COMP 6650 Web Usability Semester Project Report

Transcription

1 THE UNIVERSITY OF WEST INDIES FACULTY OF SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURE DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMP 6650 Web Usability Semester Project Report Project Title: User-Centered Redesign of School of Business and Computer Science (SBCS) website Student(s) Name(s): Vincent Ramdhanie, Kyle E. DeFreitas, Vani Kalloo Student(s) ID No.:, Vani Kalloo Kyle DeFreitas Vincent Ramdhanie Date: 20/09/2011 Advisor: Dr. Alexander Nikov COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 1 of 61

2 Table of Contents 1. Project Proposal Organization that is the Focus of your Project Your Relationship to the Organization Very General Description of the Proposed Project Plan for Collecting Requirements Who are the Targeted Users for this Web Site? How Will You Have Access to Users? What is the Overall Plan for Collecting User Requirements? What Type of Information do you Need to Gather? What Information Gathering Techniques Will you Use? How will you Develop your Information-Gathering Instruments? How will you Pilot-Test your Information-Gathering Instruments? Site Requirements/Preliminary Design Plan What Methods Were Used to Collect Requirements? Statistics What was Learned About the Client Organization? What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Technological Environment? What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Technological Experience? What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Content Needs? What was Learned About the Users Relating to any Benchmark Web Sites? What was Learned About the Users Relating to any Demographic Information? What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Domain Knowledge? Were There any Unexpected Findings from the Requirements Gathering? Preliminary Design Plan Full Design Plan/Interface Prototype What Content will be Included on the Web Site? Where Will the Content Come From? How will Navigation be Provided? What Will the Page Layout Look Like? Download Speed What Colors will be Used? Will there be any Graphics that Need to be Developed? How did the Requirements Gathering Impact the Design of the Web Site? Usability Testing What Methods Will be Used to Collect Usability Data? What are Expected Common Tasks of Users? What Tasks will be Utilized in the Usability Testing? Where Will the Usability Testing Take Place? Usability Testing Participants COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 2 of 61

3 6. Expert Reviews Specific Concerns Results of the Usability Testing Individual User Experiences What was Learned from the Usability Testing? Implementation and Marketing Who Will Manage the Web Site? Where Will the Web Site Be Housed? What Will the URL of the New Web Site Be? Will the client organization reserve a domain name? On What Date will the Site Go Live? When will the web site be available to anyone on the web? (Chapter 10) Will the Web Site Manager Need any Training or Documentation? How Often Will the Content on the Web Site Need to be Updated? How Will the Web Site Be Marketed? Site Evaluation Future Suggestions References COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 3 of 61

4 1. Project Proposal 1. Organization that is the Focus of your Project Overview The School of Business and Computer Science (SBCS) is a tertiary institution in Trinidad and Tobago that provides programmes and degrees in different areas of study related to information technology and businesses. The school s primary objective as stated on the website is: To transform our students into innovative, ethical and creative lifelong learners, with a drive for excellence, and a passion for challenges, matched only by an overarching desire to enrich our global community. Vision and Mission of Website SBCS The missions of SBCS is to deliver industry-relevant tertiary education and training, using a student centric approach, with staff, facilities and courseware of the highest quality, in the transformation of our human resource into the region's most valuable natural resource. The vision of SBCS is to be the premier provider of globally recognized and industry-relevant tertiary education and training in the region. History In an attempt to contribute to the educational and technological development of Trinidad and Tobago, Robin Maraj foundered SBCS in With the increase of student application to the institution for its services, SBCS expanded its offerings to four campuses across Trinidad and Tobago. The expansion into four campuses allowed for the specialization of equipment and offerings between the locations, however the website of SBCS serves as the portal for providing services for all campuses of SBCS in Trinidad and Tobago. 2. Your Relationship to the Organization Describe how you met the community organization. Also describe who your contact person at the community organization is, and what their position within the organization is COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 4 of 61

