CM143 Web Week 9 Usability

Usability – why is it important? Ubiquity of the web (Everywhere at once) Main tools of ubiquity: – Rise in computer ownership – Pervasive computing outside the standard pc netbooks Wap/mobile browsers internet fridges! – Web browser diversity and customisation – Application-Web integration (iTunes) – Continued digitization of culture (Digital TV, Digital Radio, music industry moving online)

Web interfaces abound Web Systems replace other systems to become the common interface for communication, business, leisure... – Online banking – Visiting the library – Buying cinema tickets Older, dedicated, computer systems (bank machines / ticket ordering systems) fall out of use.

State of the web WWW now: – Millions of users – International / Multicultural – Billions of web pages – Tens of thousands of page designers and authors Usability in design matters!

The Usability Challenge Early computing fitted the user to the interface Usability-led design fits the interface to the user Problems: – No international standard for the web interface (every page is different) – Poor designer education – Easy to (mis)use software – Cultural misunderstandings – Diversity of users and uses

Culture and Convention Conventions are cultural constraints. They are initially arbitrary, but evolve and become accepted over time. They can however still vary enormously across different cultures, for example: – Light switches: America down is off, Ireland down is on – Water taps: America anti-clockwise is on, Britain anti-clockwise is off – The colour red: Ireland = danger Egypt = death India = life China = happiness

The Case for Usability 1. Economic: Increased likelihood of customers completing a transaction online Increased customer retention and satisfaction Reduced costs associated with redesign, development and maintenance Reduced costs associated with support, documentation, and training

The Case for Usability 2. Competetive Unlike ‘real-world’ shopping, where switching between suppliers is a matter of considerable effort, in e-commerce: – Competitive sites are just a few clicks away - for a customer who is having a negative experience with a site. Customer experience is a key differentiator for business-to-consumer (B2C) sites. Research shows that a negative experience with an e-commerce site means a loss of an individual customer forever.

The Case for Usability 3. Legal and Ethical Disability discrimination Act Equality of access Discrimination (unintentional perhaps) against demographics (foreign nationals, visually impaired, etc) Simply : not polite!

All of the following can have an effect on the way a person interacts with a system: Age Gender Culture Experience with computers Work or leisure contexts Level of stress Disability

Intuition Your intuition may not be the best guide! Any intuition is based on personal experience. – Your experience is really tiny when compared to whole world of experiences. – Fallacy #1 "I do it this way“ – Fallacy #2 "My mom does it that way " Deep truth 1: you are statistically insignificant Deep truth 2: your a couple of sigma away from the norm

Approaching the design User centred design questions: What do users want to do with this site? How can I make this site easier to use? How do I balance aesthetics and access? How do I make the site usable by the widest number of people? Have I built in a redesign process based on user feedback?