Brief Analysis of Initial Usability Testing (June 2011)
TypeNokia / 4
HTC / 2
Sony Ericsson / 1
LG / 1
Blackberry / 4
iPhone / 2
iPod Touch / 1
Netbook / 1
Not specified (see note at end) / 1
17 Participants
Types of device used:
**14(inc. no. 4) Participants would be happy to conduct further testing. **
Key Comments
Question 1(finding book by author/title)
(1) “When accessed on my Blackberry it would not login due to ‘unauthorized error’. The Internet was also very slow to load.”
(2) “I was not able to connect using my mobile device. My device might not be compatible for this service, or connection problem.” (Nokia)
(3) “Yes I can. It is easy to get to.” (Nokia)
(5) “Yes I saw it and it works like I was using the desktop.” (iPod Touch)
(8) “My mobile device will not log me onto the library, reason being as my connection is too slow.” (same comment throughout task sheet) (Blackberry)
(9) “Would be nice to not have horizontal scrolling on mobile – combo of liquid and fixed layout remedy? / I spelt Nigel Black, it suggested did I mean Slack – I like. It makes your possible mistake known like a Google misspelled search.” (iPhone)
(13) “Found it on 2nd line (2nd in list) after typing ‘operations management’ – speedy using uni wireless.” (Sony)
(14) “The phone device is a lot slower and takes ages to load the page. I found the book but the images did not load. Error on page – there was an error loading the tab.” (HTC)
(16) “On the phone: it returns an error ‘Enter Search Terms’ even though I did fill in the title on the wanted book.” (LG) ***Continued to receive same error for all tasks attempted, except Q.10***
(17) “It takes a lot longer to load in comparison to using a PC.” (Blackberry)
Question 2(location of book)
(9) “I abandoned iPhone web-page version (10mins/more), it said it could not open page when I clicked Advanced Search. I closed and restarted page.”
(13) “Clicked on ‘availability’, did not appear straight away on book page.” (??) (Sony)
(14) “No. Was on the home page of Locate but would not let in to see where the book is.” (HTC)
Question 3 (copies out on loan)
(13)“The list is only showing 3rd ed. Availability – I know from looking it up on the desktop that this is wrong.” (Sony)
(14) “No. Was on the home page. Error came up – there was an error loading the tab.” (HTC)
Question 4 (any other editions?)
(9) “Mobile: I saw 5 editions (learning curve…) First desktop search I did not know I was looking at different books.” (iPhone)
(13) “The ‘editions’ button is not easy to see at all. / Quick but not a user-friendly function here.” (Sony)
(14) “No, would not let me load page.” (HTC)
Question 5(e-books on a topic)
(14) “Managed to locate a list of ebooks, but was a very slow process.” (HTC)
Question 6(accessing e-books)
(5) “On my iPod Touch I could not login in that window, I had to open it in a new window. / And I could access the ebook now. / It keeps flagging I’m on the first page anytime I tried scrolling down or up. / I cannot zoom the ebook.”
(11) “I was unable to access the full details about the book due to the service charge on my network.”
(12) “The page loads fine but can only scroll as far as the actual article. After that, moving the finger down to scroll only highlights words… Then managed to scroll a bit but still issues with scrolling highlighting.” (iPhone)
(13) “Succeeded. After login this was relatively good.” (Sony)
(14) “Went as far as the list of ebooks however was not able to open resource further.” (HTC)
(17) “Did not allow access to the page.” (Blackberry)
Question 8 (Article Search on a topic)
(5) “Yes I used the article search tab and got a list of articles. / I also notice I couldn’t zoom the site on my device.” (iPod Touch)
(14) “Again managed to locate but was a very, very, very slow process.” (HTC)
(17) “Keeps freezing when trying to retrieve information.” (Blackberry)
Question 9(accessing articles)
(2) Linking issues with journals/SFX noted
(3) “It is different with the eLibrary and the first edition of Locate. Honestly speaking, it is not very good and easy to use for searching articles” (Nokia) (desktop or using mobile device? Not sure).
(5) “I encountered the same problem I had with the ebook, going to a new window” (also notes issues with journal/SFX linking) (iPod Touch)
(6) “Had trouble viewing articles.” (Not sure if SFX problem?) (Netbook)
(13) question 8 + 9 “Cannot get page up, no matter what option I entered, the Find it @ CU page will not let me see the article…./ I did find some however, I just can’t view them.” (Sony)
(14) “Located but could not view the article.” (HTC)
Question 10(logging in to My Account)
(2) “No, I was not able to login.”
(5) “I was able to login and the interface seems to be accessible.”
(9) “Could not login.” (iPhone)
(10) “Didn’t have to again login like eLibrary, was directly connected to my account.” (not sure if desktop or mobile) (Nokia)
(13) “Yes, I can access my account facility. / I feel the buttons for this are not however ideally placed.” (Sony)
(14) “Slow process once again but managed to view books on loan, didn’t try to renew as have had books out a maximum time.” (HTC)
(17) “Difficulty in logging in. When logged in there is difficulty in cliking on any of the links. You can view the page but that’s about it.” (Blackberry)
General Mobile Device Comments
(10) “Initial words on desktop little small unless we zoom it. / Most of the mobiles prefer Word format rather than pdf so that we can edit the part which is required.” (Nokia)
(15) “Cannot zoom on page in Firefox Mobile 5 on Android. / Touch targets are small. / Couldn’t login to My account of F Mobile 5.” Note on sheet – “Works in default browser” (HTC)
(16) “I have managed to login. It seems the problem lies within the search facilities of the desktop version for my mobile device.” (LG)
Note: participant sheet 4 – no task sheet notes, but KK has notes from this participant. (no device specified but KK says Sony Ericsson).
Note: no question 7 appears on the task sheets.
Note: participant 15 has no task sheet, just A4 sheet.
General comments r.e. Locate (for referral to Primo group)
(9) “Perhaps pop-up hints for first time use e.g. Google/Facebook.”
r.e. article search “80 results – would be nice for thumbnails, somehow unique or categorised for a type of article. / Also, ‘View All’ option as opposed to 10 at a time. / I like the review option = I can say ‘this was good for 202OCT module for interface assignment’ / Like tags.”