The participants in the last round of usability surveys that I performed identified a problem with the ‘Page Settings’ option, saying that it was complicated and confusing. So I had to find a s

I couldn’t just remove it from the navigation menu or rename it, so I decided I’d just add text to the Admin page describing what the Page Settings option does.

The administration page (shown when the admin user fist logs into the site) now looks like:

The explanation I’ve added, as well as the explanation given on the ‘Page Settings’ screen should clear up any areas of confusion for this option.

Note: I’ve included the participants signatures as part of assignment 3.

In this survey the participant told me more by discussion than wrote on his answer sheet. He’s had no experience with Joomla, WordPress, Drupal or any other CMS and therefore was the perfect candidate for my survey.

In the likes/dislikes section he commented that the navigation looked good, but the colours looked tacky (this is a comment of personal preference which doesn’t affect the usability of the site).

When asked how he’d improve the layout, the participant didn’t comment any further on the colours, but did suggest making the content box wider (again I think this is a personal preference issue rather than anything else).

Navigation was said to be easy because of the consistent placement of links, and the administration page is simple, yet effectively explains the features of the site.

When asked to list the features of the CMS, the participant noted the ability to Add/Edit/Delete both pages and posts and said he could access these features quite easily.

There were no features of the CMS that he wouldn’t use, but he would add a help section because the ‘Page Settings’ wasn’t clear enough.

This participant’s answers were almost identical to the ones given by previous participant. He found navigation easy, was able to identify the main functions of the CMS and said that there were no features he would not use.

He liked the overall layout, but did not like the navigation being in the header. Also, like the other participant, he was confused by the ‘Page Settings’ option and said that he wasn’t sure exactly what it did.

OVERALL RESULTS DISCUSSION

Both users commented that although the layout was simple, the navigation was uncomplicated, the CMS features were easily identified and there was nothing unnecessary included, the ‘Page Settings’ option was a point of confusion.

]]> http://aciftcio.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/usability-testing-my-final-design/feed/ 0 aciftcio http://aciftcio.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/assignment-3-final-website-documentation-part-ii/ http://aciftcio.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/assignment-3-final-website-documentation-part-ii/#comments Thu, 29 May 2008 07:44:11 +0000 aciftcio http://aciftcio.wordpress.com/?p=33 ]]> SCREEN DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Here are the colour screens I promised

Home

Admin

Once the administrator has logged in, pages will look similar to the following (with the admin navigation on every page)

Make Post

The ‘Make Post’ function of the CMS is shown above, pretty self explanatory in my opinion.

Delete Post

The ‘Delete Post’ option shown above allows the user to delete a post by clicking the ‘Delete’ button The ‘Edit Post’ function, mentioned above has a similar screen that allows the user to select the post they want to edit before they are presented with a screen similar to the one on the previous page.

Also, the ‘Delete Page’ function displays a screen almost identical to the ‘Delete Post’ screen (above) and therefore I will not show a screen of that function.

Add Page

Page Settings

The ‘Page Settings’ function (shown above) allows the user to change the title of pages and the navigation order, as well as allowing users to add an image gallery to a page (images are retrieved from directories on the web server and presented as a gallery)

The above screen looks a little more complicated that I would have liked, although the text explanation provided should make it easy enough for users to understand how things work.

Example of a page with an image gallery

The results are below (with the persons name blacked out) when submitting as part of assignment 3 I will provide signature from people surveyed as proof that that I did actually survey people.

I’ll post color versions of the screens for various pages later, but you get the basic idea.

OK, move on to the navigation structure:

In the three usability tests I conducted, users commented that some features in the 3 content management systems looked at were hidden, or not linked to directly. As a result I decided that I’d use a web style navigation structure where all pages contain links to all other pages.

The admin navigation structure is shown below:

I also decided (actually I was asked by person I’m creating the site for) to use the same style navigation for the sites pages.

