can transcribe automatically when I speak English.
Live transcription is a feature in Zoom meetings that provides robot transcription services, which enables script-to-text transcription meetings and webinars. It is important to note that this feature is enabled by the host of the meeting or webinar once it begins. However, participants will not see the Live Transcript option unless the host enables it, also the transcript is divided into sections, each with a timestamp that shows how far into the recording that portion of the text was recorded.
11. Translation
For the free version, I think there are no translation services for online meetings and no built-in translation for screen recordings. And I need to use other translation tools Like iTour Translator to get translated captions when I interview foreign UX users like Chinese. The tools allow users to have the speech automatically real-time translated and access captions in another language. For example, if a meeting participant is speaking in English, other participants can view Chinese, Spanish, or German captions.
12. Highly customize
I think Zoom provides basic customization options for screen recording. However, it is not as highly customizable as some other advanced screen recorders.
With Zoom’s video filters, I can add some fun and creativity to a video call or improve the appearance of the video. These filters can include things like virtual hats, glasses, and makeup, as well as more creative effects like changing the color or shape of my face. To use the video filters in Zoom, users simply need to click on the “Video” icon in the bottom left corner of the Zoom window, then click on the “Video Settings” option.
Studio Effects allows me to add facial effects such as eyebrows, mustaches, and beards, and I can even change my lip color. These effects remain in place even as I move around in the video.
I am extremely fond of the studio effects in Zoom, which can improve my appearance and boost my confidence in interviewing UX users. It is because the features can help me hide facial blemishes or improve the appearance of my face. Besides, Zoom filters are easy to use and can be applied with just a few clicks, making them a popular feature for personal and professional video calls.
But we need to be careful not to use some weird special effects to distract UX users from the usability test, which may have a negative influence on the test result.
Summary
Zoom’s free screen recorder is wonderful and convenient to use for basic quick recordings and it can capture screen, audio, and webcam nicely with speech-to-text transcription. Nonetheless, it lacks advanced features like editing, tagging, translations, and advanced customization.
In addition, the video resolution and recording quality of Zoom aren’t always great. Zoom relies on the strength of an internet connection for quality, and will automatically adjust our quality if our connection cannot support a higher resolution. To get the best possible quality recording from Zoom, we have to enable HD video, create a great recording space, optimize our internet connection, and position our camera correctly.
We can refer to “How to Improve Zoom Recording Quality | Video & Audio Guide”, to know different ways to make our recordings in Zoom better.