Archive for the 'User Experience' Category

Usability Testing Demystified

Published by Courtney Clark on May 2, 2010 in User Experience. 2 Comments Tags: .
Usability Testing of the Hukoomi website

Usability Testing of the Hukoomi website

Most of us could name a website that we’ve found hard to use. Information was hard to find. You didn’t know where to click. Your experience was probably frustrating. For those of us who design websites (or user interfaces), one of the best ways to make sure site visitors do NOT have this experience is by employing a technique called usability testing.

What is usability testing?

Usability testing is a research method used to evaluate the ease with which users interact with a website.  This is done by watching representative users of your site interact with it to find key information. During the test, a facilitator observes what users do, what they have trouble with, and what makes sense to them.

Usability testing is different from focus groups, surveys, and general market research because during usability testing, users are asked to complete tasks as they are observed interacting with the system. Users are not typically asked how they feel about features or design. Instead, the goal is to try to gather information about how they move through the site and how they accomplish certain tasks.

Who to test during usability testing

A typical usability test involves:

- a participant (preferably a member of your identified target audience)

- a facilitator (who will conduct the test) and

- a scribe (who will take notes during the session)

The recommended number of people with whom to test varies, but we recommended testing with approximately five users from your target audience. This is a large enough sample to identify the major problems within the design you’re testing. From our experience, by the third user, patterns develop and common feedback can be heard from the users.

We also recommend asking your users to think out loud as they complete the tasks.  This allows you to understand their decision making process, and to hear what questions arise as they interact with the site.  Users will often explain that they are unsure where to click or the name of a link has confused them. This feedback during the task is extremely valuable.

What to test during usability testing

During usability testing, you should test the most common tasks that users complete on your site. For example: if many users want to sign up for your newsletter, you should create a task asking them to do so.

Top tasks may include:

- purchasing an item

- signing up for a newsletter

- finding a popular report

- finding contact information

- learning more about the company or organization

Tasks should provide some context and should not use language that leads the tester to the solution.  Below you will see two examples – a good one and a bad one – of how to phrase the questions.  It’s important to give the participant a scenario to understand what they are looking for and get them in the right mindset to complete the task.

Good Example: You would like to talk to someone at the organization about partnering with them on an upcoming event. How would you do this?

Bad Example: Find the contact information.

When to conduct usability testing

Usability testing can be conducted at any point of your process. Doing small tests regularly, revising the design, and testing again is optimal. However, we recommend conducting usability testing during the following times :

- Before the site is redesigned. This allows you to test the old design to highlight areas that are working and areas that need improvement.

- After a new design has been created. Testing your design at this stage helps you correct areas before the site is actually built. You may choose to develop a clickable prototype of the design to mimic how a user would interact with the site, or you can can test on printed screenshots of the site and asking users to point to what they would click on.

- After the new design is implemented. Testing at this point is best if you’ve already done some testing earlier in the process, primarily because it will be harder to make major changes at this point.

Where to conduct usability testing

Testing is best done in a quiet room with a desk and a computer for the participant to sit at and space for the facilitator to sit beside him/her. The facilitator and the scribe (the person who captures notes of the session) need to be able to see the computer screen in order to follow the tester’s click-path.

Since participants can be a bit anxious when they first arrive, it is important to make the space comfortable for the participant and to reproduce as natural a work environment as possible. It’s also best to have as few people in the room as needed. Participants quickly become nervous when many people are observing them and looking over their shoulders.

Why is usability testing valuable

Usability testing helps improve your design, ensuring that users know how to find what they need. If users struggle to find what they are looking for, or get lost on your website, they will leave and look elsewhere.

Good usability saves time, provides a pleasant experience, and can impact sales on e-commerce sites.

Usability testing is insightful because no matter how hard we try to predict what users will do, we do not know what they’ll do until we test the site.  Every usability test I’ve done has opened my eyes to issues and insights I would not have otherwise realized.

For more resources:

Web sites Usability.gov: Usability Testing Guidelines and Checklists

http://www.usability.gov/methods/test_refine/learnusa/index.html

UsableWeb

http://usableweb.com/topics/000878-0-0.html

Jakob Nielsen’s Column on Web

Usability http://www.useit.com/alertbox/
Publications Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.

Berkeley: New Riders, 2006.

Nielsen, Jakob, and Hoa Loranger. Prioritizing Web Usability. Berkeley: New Riders, 2006.

Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Berkeley: New Riders, 1999.

Nielsen, Jakob, and Marie Tahir. Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed. Berkeley: New Riders, 2001.

Rosenfeld, Louis, and Peter Morville. Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. O’Reilly & Associates. 2002.

Tips on Accessibility

Published by cashel on March 28, 2010 in User Experience. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

W3C: One set of accessibility standards to be aware of

W3C: One set of accessibility standards to be aware of

It is only fair that all web sites should be accessible to people with disabilities, and to the assistive devices they use to navigate the web. This post outlines key principles and resources relating to accessibility.

High Rates of Disabilities

The issue of accessibility is quite a significant one. In the US and Europe for example, nearly 20% of the population has some sort of disability, a figure that climbs to 75% in older age groups.

