WEBSITE GOALS AND USABILITY STUDY Explore the following websites. Discuss in your groups – what might be 3 main user goals. Write them down here. http://www.auspods.com.au/ 1. To get a quote for price comparison 2. To book their services (storage, moving, etc.) 3. To be informed of the quality of their services. https://mona.net.au/ 1. To buy tickets for the museum. 2. To give visitors information about the museum. 3. To check what kind of exhibitions they’re offering. http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/ 1. To buy venue tickets. 2. To browse event information 3. To buy gift cards. ADV205 Designing User Experience_Week_01_Seminar Activity 1 Engage Users with Task Scenarios Once you’ve figured out what the users' goals are, you need to formulate task scenarios that are appropriate for usability testing. A task scenario is the action that you ask the participant to take on the tested interface. For example, a task scenario could be: You're planning a vacation to Singapore, May 3 − May 14. You need to buy both airfare and organize a hotel. Go to the Qantas website and Flight Centre site and see who has the best deals. Task scenarios need to provide context so users engage with the interface and pretend to perform business or personal tasks as if they were at home or in the office. Poorly written task often focus too much on forcing users to interact with a specific feature, rather than seeing if and how the user chooses to use the interface. A scenario puts the task into context, and, thus, hopefully motivates the participant. The following 3 task-writing tips will improve the outcome of your usability studies. (1) Make the Task Realistic User goal: Browse product offerings and purchase an item. Poor task: Purchase a pair of purple Adidas running shoes. Better task: Buy a pair of shoes for under $80. ADV205 Designing User Experience_Week_01_Seminar Activity 2 Asking a participant to do something that he wouldn’t normally do will make him try to complete the task without really engaging with the interface. Poorly written tasks make it harder for participants to suspend disbelief about actually owning the task. In the example the participant should have the freedom to compare products based on his own criteria. (2) Make the Task Actionable User goal: Find movie and show times. Poor task: You want to see a movie Sunday afternoon. Go to www.hoyts.com.au and tell me where you’d click next. Better task: Use www.hoyts.com.au to find a movie you’d be interested in seeing on Sunday afternoon. It’s best to ask the user to do the action, rather than asking them how she would do it. If you ask “How would you find a way to do X?” or “Tell me how you would do Y” the participant is likely to answer in words, not actions. (3) Avoid Clues and Describing the Steps User goal: Look up grades. Poor task: You want to see the results of your 2016 units. Go to the website, sign in, and tell me where you would click to get your transcript. Better task: Look up the results of your 2016 units. Step descriptions often contain hidden clues as to how to use the interface. For example, if you tell someone to click on Benefits in the main menu, you won’t learn if that menu label is meaningful to her. These tasks bias users’ behavior and give you less useful results. ADV205 Designing User Experience_Week_01_Seminar Activity 3 So with this information develop 1 task for each site you could ask a user to achieve. List them here: http://www.auspods.com.au/ 1 Task: Find out if AusPods operate in regional Victoria. https://mona.net.au/ 1 Task: Find Mona’s phone number to book a ticket over the phone. http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/ 1 Task: Find a concert to go to in April 2024. When you have finished – Give your activity a unique name and upload this report to the discussions area on the cloud. Report back to the group to see what other teams came up with. ADV205 Designing User Experience_Week_01_Seminar Activity 4
