Introduction to Web Authoring Ellen Cushman cushmane @msu.edu Class mtg. #15 www.msu.edu/~cushmane/wra210.htm www.msu.edu/~cushmane/wa2.htm

Web Tech UA Schedule Dates of interest for the UA project: 2/11 - Introduction to assignment #3 & Teams 2/13 - UA Background & Principles 2/18 - Semantic Principles of User Assistance 2/21 - UA Storyboard 2/25 - UA Walkthrough 2/27 - Workshop Dreamweaver: CSS 3/3-3/5 - Spring Break 03/10 –Workshop:Dreamweaver CSS 03/12– Workshop:User Feedback & Revision Plans 03/17 – Final Versions Posted

Today’s Agenda | Next Class Finalize site architecture and content for team site Review another team’s site. Post your individual review findings in a ppt on your personal page. Devise team revision plan Turn in projects Introduction to next project Select teams Brainstorm project ideas

Situation You run a usability center and your team has just been asked to consult with a web developer. As part of your consultation, you are assigned individual roles for your review. You go onsite to do the review, then come together to present a usability report to the web development team.

Usability Team Review Instructions Please assign one of three roles to your team members. User tester Content editor Design reviewer Review another team’s Web tech UA site according to your role. Present findings and post these on your site.

User Tester Go through the team’s site and try to accomplish the task they’re asking: Test every link and point to ones that are broken and note where & on what pages. How well do wayfinding links (e.g. back links, breadcrumbs, next and previous carrots,etc) and other indicators help you journey? Suggest revisions. How well do menu items indicate where they will take you? Suggest revisions. Test every link and point to ones that are broken and note where & on what pages. Sidebar Menu- Sample Tags… Takes you to the History section. Wendys Name at the top of the page does not take you to her personal page How well do wayfinding links (e.g. back links, breadcrumbs, next and previous carrots,etc) and other indicators help you journey? Suggest revisions. These wayfinding links seem to be just fine. You may want to make it more literal what the person is actually clicking on. When it says copyright history, what does this have to do with the rest of the tutorial? Things along those lines, like telling the user why they are hearing about certain things. How well do menu items indicate where they will take you? Suggest revisions. The menu items indicate where they are taking you very well. Like I said in the previous question, it might be helpful to say why they are going to these places. Help explain to the user why they are hearing about copyright history and things like that

User Tester, 2 Go through the team’s site and try to accomplish the task they’re asking: 3. How well did the steps anticipate the order you expected. If your expectations were frustrated, note where, how, and suggest revisions.s 4. How well were you able to accomplish the tasks? Suggest revisions. 5. How well does the site work in terms of navigation overall? Suggest revisions and note strengths. How well did the steps anticipate the order you expected. If your expectations were frustrated, note where, how, and suggest revisions. In Step 2 it says, use the eyedropper tool to fill in the background color. This needs to be shown in a picture or be told in a better way how to do so. Also during this part, when I go to fill in the background, it only fills in portions of that part of the picture. Maybe have a part in this step that says, if only part of your picture is being filled in….. Then do this….. Also in step 3 when you tell the person to drag the picture you highlighted with the magic wand onto the other picture, you need to make sure you tell them to just highlight the thing you want on the other image, not part of the background. Because when I did this, part of my background of the other image was pulled on as well. How well were you able to accomplish the tasks? Suggest revisions. I was able to accomplish the tasks pretty easily with a couple glitches. I think that with just revising some of the above statements and in the last couple questions, you will be completely ready to go. How well does the site work in terms of navigation overall? Suggest revisions and note strengths. This site works very well in terms of navigation overall. Maybe in the steps you can say Step 1- Preparing your image, or whatever title you want to call it, in the actual button to push for step 1. This way the person knows what they are clicking on before they even go there. You do have strengths definitely in your screenshots. I love how easy it is to see what the user is suppose to be looking at and where they are suppose to go.

Content Editor Go through the team’s site and try to accomplish the task they’re asking: How well did the writers provide you with conceptual and procedural information? Suggest revisions to pages. How fluid was the writing? Note those places where sentences confused you, editorial mistakes caught your attention, or wording was confusing. Suggest revisions.

Content Editor, 2 3. How well did their introduction provide you with an audience, purpose, outcome, and situation for this task? Suggest revisions. How well did the concluding step provide feedback for the desired outcome? Suggest revisions. How well did the site troubleshoot problems you may have had in completing the task? Suggest revisions. What are the strengths of their work?

Design Reviewer Go through the team’s site and try to accomplish the task they’re asking: How well did the image(s) fit rhetorically with the theme or content of the site? How well did the organization of the site work to facilitate your completion of the task?

Design Reviewer, 2 3. Check this site across platforms (Mac & PC) and through three different browsers (e.g. IE, Safari, Firefox). How accessible and consistent was the site design? 4. How well did the CSS chosen facilitate your completion of the task? Were there ghost elements on the page (elements not used that should have been deleted)? Suggest revisions.

Homework Download this power point, complete the questions in the notes section according to your role, save it, upload it to your afs space, and link to it off your personal pages. Present your findings to the group you reviewed.