Prioritizing Web Usability Nielsen and Loranger Chapter 3: Revisiting Early Web Usability Findings Paul Ammann SWE 432 Design and Implementation of Software for the Web

10/22/20152 Overview 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

10/22/20153 Eight Problems That Haven’t Changed 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?

10/22/ : 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

10/22/2015© Offutt, : Breaking The Back Button “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 “Back” is the User’s Lifeline

10/22/2015© Offutt, : 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 –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

10/22/ : Pop-Up Windows Consider Pop-Up Blockers –A Clear Indication That Users Hate Pop-Ups 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

10/22/ : Design Elements That Look Like Advertisements Users Automatically Filter Out Anything That Looks Like An Ad –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

10/22/ : Violating Web-Wide Conventions Users Spend Most Time On Other Web Sites –Expectations For Your Site Set By Other Sites Example: Zinc BistroZinc 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

10/22/ : Vaporous Content and Empty Hype Basic Marketing –Sell The Benefits, Not the Features Search Engine Optimization –Concrete Text Leads To Better Rankings Example: Mont BlancMont Blanc Fluffy Language Drives Users Away AND Hides Your Site

10/22/ : Dense Content and Unscannable Text Unpacking Dense Text is Hard Work –Users are Lazy Government Sites Are Prime Offenders –Example: Social Security Answer DeskSocial 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

10/22/ Technological Change: Its Impact on Usability 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

10/22/ Adaptation: How Users Have Influenced Usability Uncertain Clickability Links that Aren’t Blue Scrolling Registration Complex URLs Pull-Down and Cascading Menus Less Important Today Because Users Know More

10/22/ Restraint: How Designers Have Alleviated Usability Problems 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

10/22/ Restraint: How Designers Have Alleviated Usability Problems (2) Made-Up Words Outdated Content Inconsistency Within a Web Site Premature Requests for Personal Information Multiple Sites Orphan Pages Web Designers Are Getting Smarter