Assessment

Task Results: Issues and Improvements

Visible Icons

The system lacked buttons / icons that were supposed to be easily seen by the user. An example would be the 'OK' button when a user selects a background colour. In order to select a colour, the 'OK' button should be clicked first before clicking Save. Both participants were unable to succesfuly complete this task the first time due to location and size of this button.

Solution: One way to improve visibility would be to increase button size or change the color to distinguish it from the other icons/buttons. Another solution would be to remove the OK button and let the user simply click on the desired colour and go straight to Save.

Consistency and Standards

“Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing” - Jakob Nielsen

The system’s features were unclear to the participants. When the participants tried to add a new page on the main navigation, they were hesitant to use the “add a sub-page” button, because this meant adding a page under Home. It was not clear that other pages on the main navigation were all subpages of Home.

Solution:The system should match the user’s conceptual model and present relevant information that aids the user in completing a task. A solution would be to have two options that enables the user to add a subpage and add a new page to the main navigation. This would mean that the site hierarchy would have to be changed as well since all other main pages are subpages of Home. Another solution would be to have an option to view the site hierarchy without having to go through the Dashboard.

Follow the User's Task Sequence

The system should follow the user’s task sequence. While completing task 3, the participants initially clicked on the blue links, thinking that this would enable them to select a version. This simply lets the user preview that version. To select a version the checkbox must be clicked and then approved. The steps needed to complete this task should be simplified.

Solution: Enable users to preview the version by clicking on the blue links and have an approve button on the preview. This eliminates the need to close the preview, click the checkbox and approve the selected version.