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8/18/2019 Usability Analysis of UnionStation.org
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John-Paul Culver
Usability Test for UnionStation.org
Test Preparation
The first thing that I did to prepare to conduct the tests was to visit the web page itself
and try to complete the tass that would be placed before my testers! so I new when they were
doing the right thing to answer them. "or the tass I was using the University #$indows% lab
computers Colden &all so I could have the best connection possible. Since it's what I'm most
used to! I decided to use (oogle Chrome as my browser.
"or the first tas I chose the )Plan *our +isit, navigation item because I thought there might be
further information in that area. fter a while of reading I eventually found the amenities lin
that had the information that I needed to complete the tas.
"or the second tas I returned bac to the )Plan *our +isit, page by using the bac button
to see the ticet pricing and if there was a lin to the )/treme 0ovie, section of the website!
since there was no button on the navigation for it. $hen I found the ticet pricing I was
wondering why the name of the theatre couldn't be a hyperlin! instead of the 1ump button found
on the right #when I was doing this I thought this could be an issue in the testing process that
would show up! which it did%. 2nce on the page I was e/pecting to see a date selector and found
none! I had to figure out which movies would be playing at that time.
The third tas! however! I had some difficulty with. I chose 3obots 45 as the movie I'd
lie to see but when checing my cart the button that said )Select Seats,! only allowed me to
change the total ticets I needed. I thought that this will definitely cause a problem during the
testing phase. fter I saw that the ne/t page demanded you to log-in or place sensitive
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information on the web page! this would also provide an issue during tas 4 #testers might not be
willing to send their information to a webpage! 1ust because they're ased too%.
"or the final tas I simply returned to the homepage by entering the U36 again! since I
noticed that the logo 1ust returns you to the bo/-office subdomain and not that homepage as the
rest of the website does #this also proved to be a consistency issue with the testers%. "rom the
homepage I chose the )Contact, navigation item and scrolled till I saw the )+isitor 3elations,
7mailto89 hyperlin and went ahead and cliced it to complete the tas! but I wanted to see a
contact form : possibly one that allowed you to select a receiver from a drop-down menu #again
this was a problem! because a contact form would have been far more usable%.
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Tester 1: &annah ;.
0y first tester was &annah! she nows enough to understand how to navigate most
websites. &annah is a ?@ is on social media and A?@ is browsing. This is my )&igh-
/perience, tester because she has been alive for longer than she has #she has gained enough
e/perience in her life%.
Environment for Tester 1:
Location of test: The test was taen in a Buiet study area for college students at the
library! this place was chosen because she accepted right when I ased if she minded in
being a participant and agreed to do it immediately.
Physical environment: The room was lit very well and there weren't that many
people in the area! plus it was a mostly Buiet group of students in the area we were in.
The only distractions to spea of was a heated math argument that was going on behind
us in whispered voices! although they left during the second tas.
Technical environment: The destop we were using was running $indows ! with
a rather small screen in comparison to the other library destops. The connection speed
was good at a solid
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0y second tester was named &oward Thompson! someone that I randomly ased about
how often they used the internet and if they could help me with a usability test. &e told me that
he understands how to navigate the internet somewhat! and that his wife would is better at it. 0r.
Thompson spends his days watching television or reading boos! as he's retired. &e has never
been to the Union Station website before! but has been to the actual destination. &e hasn't spent
much time on the internet! at ma/ one or two hours a wee : he has also never been on "aceboo
or any social media website #he spends his time reading articles online%. This is my )6ow-
/perience, tester because he doesn't really understand how to do everything on websites.
Environment for Tester 2:
Location of test: The test was taen in the $estport Public 6ibrary in ;ansas City!
02. This place was chosen because he! the same as tester
and the computers were available.
Physical environment: 0ost of the lights in the room were on! while a few were
still in transition of being replaced. 0ost of the other computer users posed a distraction
to him while he was typing! as well as the conversations the librarians were constantly
having.
Technical environment: The computer we used was running $indows and had a
screen resolution of )F/GA., The connection speed at the library was running pretty
slowly. $hen I ased him to open a web browser he chose Internet /plorer.
