Web Usability Blog

Think about user goals and put yourself in their shoes. Provide usable and useful content.

Glad to see that Jakob Nielsen has recently restated his position about how many users you need to test with in usability studies - the answer being 5.

We were testing a site the other day for a major retailer that didn't have many of the features that are now considered pretty standard for ecommerce sites. It was not clear what they sold, it had busy cluttered pages, you had to register, there was no persistent basket and much else.

Responsive design seems like a brilliant solution for coping with the rise in mobile users but what are its pros and cons, and what has to be considered to make it effective?

Web Usability  has recently been working with digital agency Front Page doing early stage prototype testing on some designs Front Page is developing for one of their travel industry clients. We tested flat images linked together with simple hotspots to create a browsing experience. A number of issues - both strategic and tactical - emerged which will inform the continuing development of the site. By testing at this early stage the client saved money because no coding had been done and avoided the problem of 'invested effort' where designers and clients had become so attached to the designs that there was resistance to change. And the changes will improve the user experience and increase conversion. So win-win all round!

Trenton Moss has posted an article Accessibility audit vs. accessibility testing on the e-consultancy site. This is a very interesting article and I agree with much of what Trenton has said. I would however, like to take issue with one or two points he makes. Trenton says "The Disability Rights Commission have consistently said that testing a website with real disabled users is the only [my italics] way to ensure it offers optimum accessibility - the PAS 78 document very strongly state that accessibility testing is the way to uncover all [my italics] accessibility issues..."

There was an interesting piece on the BBC's In Touch programme this week talking about Local Authority web sites getting worse, not better, for blind people to use. Julie Howell, who is on a British Standards Institute working party developing standards for accessible site development, commented:

I had an interesting telephone conversation with one of our clients recently about benchmarking their web site. They are a major government organisation and are redeveloping their website. They wanted to benchmark the site before and after the redevelopment. The main driver for the benchmarking seems to be to justify the expenditure on the redevelopment.

We have recently being doing some work with a number of university sites. We have been usability testing their sites and doing attitudinal research with users to understand better their goals and circumstances.