Which news Web site is the easiest to navigate for entertainment news? By Xiang Li and John Stang

Background Seattlepi.com is thinking about improving how to search for entertainment on its site

Questions ?How easy is it for someone today to find entertainment information on the PI's site and those of its competitors? ?How can the PI improve its entertainment searches?

We looked at… seattlepi.com The Seattle Times The Stranger The Seattle Weekly

Usability Tasks We gave 10 people three tasks to do on each site to find out Showtime information for the movie "New Moon" in the University District Showtime information for the movie "New Moon" in the University District Showtime information for a performance of "The Nutcracker Suite" in Seattle Showtime information for a performance of "The Nutcracker Suite" in Seattle A Chinese restaurant in the University District A Chinese restaurant in the University District

Test Subjects Subject No. SexAge Internet Savvy 1Male47Very 2Male53Very 3Female47Little 4Male18Some 5Male45Very 6Female47Little 7Female26Very 8Male26Very 9 *New York Male62Some 10Male29Very General Information

Test Conditions Person started on a news site's home page Person could take any path to the sought-after information We took notes on the person's actions Person talked out loud on his or her thinking processes Although times were kept, differing downloading times made raw minutes and seconds irrelevant We noted the fastest, second fastest, third fastest and slowest sites to navigate

Task A Find showtimes for "New Moon" in the University District

Task A ResultSubject Fastest Site Second fastest Site Third Fastest Slowest1Quit 2QuitQuitQuit 3Quit 4QuitQuit 5Quit 6QuitQuit 7 8 9QuitQuit 10QuitQuit

Task A Conclusion The easiest way to find a movie time is in The Stranger. Several became FRUSTRATED by the weekly and Times sites

Task B Find a performance of The Nutcracker Suite in Seattle

Task B ResultSubject Fastest Site Second fastest Site Third Fastest Slowest1 2Quit 3 4 5Quit Quit

Task B Conclusion The easiest way to find a showing of "The Nutcracker Suites " is Seattle Weekly The Times' site appears to be the slowest to work through. site without any showtimes. I dont want to see the burlesque version of the Nutcracker; and why the PI kept giving me review articles?

Task C Find a Chinese restaurant in University District

Task C ResultSubject Fastest Site Second fastest Site Third Fastest Slowest1QuitQuitQuit 2 3Quit 4Quit 5 6QuitQuit 7 8Quit 9QuitQuit 10Quit

Task C Conclusion The Stranger and the Seattle Weekly are easy to use to find restaurants. Each has easy-to-find "cuisine" and "neighborhood" search functions. The PI site's search functions specifically told six subjects and one PI producer that there are no Chinese restaurants in the University District.

Some observations Almost no two searches were alike Some people immediately went with the search engine on the sites, while others explores menus Skill level appears to have no correlation to search patterns People prefer searches include a Google Map navigating the locations Some people went out of sites by clicking sponsored links to find the result Listing neighborhoods is preferred by people are familiar with Seattle As soon as subjects cannot navigate through the menu or content to find relevant information, they turn to the search function

Major observation Almost every subject said he/she would avoid a news site and do a Google-style search for the information instead

Why on-site search function is crucial for Seattlepi.com? On-site search improves the user experience, because the visitors can find quickly find accurate, relevant information. An on-site search box promotes ease of use, which keeps readers on your site longer. Visitors have more control over the browsing experience. On-site search can increase the return on investment by converting visitors into customers and increasing the conversion rates. If designed and organized correctly, this functionality can make the site appear more professional and credible. Most on-site search programs come with tracking metrics that explain how customers are searching for information on the site

Our Recommendations Seattlepi.com would be best served by imitating The Strangers entertainment search functions

Task A Task-flow diagram

Task B Task-flow diagram

Task C Task-flow diagram

What Seattlepi.com is really going to do? Exploring entering a contract with Zevents