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Web Site Redesign: Perspectives from the Field What do they want? Usability Testing Robin Leech Head, Digital Initiatives LITA National Forum Cincinnati, OH October 16-19, 2008 Team composition • Usability Team – 4 library faculty – 1 staff • Web Re-design Team – 3 library faculty – 2 staff Charge to our Team • Begin conducting usability testing • Begin library home page redesign • Move library home page into university template Why should we test? • Learn how/why/where users become frustrated • “If you want a great site, you’ve got to test” (Steve Krug) • “Replaces opinion with usercentered data” (Beth Thomsett-Scott) Why Test? Library Strategic Goals • Goal Two: Library Services: continually refocus library services to meet the needs of our users – Objective 2.2: Develop a systematic and ongoing assessment of library services through user surveys, meetings with representative student and faculty groups, and analysis of use statistics. – Objective 2.4: Expand and improve Public Services to maximize use of resources and facilities, resulting in streamlined research and retrieval processes for library users. • IRB • Exploring the literature • Web log files • Exploring other sites • Staff surveys • Workshop attendance • Local workshop for library faculty/staff • Meetings, meetings, meetings Time Line Usability Testing: Tools Considered • Focus groups (students) • Survey (paper or verbal) • Heuristics (site analysis by experts) • Prototypes (paper mockups) • Usability walk-through • Server log analysis • Card sorting Tools Used by OSU • Library faculty/staff survey • Open card sorts • Focus groups • Recorded task tests Surveys • Survey Monkey – anonymous – 1 pre-survey – 1 post-survey Card Sorts • Advantages – – – – – Quick Inexpensive Very User Centered Simple Sets direction/focus Card Sorts • Disadvantages – Content focused – Shallow (not task driven) – Limited by users knowledge – Can be inconsistent – Analyzer bias Focus Groups • 2 undergrads, 2 grads, 1 faculty • Pizza & pop • 1 moderator, 1 note taker Focus Groups • Advantages – Stimulates discussion – Hear different viewpoints – Students eager to share opinion – Relatively inexpensive • Disadvantages – Best to have a trained facilitator – Group think – Qualitative data hard to organize Task Testing • 11 undergrads • One-on-one task testing • 8 questions • Alternatives to Morae (TechSmith) •Camtasia •Jing •Your own video camera Task Testing • Time to learn software • Recruiting students • Consent forms • Time to review videos Student task directory Morae Time line Student video Student Screen Things to Keep in Mind • Don’t take comments personally. • You can’t please everyone. • There’s no such thing as perfect. • It’s always a work in progress. Considerations • Accessibility • Administrative (support) • Time … time … time • Timing of re-design • Budget • Getting Volunteers Thanks & Good Luck!