Website Usability Testing Veronica Jones, MPH, CHES; Nicolé Mandel; and Jamie Steiger, MPH

Learning Objectives  At the end of this session, participants will be able to:  Describe the value of website usability testing  Explain the results of website usability testing  Implement website usability testing remotely by using Adobe Connect September AETC National Resource Center,

September AETC National Resource Center, Background  What is website usability testing?  Quality assurance strategy used to test how people really use a website  Why conduct website usability testing?  To ensure that your website is:  Easy to navigate  Relevant to your audience  Visually pleasing  To ensure that your website users are:  Able to complete tasks they came to the site to accomplish

Background (cont.)  How did the AETC NRC use website usability testing?  Implemented at in-person Advisory Committee Meeting in June 2011  Tested website design for navigation and look September AETC National Resource Center, Facilitators/ Observers ParticipantsData Collection Methods 6 AETC NRC staff 12 Advisory Committee Members Big 6 represented 4 regional AETC reps 3 LPS reps 3 national AETC reps 1 HRSA HAB rep 1 national professional organization rep 3 website tasks/participant 3 open-ended feedback questions 4 demographic questions

Background (cont.)  Timeline September AETC National Resource Center, Spring 2011June 2011 Summer 2011 Planning Develop goals Identify audience Develop methods Pilot test methods Adjust methods Arrange logistics Recruit participants Train facilitators Implementation Conduct testing Log data Enter data Data Analysis & Action Develop report Prioritize changes Implement changes Consider re-testing

Methods  Allotted ~ 20 minutes with each person  Started with explanation of process (1 min)  Assigned 3 tasks (10 min)  1 task for each major content area  Tasks meant to be typical, not exceptional  Tried to expose known weaknesses  Asked open-ended questions for general feedback (5 min)  Asked demographic questions (1 min) September AETC National Resource Center,

Tasks  Directory  Find the phone number for Barb Schechtman, the Director from MATEC  Find the name of the director for the Local Performance Site located in Cincinnati, Ohio  Training Program Resources  Find 3 resources for a “virtual” orientation packet for a new faculty member  Identify 2 ideas for making a presentation more interactive  Training & Clinician Support Tools  Find and download the Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in Adults and Adolescents: Training Slide Sets  Find items for background research for a presentation on HIV and hepatitis coinfection September AETC National Resource Center,

Training for Facilitators/Observers  In-person training held day before (1 hour)  Distributed usability testing guide  Reviewed implementation steps  Process  Logistics  Note-taking  Data entry  Conducted role plays  Allow time for facilitators/observers to practice— this is critical!! September AETC National Resource Center,

Implementation  Ideally, we would have had at least 2 people in each test session – 1 note taker and 1 question giver  We chose to combine the roles so we could include our entire Advisory Committee in a 1-hour time slot  We developed note-taking sheets for each task to facilitate the double duty September AETC National Resource Center,

Note-taking sheet  Staff marked the start and stop time per task  Common pathways pre-entered to save time (note takers can circle the path chosen)  3-point scale for ease of completion  Area to write notes or things the user said about the task September AETC National Resource Center,

Online Implementation September AETC National Resource Center,

Data Entry September AETC National Resource Center,  Created custom survey on NEC Survey Center to make it easy to compile responses

Data Entry (cont.) September AETC National Resource Center,

Report September AETC National Resource Center,

Lessons Learned: Website Improvements  Adding the names of states served by each region would be helpful to website users  User pathways varied for given tasks so resources should be linked under multiple navigation options  Clinician & trainer resources listed as most important website function 15 AETC National Resource Center, September 2011

Lessons Learned: Usability Testing Process  Engaging & efficient way to assess website functionality  Most participants were familiar with the site, time to complete tasks varied from a few seconds to 10 minutes  When participants were asked about the process: September AETC National Resource Center, “piece of cake” “better than I anticipated, more successful than my usual search” “it was good & very interesting”

Questions September AETC National Resource Center,

Helpful Resources on Usability Testing  useit.com: Jakob Nielsen's Website  HowTo.gov html  State of California Web Tools: Usability September AETC National Resource Center,

Follow the AETCs  Like the AETC NRC on FacebookAETC NRC on Facebook  Read our blog, ShareSpotShareSpot  blog.aidsetc.org September AETC National Resource Center,