Visual impairment is a major form of disability and the predominant concern in effective web design. Blind users of the web typically use software that reads a web page out loud. Screen readers can read only text, not images or animations. It is important, therefore, that images and animations be given text descriptions that screen readers can read. These text descriptions are called alternative text (alt text).

Users with mobility issues may rely on the keyboard instead of the mouse to navigate web pages. In these cases, essential components of the page need to function without a mouse. Rollovers, drop-down lists, and interactive graphics frequently depend on the mouse for user interaction. The developer of these elements must ensure that keyboard-defined events function appropriately.

Accessibility Standards

There are two main sources of accessibility standards.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) from the W3C represented the first major effort to establish international guidelines for accessible design. This standard consists of 14 guidelines, each with three checkpoint levels for web developers to meet: Priority One, Priority Two, and Priority Three. It is good practice for all web sites to at least comply with Priority One standards.

Individual countries also have national standards, often mandatory for web sites funded through government budgets. Most countries’ standards, such as the US, are based (at the least) on WCAG Priority One standards. Some countries (such as Canada and the United Kingdom) are based on Priority One and Priority Two standards. In some countries, non-compliance will be penalized with the loss of contract — so it is good practice, and also good business, to comply.

Priority One Checklist

Here is a partial checklist of Priority One issues:

  • All graphics use alt tags
  • All captions use text or alt tags
  • All information conveyed in color functions without color
  • Server-side maps include alternate links
  • In tables, identify row and column headers
  • Organize documents so they can be read without style sheets
  • (Other items listed on W3C site listed below.)

Other Benefits of Accessibility Standards

In addition to providing web access to users with disabilities, attention to accessibility issues brings other advantages as well. Many accessibility principals are consistent with good web design overall. Optimized sites often download more quickly and are more efficient with low-bandwidth or outdated-browser environments.  Attention to accessibility also guarantees that your site isn’t inadvertently breaking the law.

Resources

To learn more about accessibility issues, or to test sites or sub-sites for accessibility compliance, consult the following:

 

Tips on Writing for the Web

Published by cashel on March 1, 2010 in User Experience. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

Writing for the web is different than writing for any other form of publication.  A number of factors present unique challenges online:

  • Most users (80%) scan the page rather than reading word for word
  • Users bring assumptions about format and information architecture which dictate where they seek information
  • Reading from computer monitors is slower and more difficult than from paper
  • Monitors vary in size, some presenting relatively limited information in the first screen
  • User patience with text-heavy or confusing presentation is low and they readily click elsewhere

Because of these unique characteristic of presentation of information online, writing for the web should follow the following:

Brevity: The most important characteristic of web writing is to be brief! Web prose should be no more than 50% of equivalent non-web prose. In the age of Twitter, web prose is becoming more concise than ever.

Scannability: People generally don’t “read” online — they scan. Use lists, bullets or other concise presentations when possible.

Page Length: Individual pages should be kept short. Try not to require users to read pages in order.

Clear Information Architecture: Use clear and consistent navigation and link terms, so users know immediately where to look.

Summarize: Include top of page summaries when appropriate.

There is a great deal written online about writing for the web. Here are two useful resources, one from a university, the second from a technology company:

Writing for the Web (Dartmouth College)
Writing for the Web (Sun Microsystems)

In the name of brevity, we’ll stop now!

Nearly 3 hours on Mobile Internet a Day – Really?

Published by Brian Wesolowski on February 24, 2010 in Digital Content, User Experience and Web Strategy. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , .

I must admit, I was a bit surprised by this number – 2.7. This is the number of hours per day people in the U.S. are spending on the mobile internet according to a recent study from Ruder Finn, a leading PR agency. I will freely admit I am a slight blackberry addict, but I sincerely hope I am not reaching this level of mobile web addiction. And even though I question this number (it’s unclear to me how exactly this was measured), the rest of the study, which focused on intent of mobile users, had some very interesting findings with possible implications for web developers.

First, people are not turning to mobile internet for educational/informational purposes. Instead they are using it for social networking and transactional things, such as banking and shopping. This means that when thinking about tailoring your website for mobile use, if you are a purely informational site, your main audience is probably not on the mobile and investment in a fancy mobile site may not make much sense. Simple is often better.

Another interesting finding was that social networking was more popular on mobile internet than desktop access (91% of mobile users compared to 71% of desktop users). For web strategists who are considering incorporating social networking into a site, this is certainly something to keep in mind.

ReadWriteWeb had a good post on how the mobile may in fact be a better tool for socializing online and how mobile internet makes online social networking more “cool.” It allows people to live their normal life and still connect, share and interact with people in real time – without having to be behind a glowing computer screen.

It’s also worth noting that over 60% of mobile users are now downloading at least one mobile application a month. As I said in an earlier posting, web developers and strategists increasingly need to think about what app could work for their organization – it will soon no longer be a luxury. And with this new research in mind, you may want to make that app one that allows for easy transactions or quick interaction with your organization.

P.S. It’s time for us to start doing some research like this in the Middle East!