IMD09117 and IMD09118 Web Design and Development

Usability and User Centred Design.

Reminder of the 5 planes model

Last week we looked at the strategy plane.

We discussed understanding both the client’s and the users point of view.

We considered how a website was built from 3 main perspectives.

This week we will discuss what is meant by Usabillity and User Centred Design.

What is Usability?

“Usability is a quality attribute relating to how easy something is to use. More specifically, it refers to how quickly people can learn to use something, how efficient they are while using it, how memorable it is, how error-prone it is, and how much users like using it. If people can’t or won’t use a feature, it might as well not exist.”

Nielsen &Loranger (2006)

This image is copyright free and was distributed to promote World Usability Day.

People want things to work

There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to use something that should be simple.

Images courtesy of baddesigns.com

Don’t Make Me Think

Usability is about making objects easy and comfortable to use for anyone.

We know how to work it because there’s only 1 button.

It’s next to traffic lights. There’s a picture of a man

waiting and another of a man walking.

There are special surfaces on the pavement and markings on the road.

There are often crash barriers either side.

You probably have previous experience of road crossings.

If you don’t read English, you can still understand it’s a crossing by visual cues.

Although it helps if you read English, pelican crossings are reasonably straightforward to use.

Picture courtesy of HMSO

Tolerance

10 years ago, Web sites were new and exciting. As the world wide web has developed, it has become more mundane and is seen as a tool, an everyday object.

Frustration

People expect Websites to be as easy to understand as a Pelican crossing.

Not being able to get information they want or buy something quickly and easily makes people feel stupid.

If you make people feel stupid, they will just walk away.

Access

If we look back to our first lecture we were trying to understand what a website is. If we consider the example of a road crossing, we can imagine the user on one side of the road and the information, service or entertainment they want on the other side of the road.

Access

Not all users want the same information in the same way at the same time so we can’t just think about who uses our Website.

We need to consider many other factors.

Factors to consider

Who is using the site?What do they want from the site?How long are they going to want to

spend on the site?When are they using the site?How often will they visit the site?

Cinema Website

Pair up and consider this exercise.

You have been asked to develop a website for an independent local cinema.

List the different questions that someone might use the website to answer.

How long do you think people will be prepared to spend finding this information?

Jakob Nielsen

Jakob Nielsen is one of the world’s foremost authorities in Interaction Design.

Nielsen has been at the heart of the usability debate for many years.

His website www.useit.com is the first resource for usability.

Picture from .net magazine 157 dec 2006 used with permission

Main problems in Usability

In the .net article from December 2006 Nielsen highlighted the primary problems people have using a site. We will look at the top ten.

Nielsen’s Top Ten

These are from an online survey conducted by Jakob Nielsen.

Legibility problems.Poor fonts. Fonts that are too small.Poor contrast between

text and background

Non standard links

Links are one of the most important things people use on the Web.

Make them clear and obvious. Differentiate between visited and unvisited

links. Make it obvious where users will go if they

use the link.

Google is usable

Make them clear and obvious.

Differentiate between visited and unvisited links.

Make it obvious where users will go if they use the link.

Nielsen’s Top Ten continued

FlashThis is a contentious issue.

Content not written for the webContent should be short scannable and to

the point. Bad search

If your site has a search tool, it is worth paying for quality.

Nielsen’s Top Ten continued

Browser incompatibilityDon’t design sites for only one browser on

one platform. Cumbersome formsNo contact informationFrozen layouts with fixed widthsPop-ups

The title of a book by Steve Krug.

Good web design doesn’t usually get commented or congratulated. A well designed site does what is expected and simply becomes a tool for the user.

Don’t Make Me Think