5 The School of Business and Computer Science has many types of staff, including lecturers, developers, administrators and technicians. Within the class for COMP6650 Web Usability of , we had an individual who acted as both a lecturer and a developer within the organization. The developer and group member Vincent Ramdhanie also works on the development team for the SBCS web site, who indicated the team was interested in a review of their existing site with recommendations for improvement. 3. Very General Description of the Proposed Project Will you be designing a new web site, or re-designing a currently existing web site? What will be the mission of the web site? If you are re-designing a web site, are you adding new content, improving usability, or both? The project, based on the request of the developers and requirements of the web usability course will evaluate the current website of the SBCS and make recommendations for its improvement. The current website located at will be evaluated based on the user-centered approach for design. This will allow recommendations to be made to the development team to facilitate the website structure and layout to be more efficient in meeting user requirements and increasing the usability of the website encouraging users to return to the site. The expectation of the project is that increasing the usability and efficiency will increase enrollment by making access to information a more user-friendly experience. Scope of the project: In this project we will evaluate and redesign the SBCS website in an effort to improve its usability. Within the scope of this project the website will be investigated to determine to what aspect it is meeting the needs of the target users. This process involves getting feedback from the client and the website target uses. The website will then be renovated using this feedback. Usability testing will be conducted on the prototype and it will be redesigned based on the results of this test. Usability issues to be considered for the duration of the project include (but is not limited to) the number of menu options, the length of the menu labels, the order of the menu option, home page scrolling and the way in the menu options are categorized will be addressed. The red arrows on the following screenshots identify a few of these issues. The website prototype will be developed by an iterative process by successively incorporating user feedback through systematic usability testing. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 5 of 61

6 COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 6 of 61

7 The mission of the website is: Based on discussions with the client organization, what is the targeted user population? (chapter 2) Based on the mission of the institution defined in the overview the following were identified as the primary purpose/mission of the website To attract new students to SBCS by providing relevant information on programmes offered and other activities of the institution to prospective student To facilitate holistic development by providing relevant and timely information, thereby engaging current students to make better decisions and being informed To provide a centralised repository of information that is intuitive and effortless to navigate Measurable goals used to determine success of the website: To increase the enrollment of students by 5% To increase the number of returning visitors to the website by 10% To decrease the load time of pages to less than 10s for 90% of visitors 2. Plan for Collecting Requirements 1. Who are the Targeted Users for this Web Site? The target users of SBCS website are Current undergraduate students Prospective undergraduate students Current postgraduate students Prospective postgraduate students Prospective professional development students. Companies seeking training for their employees The users are grouped based on their interaction with the website. This grouping strategy was chosen as compared to another strategy such as age because age and other demographic criteria spans across each of the identified groups and would not be relevant for understanding and meeting the requirements of the users of the website. An example of the different requirements is that we can assume that the current undergraduate and postgraduate students would require information on current courses and news on issues surrounding the COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 7 of 61

8 institution whereas the prospective students will require information on the academic program being offered. We can also assume that the companies seeking training and prospective professional development candidates may require the same type of information, but the way the information is structured and details presented may differ between the groups. The challenge is therefore to meet the requirements of all the users while maintaining familiarity and the usability of the site to all users. Demographics of the User groups: User Group Age Computer Experience Current undergraduate students Current postgraduate students Prospective undergraduate students Prospective postgraduate students Prospective professional development students. Companies seeking training for their employees Intermittent Expert Novice Expert Intermittent Expert 2. How Will You Have Access to Users? How can the client organization provide users for requirements gathering? (chapter 2) Current undergraduate and postgraduate students: One of our group members, Vincent Ramdhanie is a lecturer at SBCS and will be able to attain access to both current undergraduate and postgraduate students. Prospective Undergraduate students: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 8 of 61

9 Prospective undergraduate students will be accessed in the secondary schools. Therefore we will seek to work with IT teachers in secondary schools within Trinidad and Tobago to attain access to student to get an idea of what they would like to see on a tertiary level educational institution's website. Prospective Postgraduate students: Prospective postgraduate students will be accessed from the general public, particularly persons who have completed a first degree in some related field. Prospective Professional Development Students These are persons that are already working in a particular field and wish to enhance their careers. Questionnaires will be ed to these persons. We would target companies with strong IT department and where we may have an internal resource to assist with the process. 3. What is the Overall Plan for Collecting User Requirements? How do you plan to learn about the needs of the targeted users? (chapters 3 and 4) A general strategy will be used to gather information from all user groups. A single questionnaire will be developed and different questions asked based on the responses of the user. The data can be disaggregated by respondent type, so that an analysis on each of the user groups can be done based on their requirements and evaluation of the current site. The users will be reached based on the strategies identified in the previous section, using the institution and other partners within the education and industrial system. We will also incorporate data from Google Analytics, which will give us important data about the computing environment (resolution, browser, operating systems etc) that the different users of the website will have. 4. What Type of Information do you Need to Gather? What information is important to the development of the web site? Content preferences, user computing environment, user computing experience, etc (chapter 3) COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 9 of 61

