Prioritizing Web Usability
Nielsen and Loranger
Chapter 3: Revisiting Early Web
Usability Findings
Paul Ammann
http://cs.gmu.edu/~pammann/
SWE 432
Design and Implementation of Software for the Web
Overview
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Eight Problems that Haven’t Changed
Technological Change: Its Impact on Usability
Adaptation: How Users Have Influenced Usability
Restraint: How Designers Have Alleviated Usability Problems
34 Usability Problems:
Improved vs. Irrelevant vs. More Important Than Ever
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Eight Problems That Haven’t Changed
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Links That Don’t Change Color When Visited
Breaking the Back Button
Opening New Browser Windows
Pop-Up Windows
Design Elements That Look Like Advertising
Violating Web-Wide Conventions
Vaporous Content and Empty Hype
Dense Content and Unscannable Text
Why Do We Still Do These Things?
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1: Links That Don’t Change Color
When Visited
• Users Need to Understand
– Where They Have Been
– Where They Are
– Where They Can Go
• Users Go in Circles If They Lose The Past
• 74% of Sites Comply With Guideline
– 26% Are Still Deficient!
• Exception: Command Oriented Functionality
– If Users Want To Repeat Actions, Links Can Stay The Same
Color
Support User’s Need To Be Oriented
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2: Breaking The Back Button
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“Undo” Support Is a Basic Usability Requirement
Repeated “Back” vs. Pull Down History List
Second Most Used Feature in Web Browsing
Benefits:
– Back is Always Available
– Recognition is Better than Recall
– The Back Button is a Large (and Fast) Target
• Ways to Break the Back Button
– Hiding the “Chrome”
– Opening a New Brower Window
– Redirects Embedded in Web Pages
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“Back” is the User’s Lifeline
© Offutt, 2001-2007
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3: Opening New Browser Windows
• Opening A New Window Breaks the Back Button
– But Doesn’t Effectively Trap Users On Your Site
• Multiple Windows Present Multiple Usability Problems
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Disrupts Expected User Experience
Pollutes User’s Work Space
Hampers Ability To Return To Visited Pages
Obscures Window User Is Working In
Can Make User Believe Links Are Inactive
• Users Can Always Right Click For A New Window
• Exception
– PDF and Similar Documents
Leave New Windows Up to the User
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© Offutt, 2001-2007
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4: Pop-Up Windows
• Consider Pop-Up Blockers
– A Clear Indication That Users Hate Pop-Ups
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Many Users Close Pop-Ups Before Seeing the Content
Closing a Pop-Up Invariably Requires The Mouse
Evil Pop-Ups Form The Vast Majority
Pop-Ups Are Especially Hard For Certain Users
Theoretical Legitimate Use For Pop-Ups
– Provide Supplementary Info While Keeping Workspace Clear
Don’t Use Them
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5: Design Elements That Look Like
Advertisements
• Users Automatically Filter Out Anything That Looks
Like An Ad
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Basic Self-Defense Mechanism
Includes Anything Shaped Like A Banner
Anything Flashing
Anything That is Too Big
• Users Usually Look For Text
– Because That’s Where Most Links Are
User Behavior Evolves As The Environment Changes
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6: Violating Web-Wide Conventions
• Users Spend Most Time On Other Web Sites
– Expectations For Your Site Set By Other Sites
• Example: Zinc Bistro
– Things That Look Clickable Should be Clickable
– Don’t Hide Links in Weird Places
User’s Don’t Care About You; They Want Your Data
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7: Vaporous Content and Empty Hype
• Basic Marketing
– Sell The Benefits, Not the Features
• Search Engine Optimization
– Concrete Text Leads To Better Rankings
• Example: Mont Blanc
Fluffy Language Drives Users Away AND Hides Your Site
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8: Dense Content and Unscannable Text
• Unpacking Dense Text is Hard Work
– Users are Lazy
• Government Sites Are Prime Offenders
– Example: Social Security Answer Desk
• Web Text Should be Short, Scannable, and
Approachable
– Write Half (or a Quarter) as Many Words For Web as for Print
This is Really Hard to Do, But it’s Important
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Technological Change: Its Impact on
Usability
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Slow Download Time
Frames
Flash
Low-Relevancy Search Listings
MultiMedia and Long Videos
Frozen Layouts
Cross Platform Incompatibility
Less Important Today Because of Better Browsers,
More Bandwidth, or Other Internet Technology
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Adaptation: How Users Have
Influenced Usability
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Uncertain Clickability
Links that Aren’t Blue
Scrolling
Registration
Complex URLs
Pull-Down and Cascading Menus
Less Important Today Because Users Know More
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Restraint: How Designers Have
Alleviated Usability Problems
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Plug-Ins and Bleeding Edge Technologies
3D User Interfaces
Bloated Design
Splash Pages
Moving Graphics and Scrolling Text
Custom GUI Widgets
Not Disclosing Who’s Behind Information
Web Designers Are Getting Smarter
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Restraint: How Designers Have
Alleviated Usability Problems (2)
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Made-Up Words
Outdated Content
Inconsistency Within a Web Site
Premature Requests for Personal Information
Multiple Sites
Orphan Pages
Web Designers Are Getting Smarter
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