Working title: CG Idlers Museum Site
Author: Edward K. Beale [edbealesdsu@rezonate.com]
Date: August 1st, 2006 (Due 8/18/06)
Course: EDTEC 541, Summer 2006, Online SectionSubjects:
I interviewed a Monster Cable corporate trainer, a music studio recording engineer, an airport manager, and a master finish carpenter. All users were relatively skillful using a web browser, but none of the four had any experience or prior interest in the site's subject matter.
Think Aloud Task:
I chose the task "Tell me who played The Horn in 1989." Using this approach, I was able to observe how well the site navigation enabled the users find a particular bit of data in the museum.
Summary of Think Aloud
The users spent around a minute reading the entry page. One commented there was no text explaining the site navigation. The carpenter and recording engineer (both musicians) understood that a Horn was an instrument, and therefore could probably be found under the "Music" link at the top of the page. Each user then navigated to the "Instruments" page. The corporate trainer typed "horn 1989" into the search field, got no results, revised the search to "horn", and read the answer from the results without viewing a single page of the site. The airport manager began surfing the various menus until locating the article about instruments.
Summary of Post- test Interview
Two users found the "subtitle" text difficult to read. They recommended the article text be switched to something more subtle and with a neutral color. All four users suggested presenting the central article area in a contrasting color, such as white. One user suggested the upper right corner of the page was a "more standard location" for a search feature. Two users preferred that videos not start automatically. The recording engineer liked the concept of a museum, and pointed out that most museums have a suggested route for new visitors, and featured exhibits for repeat visitors.
Findings to be Implemented
As a result of the initial usability test, I will make the following changes:
- Provide basic navigation instructions on the entry page.
- Provide a "suggested tour" on the entry page, to assist those just browsing the museum.
- Provide "featured exhibits" on every page to enable museum visitors to find rich content immediately.
- Change article text to grey or black on a white background. Titles and headings will remain in the Italicize Red font.
- Disable the autoplay setting of all embedded video.
- Consider moving the search field to the upper right corner of each page. To maintain overall flow, the current location under the logo on the left side seems a better choice.
- Work to align all elements. Even from the code view, there is nothing that suggests why certain elements in adjacent sections do not align properly. My theory is there is are formatting elements, common to several CSS attributes, that are in conflict. While the element alignment does not materially detract from the site's utility, the appearance is a bit choppy.
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