10 Internet connection bandwidth, browser and version, operating system, user experience (novice, professional), number of years using the Internet, typical usage (games, research, social networking, etc). What information would be useful in making a decision on the website, ease of use in finding the information. The questionnaire will be divided into two major components. A section that will seek to understand what type of information users expect to find on a website, and a general assessment of what users currently think of the SBCS website. The first component will be open to all respondents and the frequency of the different groups will give us an indication into what may be regarded as most important for the different user groups. The second component will give users the opportunity to identify their experiences with the website. The information gathered can be grouped into the following categories: Categories Information Points Sources Demographic Information Age Interviews, Clients Employment Educational Level Interviews, Clients Observation Domain Knowledge Enrollment Terminology Survey Course/Degree Terminology Survey Computing Experience Skill level Survey Internet Consumption time Survey Computing Environment Operating Systems Google Analytics Browsers Screen Resolution Devices Connection Speed Google Analytics Google Analytics Google Analytics Survey COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 10 of 61

11 Task Analysis and Content Navigation Ordering Survey Expected Requirements Survey Benchmarking Sites of Familiarity Survey Levels of satisfaction Survey 5. What Information Gathering Techniques Will you Use? An online questionnaire is expected to be the main form of collecting user requirements. Where the use of an online questionnaire is not possible a printed version can be used. The questionnaire was selected as it was seen as a precise, effective and quick method of collecting data. Analysis of the data collected will be quite automatic with the online questionnaire. The questionnaire was also favoured because it gave us the avenue to gain the widest possible feedback in the short space of time. 6. How will you Develop your Information-Gathering Instruments? The questionnaire will be designed around the anticipated user requirements of the website and the assessment of the existing site. The questions were developed by members of the team, and them simplified and reviewed to ensure guidelines specified for dealing with user requirement assessment. The questions will similarly be reviewed by the lecturer of the course and then changes Incorporated before delivery to end users. 7. How will you Pilot-Test your Information-Gathering Instruments? The questionnaire can be tested by other postgraduate students and the feedback will be used to refine the questions. This will help to ensure that all questions are clear, and not ambiguous. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 11 of 61

12 A limitation was that we will be unable to get any of the younger demographic which relates to the prospective undergraduate. So the expectation is that the small difference in age will help to compensate for not being able to pilot the questionnaire with the demographic group within the target users. Instrument Sample COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 12 of 61

13 : COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 13 of 61

14 COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 14 of 61

15 Please Attach Copies of your Survey Instruments, Interview Scripts, or Focus Group Discussion Sheets 3. Site Requirements/Preliminary Design Plan 1. What Methods Were Used to Collect Requirements? Were surveys, focus groups, interviews, web site logs, etc used? (Chapter 4) Surveys: The user requirements were collected using an online questionnaire. This online questionnaire was deployed at several high schools to target prospective SBCS students, current SBCS students and some prospective professional development students. Web site logs: Web site logs in the form of google analytics was used to gather information about users based on existing users of the c 2. Statistics Provide information on the number of surveys collected, the number of participants in focus groups, the number of interviewees, etc. Also provide information on the dates and locations or any interviews or focus groups (Chapters 3-4) COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 15 of 61

16 Information from the target users was collected using an online questionnaire. This questionnaire was sent out between the 19 th and the 25 th October A total number of 132 persons responded to the survey. The bar graph below shows the distribution of users who responded to the questionnaires. The graph shows that most of the respondents were prospective and current SBCS students. Reasons for Selecting online Survey: 1. Diverse users and different geographical areas 2. Allowed the greatest reach within the limited time 3. Difficult to organize face-to-face meetings on a collectively convenient time 4. Quicker to assimilate and analyze data 5. Facilitate different user-groups on their own convenience 3. What was Learned About the Client Organization? Were there any insights about the client organization? What the clients would like, or would not like? How they perceive their users? How the client organization wants to be perceived? (Chapters 2-4) The client organization has demonstrated through-out the exercise of gathering requirements that their institutions strives to be student focused. Therefore the organization believes that understanding user requirements are critical to ensure that website is used by users effectively. The client organization has a very complex structure of who can edit the website, which produces many sources/versions of information which may/can differ. (chapter 3) 4. What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Technological Environment? COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 16 of 61

17 Operating Systems: The pie chart below shows the different operating systems used by visitors to the SBCS website from 1 August, 2010 to 31-31st August, It highlights that Windows was by far the most common Operating System. Mobile Devices: The following pie chart shows the mobile operating systems used by visitors to the SBCS website. It illustrates that Blackberry was the most commonly used mobile operating systems used by visitors of the site followed by the ipad. Browsers: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 17 of 61