Below is a diagram of the proposed navigation structure (the image is really hard to understand with arrows going everywhere, but when implemented, navigation is quite simple)

The implementations are shown below:

Admin Navigation:

Site Navigation:

Below are the results from my usability tests (this post was submitted as part of assignment 2)

My Pre-Test Thoughts

Before conducting the tests I was thinking that at least one of the three users tested would be able to complete all four tasks on each of the sites/systems being tested.

I was also of the opinion that WordPress would be the easiest to use, followed by Drupal and finally Joomla.

The Tests

Note: Although all participants agreed to be recorded, they asked that their names not be used and therefore I have not used participant’s names in this document or on test videos.

[TEST 1]

Notes on WordPress:

The User was able to create/add a post to the front page with no problems

Although the user was able to find the feature/option used to add links, she got lost and confused on the ‘Add Link’ page and was not able to figure out how to add a link

The user was not able to make the connection between the ‘Write Post’ and ‘Write Page’ features of WordPress, and assumed that filling in the about myself section of the profile would create an ‘About Me’ page

User was able to change theme with no problems

Notes on Drupal:

User couldn’t post on front page

User couldn’t add a link to the menu

The user knew she needed to go to the content section of the administration panel but had no idea what to do after that

While the user knew which section to go to in order to change the theme, and she did tick to enable a different theme, she did not realise she had to select the default in order for the theme to be activated

Notes on Joomla:

While the user knew she had to go to the ‘add content’ option she did not realise that selecting a section was mandatory or that the ‘Show on Front Page’ option has to be selected in order for the content to appear on the front page. Also, the user clicked cancel and therefore on content was added

The user was unable to add a link and was basically clicking around blindly before asking to move on

User was unable to add the about me page

User was unable to change the page theme

My thoughts on test 1

User said she had the same degree of difficulty with all three systems, however it is clear that Word Press was easiest to use for her as she was able to complete two out of the four tasks on this system.

[TEST 2]

Notes on WordPress:

User was able to write a post with no problems (this user scanned through the top menu bar as opposed to clicking on the write a post link)

Again the user had no trouble adding a link, but wasn’t sure about what to do for the options underneath the Link relationship heading

The user was able to add the about me page without any problems and made the connection between the ‘Write Post’ and ‘Write Page’ functions with no problems.

The user was able to change the page theme with no problems

Notes on Drupal:

Although the user was heading in the right direction with content management he was unable to add content to the front page

The user was looking for a ‘Link’ button or something similar to what we saw in wordpress, but was not able to add a link

Again, the user was heading in the right direction with ‘Content Management’ but was not able to add the ‘About Me’ page

The user found the themes option and was able to enable the new theme on the 2^nd attempt (did not select the default option the first time around)

Notes on Joomla:

User headed in the right direction to add to the front page by clicking on the “Add Content” option, but did not realize immediately that section was a requirement. Also, the user did not tick the “Show on Front Page” option

User was unable to add a link and wasn’t really sure what to do.

Again the user was headed in the right direction with the “Add Content” option but had no idea how to make that into a page

User was not able to change page theme

User said that WordPress was easiest to use as the options where clearer and better structured and that he found both Drupal and Joomla quite confusing

My thoughts on test 2

As the user said WordPress was clearly the easiest for him to use as he completed all four tasks with little or no problems.

[TEST 3]

Notes on WordPress:

Despite first saying he had no idea what to do; the used clicked on the ‘Write Post’ option and was able to add to the front page.

The user was able to add a link to the site with no problem

It took a bit of time, but the user was eventually able to find the ‘Write Page’ function and create the ‘About Me’ page.

(Note here that the users post on the page was totally made up – including the name used – also, I made an error here as I didn’t delete the about me page from the previous test and therefore both pages were there)

The user was able to change the page theme without any problems

Notes on Drupal:

User was unable to add content to the front page

The user headed to the right area when wanting to add a link, and tried to add a link to ‘Secondary Links’

(I made the mistake here of answering the user’s question when he asked if path: related to www. But I don’t think it had any outcome on the final result of the task)

The user was unable to add an about me page

The user was able to change the site style/theme without any problems

Notes on Joomla:

The user found the Joomla administration panel confusing and had no idea how to add content to the front page

User had no idea how to add a link and was just clicking around blindly.