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Test Results
Initial Site Thoughts:
Tester 1 Report: &annah lied the design! it wasn't lie all the other websites on
the internet #it didn't follow the same rules! she thought%. She lied the front page slider
that showcased all the amenities and current attractions! it was the first thing that drew
her eye. She especially thought that showing the 5a +inci /hibition first #their current
attraction% really showed that they eep up on maintaining the website! eeping it fresh.
lthough when she began to scroll! using the scrollbar on the right of the screen! she
noticed that only part of the page moved : while the logoHnavigation and the warning for
closing times on 2ctober >>nd though the >Fthdid not! she thought that maybe the logo and
navigation could be smaller as well as the content so you see more without having to
scroll as much. She wished the navigation had a home button as well as the logo so you
could return home and she also wanted to see )drop-downs, on the navigation for visiting
more specific areas of the website. "rom what she could see8 she could find out about
ClosingOnly way to go
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displays! hours of operation! maybe buy a train ticet! and contact them if needing further
assistance.
Tester 2 Report: &oward didn't lie the website design as much as &annah did and
it made him feel lie the page was shouting! much lie a commercial. $hen the banner
first changed he was trying to read about the 5a +inci /hibit and wasn't able to finish
reading it before it did! so he had to wait till it came around to do so #he didn't understand
the arrows on the sides were meant to cycle through%. &e found it a little annoying that
the top area #navigationHlogo% was following him as he scrolled #with the scrollbar%. &e
did lie the warning on the bottom of the page! he said )at least they let us now in
advance.,
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Task 1: Scenario8 *ou are bringing your grandmother to Union Station for a Sunday afternoon
outing. She can't wal more than about D? steps at a time. 5etermine whether or not there will be
a wheelchair available for her to use during the visit.
Tester 1
&annah began her search for the wheelchair information by choosing )"acility 3entals,
under the e/plore the Station container and after a little searching and confusion she
decided that it wasn't there and went bac to the homepage and chose )Plan *our +isit,
on the navigation this time. 2n the )Plan *our +isit, page she found the (uest menities
lin and that's where she found the answer. Anser: )vailable at the Information ooth located in (rand &all. They are available on a
first come first serve basis for our guests at no charge. $e reBuire a valid drivers license to
hold as a deposit during the use of the wheelchair, #Union Station%. !omplete": *es
Tester 2
Answer on
the “Guest
Amenities
” page
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&oward immediately cliced on )Plan *our +isit, because as he said )this is an important
part of planning for a visit., few seconds of reading and he chose the )(uest
menities, lin because he saw the word assisted and thought it could possibly be there!
and he was e/actly right.
Anser: )vailable at the Information ooth located in (rand &all. They are available on a
first come first serve basis for our guests at no charge. $e reBuire a valid drivers license to
hold as a deposit during the use of the wheelchair, #Union Station%.
!omplete": *es
Recommen"ations to improve #$ for Task 1:
The heuristic that aligns most with increasing the UK of the website would be )fle/ibility
and efficiency of use, because they could have simply made the options into a drop-down menu
in the navigation! an e/ample of what I mean can be viewed below.
Task 2: Scenario8 *ou plan to see an /treme Screen movie during your visit! so you want to
secure ticets in advance. 5etermine what is playing on $ednesday! Lov. >Dth.
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Tester 1
• &annah said that she already saw the /treme Screen as an option on the )Plan *our
+isit, page and went straight to it! she did get a little confused on why the lin to buy
ticets was the only way to access the /treme Screen schedule. She also didn't lie that
there wasn't an actual date selector to see what movies will be available! but you actually
had to scroll through and chec the dates by hand. fter this was finished she tried to
return home by clicing the logo! the only way you could since there was not a )&ome,
button on the navigation and it 1ust sent her through a loop bac to the
)bo/office.unionstation.org, homepage. Anser: Jerusalem and 3obots 45
!omplete": *es
Tester 2
gain his reasoning for finding out where something was is that it's )an essential part of
planning your visit, and he cliced the )Plan *our +isit, menu item. lthough when he
got to the table at ticet pricing he was having difficulty figuring out where to clic from
there! the te/t wasn't woring as he thought it would. ventually he got this )aha, loo
on his face from the confused one and found the right spot.
