USABILITY & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Yinglong Zhang
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin
Usability
WHAT IS USABILITY?

A quality attribute relating to how
o How quickly to learn to use it ?
o How efficient to use it ?
o How memorable is it ?
o How error-prone is it ?
o How much users like to use it ?
easy something is to use.
WHAT IS USABILITY?
WHAT IS USABILITY?
 True usability is invisible.
 You can only measure how
unusable it is：
o how many problems？
o what the problems are and why？
WHEN SHOULD WE TAKE USABILITY TESTING?
 Iterative Design and Testing
WHEN USABILITY
MEETS INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
USABILITY & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
 Information Architecture
• assisting users to find what they look for.
 Usability in Information Architecture
• Testing “Findability”
HOW TO IMPROVE “FINDABILITY”
Navigation
and Menus
Links
Category
Names
Information
Structure
INFORMATION STRUCTURE
INFORMATION STRUCTURE
 We seek and Use Visual Structure
 Not scrutinize screens carefully;
 Scan quickly for relevant information;
 Put information in a terse, structured way.
Create a Clear Visual Hierarchy
Create a Clear Visual Hierarchy
Organize and prioritize the contents of a
page by using size, prominence, and
content relationships. Let’s look at these
relationships more closely. The more
important a headline is, the larger its font
size should be. Big bold headlines help to
grab the user’s attention as they scan the
Web page. The more important the
headline or content, the higher up the
page it should be placed. The most
important or popular content should
always be positioned prominently near the
top of the page, so users can view it
without having to scroll too far. Group
similar content types by displaying the
content in a similar visual style, or in a
clearly defined area.
Organize and prioritize the contents of a
page by using size, prominence, and
content relationships.
Let’s look at these relationships more closely:
•
Size. The more important a headline is, the
larger its font size should be. Big bold headlines
help to grab the user’s attention as they scan the
Web page.
•
Prominence. The more important the headline
or content, the higher up the page it should be
placed. The most important or popular content
should always be positioned prominently near the
top of the page, so users can view it without
having to scroll too far.
•
Content Relationships. Group similar
content types by displaying the content in a
similar visual style, or in a clearly defined area.
INFORMATION STRUCTURE
 Match the site structure to users’ expectation
The present
The past
The future
Users’
expectation
Did you spot the scissors ?
Is there a screwdriver in the toolbox ?
INFORMATION STRUCTURE
 How to match users’ expectation:
 Be consistent
 Understand the users’ goals
• Influence where users look;
• Sensitizing users’ perceptual system to certain features.
NAVIGATION AND MENUS
 Be consistent
 Perception biased by the past experience.
 Inconsistent navigations make users uncertain and hesitant;
 Good navigations are predicable and makes users confortable.
NAVIGATION AND MENUS
 Beware the coolness factors
 Navigation is a means to an end:
• Assist users to get the place where they need to be quickly;
• More efficient, more satisfied by users.
NAVIGATION AND MENUS
 Vertical Dropdown menus
and Multilevel menus:
 Short is sweat;
 Less is more.
 Why?
• The longer the menu list, the difficult to control
• With multilevel menus, users tend to drag their mouse
diagonally to get the sublevels
CATEGORY NAMES
 Be Specific
 Easily understand; reduce unnecessary complexity ;
 As brief and specific as possible;
LINKS
 Reduce clutter and
avoid redundancy
• Need effort to figure out
the difference between
links with similar names.
• fewer objects on the
page, the more likely to
be noticed.
LINKS
 Where to click?
 Blue, Blue, Blue!
• don’t use it for nonclick text.
 Graphical, Graphical, Graphical!
• It’s prone to be perceived clickable.
“Usability works because it reveals how the world works.
Once you discover how people interact with your design,
you can make it better than your competitor’s”
Prioritizing Web usability
References
Johnson, J. (2010). Designing With the Mind in Mind: Simple
Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Rules Morgan
Kaufmann, Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elsevier.
Nielsen, J. and H. Loranger (2006). Prioritizing Web usability.
Berkeley, Calif., New Riders.
Rubin, J. and D. Chisnell (2008). Handbook of usability testing
: how to plan, design, and conduct effective tests.
Indianapolis, IN, Wiley Pub.
THANKS
AND QUESTIONS