Designing Usability Tests to Solve Common Problems
1 like215 views
The session focused on usability testing best practices to address common web experience challenges encountered during a redevelopment project at the University of London. Key topics included user research, content governance, and the development of a Drupal 8 web platform to enhance user engagement, resulting in a 75% increase in course-related visits. The session also emphasized principles of good usability, prototyping, and various testing methods to ensure an effective user experience.
Designing Usability Tests to Solve Common Problems
- 2. Designing Usability Tests to Solve Common Problems Melanie Read, Head of Digital, University of London Marie Kitney, Head of Client Services, Numiko IWMW 2018 11 July 2018 london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 3. Outline of the session In this session we will: • Share experiences about our redevelopment project • Share some usability best practice we’ve learnt along the way • Work together to think about common usability problems we all encounter • Start to develop ideas around usability testing london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 4. Welcomes and world’s worst… • Talk through in your pairs/groups about the worlds worse website experience • Identify why it was so bad? • What they could have done to make it better? london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 5. The brief More training/guidance on how to use the search on SharePoint would also be helpful for users. • Raise the profile of the University of London both in the UK and overseas • Attract students and build a lifelong relationship with the University • Promote the research outputs and to attract and retain excellent talent to the SAS research institutes • Focus on recruitment to address the ever increasingly competitive distance learning market • Reduce the 100+ websites the University currently has, which are a result of departments having their own sites, starting the journey of moving to one website. london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 6. “Deliver a world class user experience to 180 countries” london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 8. What we did • Analysis of existing web properties • Stakeholder engagement up to VC level • User research • Digital brand • IA development for a unified site • Content migration planning • Content governance and workflow • Drupal 8 development • ATLAS integration • Modular pattern library • Faceted Course Search using Solr london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 12. The results • Courses are the second most visited page after the homepage • Up 75% visits compared to the previous year • Of the top 50 pages, visited 45 pages are about courses or courses related material london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 13. The results • A Drupal 8 based web publishing platform to bring in 100’s of microsites within London.ac.uk. • Federated content ownership with consistent technical governance. london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 14. …but it wasn’t all plain sailing! • The project presented a number of usability challenges • Combining content from 2 websites • Combining 3 modes of study into a single course search • Various edge cases e.g. study with distance learning but with LTI support • User journey of selecting course modules • Showcasing global reach with local support london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 15. Example persona(s) • User 1: I live in the UK and want to study at a University in London • User 2: I live in Singapore and I want to study with some local support • User 3: I live in the UK and I want to study independently • User 4: I live in China and I want to study independently • User 5: I live in Egypt and I want to study at a University in London • User 6: I don't yet know how or where I want to study • User 7: I live in China and want to move to Paris to study on campus • …and many more! london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 17. Discuss usability problems that your institutions face • Share with group – are there commonalities? • Are there outliers? • Does anyone have any insights to share in how they’ve overcome similar? london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 18. Principles of good usability london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 19. What is usability? “Usability is the extent to which an interactive system can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.” • Effectiveness = goal completion • Efficiency = effort/ cognitive load/ time • Satisfaction = “free from discomfort london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 20. Example https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/the-full-list-of-yorkshire-road- closures-during-the-tour-de-yorkshire-1-9143881 Difference between usability and user experience • Before use • During use (usability) • After use london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 21. Prototypes & Usability Tests Prototypes serve as basis for: • Internal design reviews • Primitive usability testing Usability tests can be: • Face-to-face: ideal for touch devices. Recruit and incentivise through social media • Remote: moderated sessions via Hotjar or good old phone + conferencing software. Context of use (natural habitat) is best • Unattended: avoid those who work in marketing as well as your peers/ colleagues london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 22. Some Useful Tools Prototypes Paper, PowerPoint, Axure, InDesign Usability Testing Treejack Hotjar Silverback Google Optimize Visual Web Optimizer (VWO) for A/B testing Conferencing/ screen-sharing tools such as Skype and Join.me www.whatusersdo.com
- 23. Things to consider • The master-apprentice model • Open vs closed questions • Avoid leading questions, aim to be neutral • Don’t be too rigid – follow the user • Make sure user requirements are well articulated first, as these are the yardstick by which to measure usability later london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 24. Jakob’s Law “Users spend most of their time on other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.” - Jakob Nielson. london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 25. Design Patterns • We used these to solve common recurring problems and to reduce cognitive load london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 27. Design a usability test • Select a few of the more common problems we discussed earlier • Draft some tests to assess usability • Assume it’s a face-to-face usability interview • Remember, usability = effectiveness, efficiency, satisfaction • Open/ closed questions, leading/ neutral questions london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 29. Heuristics Heuristics are generally recognised rules of thumb that help achieve usability. Some examples: • Visibility of system status – keep users informed through feedback • Match between system and the real world – speak users’ language • User control and freedom – e.g. undo/ redo • Consistency and standards – follow platform conventions • Error prevention – e.g. passwords must contain at least 8 characters Conduct an heuristic evaluation yourself if you can’t get in front of users. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten- usability-heuristics/ london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 30. Seven dialogue principles These are highly generalised goals for good usability: • Suitability for the task • Self-descriptiveness • Conformity with user expectations • Suitability for learning • Controllability • Error tolerance • Suitability for individualisation london.ac.uk numiko.com
- 31. System Usability Scale (to measure satisfaction) • I think that I would like to use this system frequently • I found the system unnecessarily complex • I thought the system was easy to use • I think that I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system • I found the various functions in this system were well integrated • I thought there was too much inconsistency in this system • I would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly • I found the system very cumbersome to use • I felt very confident using the system • I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this system https://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/system-usability-scale.html Strongly agree – Strongly disagree. london.ac.uk numiko.com