Anser: Jerusalem and 3obots 45
!omplete": *es
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Recommen"ation to improve #$ for Task 2:
The recommendation for tas > I'm going to give would go under the )Consistency and
standards, heuristic for two reasons8 not being able to clic the name of the )/treme Theatre,
to go to the page and not being able to select a date to see specific movies playing then.
/amples of these can be seen below8
Taken from
Remove this after ing!ake these into hyperlinks to
pages
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Task %: (o through the steps of buying two ticets for an /treme Screen movie on that day.
5etermine whether or not you can choose the actual seats so that you and your grandmother will
have wheelchair-compatible seating.
Tester 1
&annah chose the movie Jerusalem and ept having to go through multiple screens in
order to select )dd to aset, and finally she was able to see the )0y Ticets, page
where you could clic the )Select Seats, image hyperlin! which 1ust too her bac a
page and was unable to find the answer. She said )this part of the site seems unfinished to
me, when we noticed it didn't actually let you select the seats. Anser: LH! couldn't find
!omplete": Lo
Tester 2
• fter choosing 3obots 45 as the movie he would pic he also found the )Select Seats,
hyperlin only to get this loo of utter confusion on his face since it doesn't wor as one
would e/pect it to. ventually he gave up on this tas! after 4 or F tries at using the
)Select Seats, option or trying to see if it was on a later screen instead.
Anser: LH !omplete": Lo
Recommen"ation to improve #$ for task %:
"i#n$t
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The &euristic I thin could be improved upon in tas 4 would be the )&elp and documentation,
heuristic because of the simple fact that users aren't sure how to select the seats and when you
use the )Choose Seats, option it doesn't wor. Buestion mar that you can hover over for more
information would be a nice way to improve this.
Task &: Scenario8 *ou'd lie to spend time waling around Union Station during your visit! but
you want to be sure enough areas of the station will be wheelchair-friendly. (o through the steps
to send an email to the appropriate personHdepartment to inBuire about wheelchair access
throughout all areas of Union Station.
Tester 1
&annah returned to the homepage! by entering the U36 since she new the logo wouldn't
tae her bac from earlier. "rom there she chose )Contact, on the navigation. There she
decided that )+isitor 3elations, should be able to answer the Buestion and cliced the
7mailto89 lin and it pulled up log-in information for outloo and a few minutes later! without
logging in! it simply pulled up a blan e-mail ready to send.
Anser: mailto8visitorMunionstation.org
!omplete"8 *es
Tester 2
On hover this coul#
have supporting
information
%
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&oward had a harder time at this than &annah did because he didn't now how to return to
the homepage to clic the )Contact, menu item he saw before so he 1ust pressed bac until
on the normal site and chose it then. &e had never used a 7mailto89 lin before so he had no
idea what was going on when it opened an empty e-mail! he had this mesmeriEed loo on his
face of pure confusion. &e finally said )$hy can't there 1ust be a contact formN, Anser: mailto8visitorMunionstation.org
!omplete": *es
Recommen"ation to improve #$ for task &:
The heuristic that needs to be improved upon most on tas F would be )"le/ibility and efficiency
of use, because not many people use 7mailto89 anymore! really contact forms are great because
you won't have to login each time you need to contact the company : you could 1ust include the
e-mail as a reBuirement to send the e-mail. n e/ample of a Contact "orm I've wored on can be
seen below8
Testing !onclusions
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!ompletion Rate for Tester 1: 'annah D@! which is pretty good when comparing it to
the typical completion rate of A@.
!ompletion Rate for Tester 2: 'oar" also got a D@ completion rate! which is really
close to the average completion rate. Similarities an" "ifferences: oth of the tester were pretty different in how they went about
completing the tass! or even solving issues. $hile &annah used her nowledge of how most
websites word things and where things are most liely to be under #lie how she guessed
wheelchairs could possibly be under )"acility 3entals,! even though it wasn't! that's why
she piced that first. &oward chose to use common wordsHphrases to somewhat guess where
things would be and he ended up doing 1ust as well as &annah in tas completion
percentage.
'euristic "one ell: heuristic! from Jaob Leilson's )