1. Website usability Surprising findings from the research Bureau of Justice Statistics Marianne W. Zawitz

2. What is usability? “The measure of the quality of the user experience when interacting with something -- whether a traditional software application, or any other device the user can operate in some way or another.” Bureau of Justice Statistics Jakob Nielsen Devhead, www.zdnet.com, 9/29/98

3. Usability is measured by — Ease of learning Efficiency of use Memorability Error frequency and severity Subjective satisfaction Bureau of Justice Statistics

4. The usability profession — From cognitive psychology Focused on Human Computer Interface (HCI) Initial work was testing software interfaces Bureau of Justice Statistics

5. Most sites fail on usability Internally focused Mirror the organization structure Designed for the boss Do not involve users in development Bureau of Justice Statistics

6. Why do we have usability problems? Technical = make it work Artistic/graphics = make it pretty Content = put everything up there Program = highlight my material None of them are focused on the users.

7. What are the benefits of including usability in web design? Success costs less - savings from internet transactions will never be realized unless sites are usable If users can’t find it, it is not there Bad usability equals no customers Usable sites result in fewer customer inquiries which equals less staff time Bureau of Justice Statistics

8. Usability techniques have been applied to the web Designing Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen, 2000 Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug 2000 Keith Instone’s Usableweb (http://usableweb.com/) usability.gov many more in handout

9. Users loose patience with sites where the purpose of the site is not clear The home page should clearly indicate what the site is about Try to get the most important elements that convey the purpose in the top left section of the home page Bureau of Justice Statistics

10. Need for speed Traditional human factors research shows users loose interest after 5 seconds Due to slowness of the web, internet users are more patient - 15 seconds Rule of thumb is to limit a page to 35 - 50 KB (Sum of all files that make up the page)

11. Tips for speeding up your site Graphics  Avoid unnecessary graphics particularly image maps  Reduce the number of colors  Use width and height specifications Break up extremely large pages Make database queries quick Avoid Flash intros Bureau of Justice Statistics

12. Users read differently on the web Users scan content In a study by Nielsen and Morkes -  79% of users tested always scanned new pages  16% read word-by-word On screen reading is 25% slower than on paper Bureau of Justice Statistics

13. Writing for the web involves — “Chunking” Inverted pyramid style with the conclusions first Meaningful subheadings and keywords Bulleted lists One idea per paragraph Half the word count than conventional writing Bureau of Justice Statistics

14. To facilitate scanning, make sure the text is legible Text and background must have high contrast Avoid all caps Avoid text that is too small Bureau of Justice Statistics

15. Terminology Users have difficulty with technical or domain specific terms Users are unsure of where categories may lead especially if they are “cutsey” Users hate “marketese” Bureau of Justice Statistics

16. Users will scroll vertically Need a reason to go down the page The “fold” is not a constant Users were just as likely to have their first click below the fold as above the fold Bureau of Justice Statistics

17. Users do not like to scroll horizontally Users expect all the content to be displayed within the browser window Many web pages are designed for larger monitors but not all users have large monitors Many users choose not to maximize their browser window Bureau of Justice Statistics

18. To avoid horizontal scrolling, use resolution independent pages Never specify tables, frames, or other design elements in fixed pixels - Use percentages If you must specify some elements in fixed pixels, use a total width that will fit a small monitor - 640 X 480 Bureau of Justice Statistics

19. Animation is uniformly annoying Users will ignore animated objects thinking they are ads Many users will scroll down to avoid animations Some users turn off animation in their browsers Bureau of Justice Statistics

20. Organization Users have no patience with disorganized sites In the Breadth Vs. Depth Battle, users prefer breadth (few clicks to content) Bureau of Justice Statistics

21. Users need to know where they are, but seldom do Users don’t have a perceived mental model like they do with software Users tend to go forward, but the back button is the most frequently used navigation function Using the same navigation on every page confuses people Bureau of Justice Statistics

22. Build navigation on user behavior Never “break” the back button Avoid shell structures with generic navigation on every page Differences in navigation based on context are helpful as navigation needs to fit with content Indications of where you are help Bureau of Justice Statistics

23. Crumbs are a very useful device to show users where they are Home> Products >Publications> Order Bureau of Justice Statistics

24. Navigation bars Users do better with navigation bars at the top or bottom rather than the side Duplicated links on the left and bottom confuse people Clues that you were on a particular page on the nav bar are very helpful No more than 20% of the page on a destination page should be navigation Bureau of Justice Statistics

25. Other features cause users to get lost Inconsistent look and feel No way to get back to home Opening a new window  “breaks” the back button Frames  URL’s stop working  Difficult to bookmark  Can trap users within frameset Bureau of Justice Statistics

26. Pop-ups must die Something users didn’t ask for Usually ads Break the back button Bureau of Justice Statistics

27. Other navigation devices Users like Tables of Contents with sub- items to take them directly to content Site maps are helpful but not as good a Tables on Contents FAQs frustrate users seeking specific information Bureau of Justice Statistics

28. Links for navigation The number of links is negatively correlated with success in finding information Users try to rule out links that are not going the right place Links with short titles do not work Bureau of Justice Statistics

29. Users want to know what they are going to get when they link 7 - 11 word descriptions are most useful  Anchors should be 3 - 4 words Words must be informative to be useful Use words users know; avoid ambiguity Make the link and the destination title the same Bureau of Justice Statistics

30. Graphics do not work well as links No indication that they are links Visited links do not change color If they are buttons they may not be big enough for the user to determine they are links Bureau of Justice Statistics

31. Users get confused when link colors are not standard Unvisited links should be blue Visited links should be reddish or purple Using standard colors means users don’t have to learn anything new Bureau of Justice Statistics

32. Embedded links are harder to follow than separate links Due to the way users scan the page Use embedded links for contextual information rather than for navigation to information Don’t underline nonlink material Bureau of Justice Statistics

33. Searching About one third of the users in UIE’s study always went to the search facility Users were often confused about what was covered by the search Search results are often very confusing or lacked information to tell the user what the results linked to Bureau of Justice Statistics

34. To facilitate searching - Put the scope of the search with the search window Offer users a way to narrow the search Make sure that each html page is properly titled since that is what shows up in the search results Compensate for user error Bureau of Justice Statistics

35. Reliability of information Users want too know who is presenting information Some users prefer to see the date of the last update Reputation managers are contributing to ensuring the reliability of information (eBay, Epinions, Google, Go) Bureau of Justice Statistics

36. Accessibility is also a usability issue Many users -- have disabilities are from foreign countries connect on slow modems or use older equipment and software Bureau of Justice Statistics

37. Accessible sites are “good business” Increase customer base  1 in 5 Americans have some disability  More expected as the country ages  Available to all citizens New technology will demand similar standards  Wireless devices - phones  PDAs

38. Universally accessible sites -- Do not use proprietary tags Provide text only alternatives Include descriptions of all substantive graphics Provide text descriptions of all audio and video Provide alternatives to forms Provide downloadable files in formats most visitors can use Bureau of Justice Statistics

39. Accessibility resources W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Access Board 508 site Unified Web Site Accessibility Guidelines - TRACE Center GSA’s Universal Information Access on the WWW Bureau of Justice Statistics