Usability

Derek Bridge

Department of Computer Science,
University College Cork

Usability

Aims:

• to learn how users read web pages
• to learn some usability principles
• to learn how to apply the principles
• to practise applying the principles

Consult a guru

Steve Krug: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (2nd edn.), New Riders Publishing, 2006

Krug's three laws of usability

1. Don't make me think!
2. It doesn't matter how many times I have to click, as long as each click is a mindless, unambiguous choice
3. Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left

Krug's three facts of life

• We don't read pages; we scan them
• We don't make optimal choices; we satisfice
• We don't figure things out; we muddle through

Krug's advice

• Create a clear visual hierarchy on each page
• Take advantage of conventions
• Break pages into clearly defined areas
• Make it obvious what's clickable
• Minimise noise

Decreasing goodwill

• Hiding information I want
• Punishing me for not doing things your way
• False sincerity
• Putting sizzle in my way
• Your site looks amateurish

Increasing goodwill

• Know the main things people want to do on your site and make them obvious and easy
• Tell me what I want to know
• Save me steps wherever you can
• Put effort into it
• Know what questions I'm likely to have, and answer them
• Provide creature comforts like printer-friendly pages
• Make it easy for me to recover from my mistakes
• When in doubt, apologise

Krug's questions to ask about navigation

• What site is this? (Site id)
• What page am I on? (Page name)
• What are the major sections of this site? (Permanent navigation)
• What are my options at this level? (Local navigation)
• Where am I in the scheme of things? (Menu highlighting; breadcrumbs)
• How can I...? (Utilities)

If your guesses don't check out or if you have to think, then Krug's advice has been violated

Krug's questions to ask about home pages

• What's the point of this site? (Site id, tagline, blurb,...)
• Where do I start? (Browsing and search)

Some web sites

• http://www.amazon.co.uk/
• http://www.rte.ie/
• http://www.eircome.ie/
• http://www.tcd.ie (main site and CS)
• http://www.ucc.ie (main site and Careers)

Consult a guru

Jakob Nielsen: useit.com

• Usability 101
• Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design
• How Users Read on the Web
• F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content
• Inverted Pyramids in Cyberspace

Consider http://www.cs.ucc.ie/ (Nutritional Science and Physics for prospective students)