They user had the right idea with the “Add Content” option, but added to the front page instead of creating a separate page

User was unable to change the page theme.

The user said that WordPress was by far the easiest to use and that the both Joomla and Drupal were confusing and hard to understand

My thoughts on test 3

As the user said WordPress was clearly the easiest for him to use as he completed all four tasks with little or no problems.

My Post-Test Thoughts

After completing the tests, I was glad to see that my prediction of WordPress being the easiest to use of the three systems was spot on as 2 of the 3 users were able to complete all four tasks for WordPress.

With not 1 of the 3 user able all four task for all three systems, the tests have proved the point I made in my first assignment about CMS systems these day being too complicated for novice/inexperienced users to use when all they want is a simple website.

Before I created a testing script, I had to decide on the tasks that my participants would be performing. I came up with the following:

1.       Post something on the front page of the site

2.       Add a link to the site’s menu

3.       Add a page to the site

4.       Change the sites look and feel/style/theme

The Script

Below is a copy of the testing script I’ll be using when I conduct my usability testing

Hi, _______. My name is Adem, and I’m going to be walking you through this session.

Firstly, let me explain why I’ve asked you to come here today:

We’re testing a group of websites to see what there like for actual people to use.

I want to make it clear right away that we’re testing the sites, not you. You can’t do anything wrong here so you don’t have to worry about making mistakes.

I want to hear exactly what you think, don’t worry about hurting my feelings. I didn’t create the sites/systems you’re going to look at.

I want to improve them, so I need to know honestly what you think.

As we go along, I’m going to ask you to think out loud, to tell me what’s going through your mind.

If you have questions, just ask. I may not be able to answer them right away, since we’re interested in how people do when they don’t have someone sitting next to them, but I will try to answer any questions you still have when we’re done.

You may have noticed the microphone, and there is a screen recorder running in the background. With your permission, I’d like to record what happens on the computer screen and what you have to say. The recording will be used only to help me figure out how to improve the sites, and it won’t be seen by anyone except the people working on the project. It also helps me, because I don’t have to take as many notes.

Do I have permission to record you, in this session?

Do you have any questions before we begin?

Before we look at the site, I’d like to ask you just a few quick questions. First, what’s your occupation?

Good. Now, roughly how many hours a week would you say you spend using the Internet, including email?

How do you spend that time? What sort of things do you do?

Do you have any favourite Web sites?

OK, great. We’re done with the questions, and we can start looking at things.

[TASK 1]

Can you think of something you might want to post on the Front Page if this was your website?

Ok, so if you were going to post something on the front page, without clicking anything can you tell me what you would do first?

Why don’t you go ahead and do it?

[TASK 2]

Now, let’s say you wanted to add a link to http://google.com to the site’s menu, how do you think you would do that?

OK, go ahead

[TASK 3]

You are the owner/author of this website and you’d like the visitors a bit about yourself.

How would you go about creating an “About Me” page for this website?

Can you please go ahead and create this page?

[TASK 4]

Again, imagine that this is your own personal website, and it’s been online for around 18 months. You’ve recently decided that want to change the look/design of the site.

Can you explain how you would do this?

OK, please go ahead and change the site design.

Now, having looked at all three sites/systems which one do you think was easiest to use and why?

Do you have anything to add before we finish?

Thank you for your time/participation

So, the first order of business was deciding what sort of test I wanted to perform. Did I want users just to look at the sites and tell me what they thought, or did I want them to perform some basic tasks?

The task based test seemed more appropriate, as it would allow me to find out just how user friendly the three content management systems I discussed in my first assignment are.

In the next post I’ll put up a copy of my script and the tasks I’ll ask the users to perform.

Getting to the point, I’d hit the ‘Save’ button instead of the ‘Publish’ button and in the process I’d made a mistake that I’d expect an inexpedienced user to make.

Anyway, I’ve fixed the problem now, so all my previous post should now appear under this one.