Website usability Surprising findings from the research Bureau of Justice Statistics Marianne W....

Website usability

Surprising findings from the research

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Marianne W. Zawitz

What is usability?

“The measure of the quality of the user experience when interacting with something -- whether a traditional software application, or any other device the user can operate in some way or another.”


Jakob Nielsen Devhead, www.zdnet.com, 9/29/98

Usability is measured by —

Ease of learning Efficiency of use Memorability Error frequency and severity Subjective satisfaction


The usability profession —

From cognitive psychology

Focused on Human Computer Interface (HCI)

Initial work was testing software interfaces


Most sites fail on usability Internally focused

Mirror the organization structure

Designed for the boss

Do not involve users in development


Why do we have usability problems?

Technical = make it work

Artistic/graphics = make it pretty

Content = put everything up there

Program = highlight my material

None of them are focused on the users.

What are the benefits of including usability in web design?

Success costs less - savings from internet transactions will never be realized unless sites are usable

If users can’t find it, it is not thereBad usability equals no customersUsable sites result in fewer customer

inquiries which equals less staff time


Usability techniques have been applied to the webDesigning Web Usability, Jakob

Nielsen, 2000Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug 2000Keith Instone’s Usableweb

(http://usableweb.com/)usability.gov many more in handout

Users loose patience with sites where the purpose of the site is not clear

The home page should clearly indicate what the site is about

Try to get the most important elements that convey the purpose in the top left section of the home page



Need for speedTraditional human factors research

shows users loose interest after 5 seconds

Due to slowness of the web, internet users are more patient - 15 seconds

Rule of thumb is to limit a page to 35 - 50 KB (Sum of all files that make up the page)

Tips for speeding up your site Graphics

Avoid unnecessary graphics particularly image maps

Reduce the number of colors

Use width and height specifications

Break up extremely large pages

Make database queries quick

Avoid Flash intros


Users read differently on the web Users scan content

In a study by Nielsen and Morkes - 79% of users tested always scanned new pages 16% read word-by-word

On screen reading is 25% slower than on paper


Writing for the web involves — “Chunking” Inverted pyramid style with the

conclusions first Meaningful subheadings and keywords Bulleted lists One idea per paragraph Half the word count than conventional

writing


To facilitate scanning, make sure the text is legible

Text and background must have high contrast

Avoid all caps

Avoid text that is too small


Terminology

Users have difficulty with technical or domain specific terms

Users are unsure of where categories may lead especially if they are “cutsey”

Users hate “marketese”


Users will scroll vertically

Need a reason to go down the page

The “fold” is not a constant

Users were just as likely to have their first click below the fold as above the fold


Users do not like to scroll horizontally Users expect all the content to be

displayed within the browser window Many web pages are designed for

larger monitors but not all users have large monitors

Many users choose not to maximize their browser window


To avoid horizontal scrolling, use resolution independent pages

Never specify tables, frames, or other design elements in fixed pixels - Use percentages

If you must specify some elements in fixed pixels, use a total width that will fit a small monitor - 640 X 480


Animation is uniformly annoying

Users will ignore animated objects thinking they are ads

Many users will scroll down to avoid animations

Some users turn off animation in their browsers


Organization

Users have no patience with disorganized sites

In the Breadth Vs. Depth Battle, users prefer breadth (few clicks to content)


Users need to know where they are, but seldom do

Users don’t have a perceived mental model like they do with software

Users tend to go forward, but the back button is the most frequently used navigation function

Using the same navigation on every page confuses people


Build navigation on user behavior

Never “break” the back button Avoid shell structures with generic

navigation on every page Differences in navigation based on

context are helpful as navigation needs to fit with content

Indications of where you are help


Crumbs are a very useful device to show users where they are

Home> Products >Publications> Order


Navigation bars

Users do better with navigation bars at the top or bottom rather than the side

Duplicated links on the left and bottom confuse people

Clues that you were on a particular page on the nav bar are very helpful

No more than 20% of the page on a destination page should be navigation


Other features cause users to get lost Inconsistent look and feel No way to get back to home Opening a new window

“breaks” the back button

Frames URL’s stop working Difficult to bookmark Can trap users within frameset


Pop-ups must die

Something users didn’t ask for

Usually ads

Break the back button


Other navigation devices

Users like Tables of Contents with sub-items to take them directly to content

Site maps are helpful but not as good a Tables on Contents

FAQs frustrate users seeking specific information


Links for navigation

The number of links is negatively correlated with success in finding information

Users try to rule out links that are not going the right place

Links with short titles do not work


Users want to know what they are going to get when they link 7 - 11 word descriptions are most useful

Anchors should be 3 - 4 words

Words must be informative to be useful Use words users know; avoid ambiguity Make the link and the destination title the

same


Graphics do not work well as links

No indication that they are links

Visited links do not change color

If they are buttons they may not be big enough for the user to determine they are links


Users get confused when link colors are not standard

Unvisited links should be blue

Visited links should be reddish or purple

Using standard colors means users don’t have to learn anything new


Embedded links are harder to follow than separate links Due to the way users scan the page

Use embedded links for contextual information rather than for navigation to information

Don’t underline nonlink material


Searching About one third of the users in UIE’s study

always went to the search facility

Users were often confused about what was covered by the search

Search results are often very confusing or lacked information to tell the user what the results linked to


To facilitate searching -

Put the scope of the search with the search window Offer users a way to narrow the search

Make sure that each html page is properly titled since that is what shows up in the search results

Compensate for user error


Reliability of information Users want too know who is presenting

information

Some users prefer to see the date of the last update

Reputation managers are contributing to ensuring the reliability of information(eBay, Epinions, Google, Go)


Accessibility is also a usability issue

Many users --

have disabilities

are from foreign countries

connect on slow modems or use older equipment and software


Accessible sites are “good business”Increase customer base

1 in 5 Americans have some disabilityMore expected as the country agesAvailable to all citizens

New technology will demand similar standardsWireless devices - phonesPDAs

Universally accessible sites --Do not use proprietary tagsProvide text only alternatives Include descriptions of all substantive graphicsProvide text descriptions of all audio and videoProvide alternatives to formsProvide downloadable files in formats most

visitors can use


Accessibility resourcesW3C Web Content Accessibility

Guidelines Access Board 508 siteUnified Web Site Accessibility

Guidelines - TRACE CenterGSA’s Universal Information Access on

the WWW


Date post:	22-Dec-2015
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