Web Presentation Guide 5.1
Usability
Action
Conduct a usability study before designing or redesigning a Web site.
Why
To gain an understanding of users' expectations in order to build Web sites that help users accomplish their tasks easily. If the usability of a Web site is not measured, and Web designers are not familiar with the user's needs, they end up designing for themselves or for other agency stakeholders.
What/How
When designing a Web site, you should:
- Identify primary users
- Identify your primary users, what they want to find, and how they look for it. If you have
several primary user groups, manage the scope by selecting one or two groups at a time for your usability study.
- Use analytics tools to look at current site statistics.
- Look at search logs for keywords and common terms.
- Conduct user interviews.
- Conduct Web surveys.
- Review customer feedback from email messages, call center tracking statistics, or site help information.
- Identify and document primary site users and their primary tasks.
- Involve stakeholders and management in order to gain agreement on which groups are the primary users of your Web
site, and establish business goals for improving the site.
- Conduct a usability study before you start to build a site.
- Involve users early in the process to avoid setting false expectations.
- Consider the tasks that your primary users typically perform, and the navigation paths they use when they visit your
site.
- Develop prototypes that can easily be modified based on user testing. Examples are: hand drawn sketches, simple HTML or
PowerPoint screens.
- Don't act upon each and every user suggestion. Instead, look for trends.
- Conduct iterative testing by revising your design based on user feedback, adding more detail, and testing again.
- Conduct iterative testing. Revise your design based on user feedback. Add more detail and test again.
- Conduct studies with people who match the profiles of your primary users.
- Create tasks that represent what primary users really want to do.
- Ask representative users to think out loud while performing tasks.
- Collect data on users' experiences with the Web site. Include:
- What they say: Record what they say as they are working on tasks. Listen to their language to identify
words you may have used in the design that they may struggle with.
- What they do: Calculate how long it takes users to complete a task, whether they can they find what they
need, and where they look for the information.
- Use data to determine what works and does not work for users. Look at each task and look for trends across all
users.
- Capture users' language and keywords.
- Become familiar with different methods for understanding users. Determine which method fits your needs. Review the
methods table on usability.net for more detail.
- Provide ways for users to get the help they need, in the form of online help, email, and phone contact.
- Usability is an iterative process. You will achieve success by involving users early in the process, making changes
based on user feedback and testing again.
- Continue usability studies during the design process and throughout the life of the
Web site.
Alternatives to formal usability testing
- There are several ways to create sites that are usable when a full-scale usability study is not feasible. See the
Usability resources table below for more information.
- No-cost/low-cost methods for usability include:
- Having an expert do a usability review of your site.
- Testing by phone instead of in person.
- Getting outside perspectives from individuals who are not on your Web team or in your agency.
- Starting small. Manage scope by choosing one section of your site to look at - either the home page, or a
sub-site.
Checklist: Usability
Resources
Related guide topics