assessing usability on a budget
DESCRIPTION
Presentation: New Tools for Metrics and Measures, Computers in Libraries 2009TRANSCRIPT
New Tools for Metrics & Measures
Debbie Herman & Edward IglesiasCentral CT State University
Assessing Usability on a Budget
Definition of Usability
• Usability means that the people who use the product can do so quickly and easily to accomplish their own tasks. This definition rests on four points: (1) Usability means focusing on users; (2) people use products to be productive; (3) users are busy people trying to accomplish tasks; and (4) users decide when a product is easy to use. - Janice (Ginny) Redish and Joseph Dumas, A Practical Guide to Usability Testing, 1999, p. 4
Not to be confused with
• UX = the sum of a series of interactions– User experience (UX) represents the perception
left in someone’s mind following a series of interactions between people, devices, and events or any combination thereof. “Series” is the operative word.
Technologies Available
• Eye Tracking• Mouse Tracking• Heat Maps
What to use When
Eye Tracking
One Cheap Solution
Alternatives
Heat Map
Click Tracking
Usability Testing Software
• Silverback (Mac) - $50.00• Webinaria (Windows) – free• Morae (TechSmith/Windows) - $1,120.00
education• Camstudio (Windows) – Open Source
Testing Metalib with Silverback
Session Capture
Demonstration
What we changed…
• Submitted enhancement request for back button issue
• Changed “Results” to “Results List”• Enlarged text navigation typeface• Changed “My Research” to “My Folder”
Google Analytics
GA Visitor Segmentation
GA Observations
• Observation: “Find articles” pages are heavily trafficked, while the “Find” index page gets very little.
• Recommendation: Remove Find page link from homepage.
GA Observations
• Observation: Subject guides and tutorials get little use.
• Recommendation: More “point of need” placement. Perhaps not worth the effort to maintain?
GA Observations
• Observation: Second tier index pages aren’t used (Find, About, Help)
• Recommendation: Bring most popular destinations (catalog, databases, calendar, special collections) to the front.
Most of our users…
• Have high-speed internet connections• Use Windows w/ IE (89% on-campus and 80%
off-campus) • Have a screen resolution of 1024 x 768
(roughly 45%).
Redesign Prototype
Presentation Links
http://delicious.com/debbie.herman/cil2009