# Designing a Collaborative Virtual Conference Application: Challenges, Requirements and Guidelines
## 5 Discussion
### Underutilization of the Collaborative Tools  
The majority of the participants in this study expressed that they had very little experience in drawing collaboratively on their virtual conference platform. Previous work supported this by stating that, despite knowing how to use a video conferencing application, participants had never performed any collaborative task via video conference [56]. Some of the participants in this study found it very interesting to be able to draw collaboratively, as they had not experienced this in their previous virtual conferences:  
**G2F4:**_Actually, I'd only just found out a function like this on Zoom, so it's interesting. I'd just noticed it._  
**G2F5:**_Haven't used it before, Um. Interesting._  
**G3F7:**_I think this is a fun experience because it's my first time, I think._  
**G1F1:**_For me, I also think it's quite fun and kind of new for me because, uh, we usually draw by ourselves right, and suddenly someone comes in and draw together with us, so it's kind of a fun experience and new for me._  
However, being unfamiliar with the features had also resulted in some challenges and frustrations, as observed with some of the participants:  
**G3F7:**_How do you join the drawing? Where is it (the feature)?_  
**G3F8:**_Can you see what we are drawing right now?_  
**G3F7:**_Yes, I can see it, but where can I (click to) draw on it?_  
**G3M9:**_It's at the top. It's under 'View Option'._  
**G3F8:**_Annotation._  
**G3F7:**_Oh okay. (A join the drawing)_  
Participants also had difficulty activating the annotate feature from drawing, as it was designed to be hidden within a menu. As a result, the participants were unable to locate the functions they desired to use, and there was no indication whether the function had been activated or not. The following excerpt highlights a conversation during the usability study, where a participant in Group 5 was trying to find the draw function:  
**G5M14:**_I want to change to go back to the drawing._  
**G5M15:**_Oh, uh you click on the draw right click on the draw and then it will go back to the drawing yeah._  
**G5M14:**_Where is the draw? The draw okay yeah. (G5M14 searches through all the functions by clicking the menu of the annotate function) I'm still in the erasing icon, what's this. (G5M14 is still figuring out where is the draw menu)_  
According to Nielsen Norman Group, the menus such as the hamburger or the hidden menu can degrade the user experience [57]. In their studies, the hidden menus can reduce the functions' discovery time by half, with longer task time and an increase in the perceived task difficulty. It is more obvious in our usability study, as the participants find it difficult to locate the required function, therefore increasing task time and perceived task difficulty. Hence, it is evident that there is a clear need to redesign a more intuitive interface for collaborative purposes in virtual conference applications. A previous study presented several ways to improve the usability of the virtual conference application through an immersive interface [58]. However, using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies to improve usability can be costly and difficult to implement. A simpler solution must be devised to address this issue.