“come on! give me ten!” what users really want and really do on library web sites darlene...
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“Come on! Give me ten!”What users really want and really do on
library web sites
Darlene [email protected]
OLA Super Conference 2003
Overview
What is usability? Usability research Why do usability testing?
Is it enough to ask the staff their opinion or run a focus group?
How do you know what works for web visitors ? What tests, tasks and techniques can you use?
Types of usability testing
What is usability?
Ease of use
Ease of learning
Fitness for purpose
An effective product
How do you know it works?
Is your site usable?
Before you test
Usability Research www.usability.gov www.useit.com
Research examples
Web visitors are happier, faster, and more successful when: Information is in columns, not rows Categorical rather than alphabetical Arranged in a high-to-low level of importance for each category
Write for the way your users read
Where do people look first ? Pictures or words
How do people read on the screen? Top to bottom Focus first on the micro-content Scroll to the bottom Only after failing
- side menu- top menu
Banner Blindness
Fonts & reading speed
25% slower on the screen Find Arial or Times Roman fonts at
12 pt the most legible
Research shows: visitors DON’T READ
People who are looking for information don't READ, they scan.
If they have to read instructions or help page most people will not.
How we fail users
2
3 1
4
What is usability testing?
Involves actual users interacting with the web site
Test participants are asked to perform tasks while usability evaluators observe and take note of their actions
Are surveys and focus groups usability tests?
No. Can be useful for evaluation Very big difference between what
people say and what people do High satisfaction is common even
when performance is poor
Why conduct user tests?
1. Web development is expensive, and supporting a poorly designed system is even more expensive
2. Unhappy users will “leave” Political costs Cost to the organization Opportunity cost
Why …
3. Even the best designers are not representative of the web visitors of their systems so they are poor judges of what visitors want and need
We are not our users
Medline search
Venn diagrams
One user
Come on!
Give me ten!
Lights, camera, action!
When can you test? Live Site
Are you meeting your goals? Test existing site
Planning stages Organization and labels
Existing site Paper prototype Prototype
In development Low fidelity prototype
B & W mockups High fidelity prototype
Complete visual design and completed parts of new site
Common testing techniques
Cognitive walkthrough Preference testing Task based testing
Cognitive walkthrough
Development team collectively walks through the site assessing whether the visitor has the information to confidently make the next right action Describe a typical web site visitor Would the visitor see the “choice” What would the visitor choose based
solely on the information available on the current page
Let’s try one
Typical visitor 12 years old Stephen King books In the library and want to request books
Cognitive walkthrough - mockup
Preference testing
Also called “cookie” testing Zero in on troubling labels
Request book from another library Interlibrary Loan Request forms Books from other libraries
Live reference example
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Small button
Task based testing
Participants are given specific tasks Asked to verbalize their thoughts Observe, record,
and debrief
Guerilla usability testing
Idea popularized by Jakob Nielsen Showed that simple “low tech”
testing of five to seven users could yield excellent results
5 users will typically uncover 80% of site-level usability problems
Measurements
Time on task Number of errors Difficulty in
NavigationUnderstanding site structure
User satisfaction
Preparing for task based testing
What do you want to know? Focus on the issues of a particular
“audience” New service such as live reference Particular activity – requesting ILL or
finding full text articles
Construct your sample
How many people can you test? How many people do you need to
provide a representative sample? Tradeoffs
Design your tasks
What tasks will you ask the target audience to carry out?
Design the tasks so they are clear and straightforward
Consider whether “prior learning” from one task will carry over to the next? Do you want this?
Example tasks
Locate three recent articles on the Kyoto accord.
Find out when your books are due. Find a consumer report article
about bread makers.
Role of the participants
Users are given specific tasks Asked to talk out loud No assistance is provided
Participant
TaskNumber
1 2 3 4 5 Median Mean
1 60 540 240 240 280
2 840 50 60 120 90 267.5
3 600 300 240 300 380
4 180 300 240 240
5 240 80 58 175 170 170 150.6
6 420 420 420
7 180 180 180 180
Summary of results
Analyzing the results
Time - how many seconds Errors - incorrect answers
Participant can’t complete the taskParticipant is slowed downParticipant is annoyed or irritated slightly
Satisfaction
When can you do task based testing?
Before you start a redesign Paper mockup stage Prototypes Beta
Test early and test often!
3 or 4 rounds of paper mockups Then task based testing
Iterative
Finding out more
Visit my web sitelibrary.usask.ca/~fichter
Read some of my columns at: FindArticles.com
Best site to start: www.usability.gov
Darlene FichterData LibrarianUniversity of [email protected]
User centered design
UCD is a highly structured, comprehensive product development methodology driven by: (1) clearly specified,
task-oriented business objectives, and (2) recognition of
user needs, limitations and preferences.
http://www.taskz.com/definitions.php
Library’s business goals
Efficient effective delivery of information, tools and services that meet the information and/or recreational needs of audience
User focused
Project team recognizes that cognitive and behavior patterns of people are crucial factors in how we design the site