COSC 231December 12 2011 Navigation, Forms, Usability

Usability

• Rule # 1 "don't make me think!"
  
  Bad signs:
  • Busy page, where do I start?
  • Why do they call it that?
  • Is that clickable?
  • Why is that section put there?
  • Are those two links the same thing or different?
  • Where am I?
• Example of search for a book: amazon.com
  Example of search for a book: mirlyn.lib.umich.edu
• government site: http://www.michigan.gov/ , http://www.berriencounty.org/, http://www.ewashtenaw.org/, http://www.uzbekistan.org/ http://www.gov.am/en/ http://www.armeniaemb.org/
• Example of university site: emich.edu, umich.edu, wccnet.edu, schoolcraft.edu, princeton.edu, cornell.edu, harvard.edu, mit.edu, brown.edu
• news sites: cnn.com, drudgereport.com, msnbc.com, foxnews.com
• How users act:
  • Users scan web pages -- they don't peruse them.
  • Users pick, what seems to them to be a reasonable (satisfactory) option
    they do not look for the best or the correct option.
  • CONSEQUENTLY, it's easy for users to get lost. So design the site so that
    users will make few suboptimal choices.
• Design Principles
  • Clear visual hierarchy:
    • Size
    • Related things are close together
    • Nest to show relationships
  • Use conventions! Conventions reduce the users' think time
  • Make clearly defined areas on a page (see noaa.gov vs michigan.gov)
  • Make the clickable obviously clickable. E.g., if your links are underlined,
    then don't underline anything else. E.g., make your buttons visually different from
    text fields.
  • Reduce busy-ness
  • Reduce background noise.
• Omit needless words.
  • No "happy talk" -- content-free filler intended to make the user feel warm and cozy.
  • Design the site to eliminate instructions! What to do next should be clear
    from convention and the choices the site offers.
• Steve Krug's Trunk Test:
  You've been blindfolded and locked in the trunk of a car, driven around for a while, then dumped on a page in the middle of a web site. A page is well designed if, after your blurry vision clears, you can answer these questions immediately:
  • What site is this?
  • What page am I on?
  • What are the major sections of this site?
  • What are my options at this level (local navigation)
  • Where am I ('you are here' indicators)
  • How can I search?