Beth Schebaum

Beth Schebaum

Introduction to Digital Media

Web Showcase

Usability Testing

Web Showcase—Usability Testing Report

URL tested:

INTRODUCTION

I created a web showcase to illustrate the work that I have done in my digital media course. The web showcase included graphics, audio, and video files. To evaluate the accessibility of my website to my users, I conducted a usability test with several users. To accurately evaluate my website I found users with a variety of ages, internet navigation skill levels, and digital media experience.

USER OBSERVATION

The first user was a 50 year-old female, retired art teacher. She has an average Internet knowledge, but is not up-to-date with her digital media knowledge. The second user was a 35 year-old female. She is a special education director in the local school district, so she has average-to-above-average Internet knowledge, and is a novice in her digital media knowledge. The third user was a 26 year-old male. He has a average Internet knowledge and little to know digital media knowledge. All three users went through my digital media web showcase as I watched. I did not offer any instruction, but I did ask them to offer feedback as they went through the site.

User 1 really liked the pictures on the home page of the website, and that was the first thing that she clicked. As she navigated the website she was able to figure out how to open both the audio and video clip, but wasn’t sure if she should download the windows media player first since the link was listed there. She completed the usability survey as well, but was confused on how to answer several of the questions, such as the download speed. She stated that the speed seemed fine, but didn’t know what to base it off of for normal media content.

User 2 navigated the website quickly. She read the opening page and like User 1 was drawn to click the pictures of the opening page before going to the links on the left. She went to both links on the right, came back to the main page, then went through all of the links on the left. She commented that she would have enjoyed just having the pictures on the right to guide her through and no table of contents bar on the left as she was navigating. Again, all links worked well and download speeds took less than 30 seconds for each. The longest part of the viewing of each page was spent either reading the information I had typed or watching/listening to the clips themselves.

User 3 navigated through the website very slowly. He took time to read everything listed, and opted to click from the left, not touching the pictures on the right until the very end. Realizing that the pictures go to the same place as the table of contents bar, he only clicked the first picture. He commented that he liked that each page returned to the home page, rather than him having to click back. However he didn’t realize this until he had already clicked back to get to the home page after being at the digital audio page. Again, all of the clips worked well. He commented that the audio clip was hard to hear, and that after turning up his volume to high, the video clip was really loud.

SURVEY TESTING(Describe test)

I created a survey using Survey Monkey so that my users could access the survey easily from the website that they were to evaluate. The results of the survey were then compiled for me. The survey was completed by all users as well as left open to my Introduction to Digital Media classmates to evaluate. I received a total of 5 reviews, 3 from my users and 2 from my classmates. Each person completed the 10 question survey shown in Appendix A.

FINDINGS

The findings are showcased in Appendix A as compiled by Survey Monkey. A more specific findings chart is shown here.

Category / Survey Question / Results
Ease of Use / #4—Table of contents leads you through website
#5—Homepage downloads efficiently
#7—Easily able to navigate / All surveyed reported 100% yes for each question. Comments on question #10 also reported high marks for these answers.
Page Features / #6—Links are clear and appropriate
#8—Audio and video adds to the site / All surveyed reported 100% yes for each question. Several comments on question #10 about how great the video project turned out.
Design / #1—Rate the overall design
#3—Attractiveness of website / All surveyed reported 100% for a great job. Very attractive design.

The only multiple choice question with mixed answers was #9. The question asked about the audio and video file’s download speeds. This question allowed two answers to be chosen—one for video and one for audio. I think that the problem lies with the question. One reader only clicked one answer, probably because they didn’t know they could click two.

RECOMMENDATIONS

To improve the website I think I should make the Windows Media Player download link smaller and further from the video and audio clip. Based upon the experiences of User 1, an adjustment needs to be made so it is less confusing. I wanted that to be there in case someone needed it, but I overlooked that someone might think they needed to do that to see the clips.

Another improvement would be to increase the sound volume of the audio clip in Audacity. It is very soft, and it does make a problem when you go from that clip to the video clip as it was pointed out by User 3.

I’m also considering redoing the project to put the table of contents on all pages, not just on the home page. That would make it easier for users to navigate throughout the webpage without having to go back to the home page after looking at each project.

REFLECTIONS

Creating the usability test was hard. It wasn’t until I began creating questions for the survey that I really reflected on what my website needed to provide for the users. The best part of the project was watching the users actually working their way through my website and commenting on the things they saw. It was difficult at first to just sit back and watch rather than guide them through it, but it became interesting to see how they would progress.

I really like the Survey Monkey web surveys. It saved me a lot of time and hassle in compiling the data, and it also made it a lot easier for the users to access my survey. I think I would have been less likely to get a couple of my classmates to complete the form and give it back to me if I had to email it to everyone.

Appendix A

1. Please rate this website it terms of its overall design.
Response
Percent / Response
Count
The website projects an inviting and professional feel. / / 100.0% / 5
The website is a good start, but needs adjustments. / 0.0% / 0
The website seems cluttered. / 0.0% / 0
The website shows no design or structure. / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
2. The internal and external links work properly (ex. no page errors are visable and any players used in the site have working download links available).
Response
Percent / Response
Count
True / / 100.0% / 5
False / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
3. Was the website's design attractive and easy to look at?
Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / / 100.0% / 5
No / 0.0% / 0
Some parts weren't so bad, others were hard to read. / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
4. The table of contents or index leads you from the homepage through the site.
Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / / 100.0% / 4
No / 0.0% / 0
Able to navigate, but more links were needed to navigate site. / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 4
skipped question / 1
5. Did the homepage download efficiently?
Response
Percent / Response
Count
The homepage took a long time to download. / 0.0% / 0
The homepage took a normal amount of time to download. / / 20.0% / 1
The homepage took only seconds to download. / / 80.0% / 4
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
6. Were the links to other pages within the site clear and appropriate?
Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / / 100.0% / 5
No / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
7. Overall, were you able to easily navigate the site?
Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / / 100.0% / 5
No / 0.0% / 0
I had some troubles, but eventually figured it out. / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
8. Did each of the audio or video files make a significant contribution to the site?
Response
Percent / Response
Count
Yes / / 100.0% / 5
No / 0.0% / 0
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
9. Overall, please comment on the speed of each of the media downloads.
Response
Percent / Response
Count
The video took a longer time than usual to download. / 0.0% / 0
The video downloaded and ran in a timely fashion. / / 80.0% / 4
The audio file took a longer time than usual to download. / 0.0% / 0
The audio file downloaded and ran in a timely fashion. / / 100.0% / 5
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
10. Please comment on the website's ease of use, page features, or design.
Response
Count
/ 5
answered question / 5
skipped question / 0
Comment Text / Response Date
/ 1. / No problems, nice colors. / Thu, 7/31/08 10:35 AM
/ 2. / It was great! / Wed, 7/30/08 10:37 PM
/ 3. / Music for video well-suited (exciting) I liked the page-turning transitions. Great variety in basketball photos. / Wed, 7/30/08 8:03 PM
/ 4. / Music for video well-suited (exciting) I liked the page-turning transitions. Great variety in basketball photos. / Wed, 7/30/08 8:03 PM
/ 5. / This website was nicely done and pleasing to look at. / Tue, 7/29/08 5:23 PM