2. Contents Define Web Usability and Why Benefits of Usability Guiding Principles Web Standards, Accessibility and Usability connections Resources

3. D efine Web Usability Make sure a website works well and a person of an average (or lower) ability and experience can use it.

4. ….Why is it important The first law of e-commerce is that if users cannot find the product, they cannot buy it either. For intranets, usability is a matter of employee productivity. Time users waste being lost on your intranet or pondering difficult instructions is money you waste by paying them to be at work without getting work done.

5. Why should we care for usability, specially in a University? Because unlike commercial websites, you cannot switch university websites if you cannot find specific information. This principle is the same regarding intranets.

6. Increased productivity (for the user) Decreased training and support costs Increased enrollment (sales and revenues) Reduced development time and costs Reduced maintenance costs Increased customer satisfaction Benefits of usability

7. Guiding Principles: First Law of Usability “Don’t make me think!” As much as possible, when you look at a webpage, It should be self evident. Obvious. Self Explanatory. If the user has to extend or exert extra effort to complete a task, then you can still refine your efforts to make the task easier

8. They are all buttons. But experience tells us that the one which is bevelled is and will always be a button. This is the power of conventions, similarly, a word with an underline will always look like a hyperlink to many users. Which is a button?

9. How do we read pages? We don’t read them, we scan them.

10. How designers think readers read web pages

11. How users really use the web - We look for anything that is interesting, or vaguely resembles what we are looking for

12. Test for good navigation Site ID (site logo and tagline) Page name Sections and sub-sections (global navigation Local navigation “You are here” indicators (breadcrumbs) Search

13. Usability Testing Usability testing is an assessment tool used by human factors practitioners to perform an objective evaluation of a product or software interface Participants perform typical tasks with a software system or website while “thinking aloud” Can users perform tasks easily? Where can the website design be improved? What areas of the website work well?

14. Do a Usability Test Make it simple that you do enough of it. Just do it. Testing one user is 100% better than testing none.

15. Web Accessibility practice of making Web pages on the Internet accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities. You cannot use something if you do not have access to it. Make your site accessible by following the web standards by w3c - http://www.w3.org/http://www.w3.org/

16. Accessibility Techniques Alt tags (image description) Descriptive links Long description (long desc) Access keys (keyboard shortcuts) Accessibility statement Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) http://www.w3.org/WAI/ http://www.w3.org/WAI/ An accessible website is automatically a usable website

17. Web Standards They are actually recommendations and specifications by W3C to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long- term growth for the Web

18. Resources Usability –Morae, an all digital usability testing software or Camtasia Studio – Techsmith.comTechsmith.com –The Usability Professionals' Association http://www.upassoc.org/ http://www.upassoc.org/ –Don’t make me think - Steve Krug –http://csszengarden.com/http://csszengarden.com/ –http://www.sitepoint.com/http://www.sitepoint.com/ –http://alistapart.com/http://alistapart.com/

19. And finally… Galatians 6:7 –“ A man will reap exactly what he sows” –You will not reap the benefits of usability if you don’t put it into practice. Plan, but the essential word is “act”! Remember that the great aim of education is not knowledge but ACTION.

20. Raghavender Reddy Budamala