18 The pie chart below shows the different types of browsers used by visitors of the SBCS website from 1 August, 2010 to 31-31st August, It shows that the most used browser was Internet Explorer, followed by Firefox and then Chrome. Screen Resolution: The pie chart shows the screen resolution of the visitors to SBCS website. Therefore since the lowest screen resolution used by these visitors is 1024x768 then this is the minimum resolution catered for in our design. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 18 of 61

19 Internet Connection: The diagram below shows a breakdown of each Internet connection choices among the six segments which the responses were divided into. From the diagram we can interpret that the majority of respondents in major categories use broadband connection, and the majority fluctuates between the Blink Home broadband and the Flow Broadband. From this fact we can therefore assume that all users will have a minimum of 2MBPS. Given that the delivery of such speeds is unrealistic, since actually connection is dependent on a number of uncontrollable factors such as congestion, we use 1MBPS to determine the optimal file size. The maximum page size of optimal user experience of a load time of 10 seconds should be 1.25 MBytes. Calculation: 1MBPS * 10s = 10MB / 8Bits = 1.25MBytes 5. What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Technological Experience? (chapter 3) The following bar graph shows that while modal response for the overall group is 1-3 hours per day, we see that the amount of time differs based on the segment identified. The student group (Tertiary and the current SBCS students spend between 4-9 hours of their time on the Internet. We can interpret that the majority of our users, spend a significant amount of time using the Internet within any given day. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 19 of 61

20 Internet Usage: The bar charts below gives us an understanding of how the different segment use their time on the Internet. Social Networking It is interesting to note that all of the major user groups, (different from segments) spend some time on Social networking sites, while in all cases with the exception of the prospective working student group, social networking sites has an overwhelming majority of very often chosen. This suggest that many of the tools, and layout associated with the social networking sites can be assumed to be familiar to the users. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 20 of 61

21 Usage: The graph below shows the breakdown of time that users use . It is interesting to note that secondary school student, don t spend a lot of time on , with the majority of users selecting, not very often, and a sizable amount selecting not at all. On the other hand, it can be noted that there are current SBCS students that don t use at all as well. What we can extract from this information, is that alternative ways for contact, and reaching users must be explored. We cannot make the assumption that everyone has an address, because from the data a sizable amount of the target users don t use . Entertainment Usage: With the exception of the prospective working student entertainment was used by the target group most often. It is also interesting to note that among the secondary school students, the number of persons using the Internet for entertainment is very high. From interaction of other students within that age group, it is noted that most often entertainment here can refer to games and to YouTube videos. We can therefore extract from this data, that the use of multimedia can be an asset in reaching users, especially secondary school students. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 21 of 61

22 (chapter 3) 6. What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Content Needs? The graph below shows the content which the target users expect to see on a university website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 22 of 61

23 COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 23 of 61

24 Analysis: It was noted that the majority of segments voted the same way in regards to the content expected. Though there were some differences in the percentage of person who needed a particular topic, the overall layout of the bars, suggest that the needs for most of users expected similar types of information. We can use this information to conclude that, there is not such a strong need to divide the entire website. However attention must be placed on letter each target user-group easily find what they are looking for on the site. 7. What was Learned About the Users Relating to any Benchmark Web Sites? (chapter 3) From the diagrams identified in sections We identify from their usage pattern illustrated and discusses previously in what was learnt about their Internet experience, that different users spend a marginally different amount of time on various task on the Internet. We concluded that the following can be used as a benchmark. 1. Social Networking sites 2. School websites It is questionable how much useful benchmarks we can gather from existing school website because the majority of schools will not pay attention to usability. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 24 of 61

25 We can therefore assume that certain terms and jargon can be used that will be understandable by all of the target groups of the website. (chapter 3) 8. What was Learned About the Users Relating to any Demographic Information? The demographic information for users vary according to the target group in question. Target Group Age Socio-Economic Background Prospective Undergraduate student Current Undergraduate student Prospective Postgraduate student Current Postgraduate student Professional development students Unemployed - dependent Unemployed - dependent Employed - self sufficient Employed - self sufficient Employed - self sufficient (chapter 3) 9. What was Learned About the Users Relating to Their Domain Knowledge? The following graph shows a breakdown by user-groups how often they used the website for research. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 25 of 61

26 Analysis: The data shows that over 65% of the overall respondents revealed that they used the Internet at least 1-3 hours per day. This suggests that most of the target users has a considerable amount of experience using web pages. The following graph shows that most of the respondents used the Internet to conduct research for assignments and projects. This research experience suggests that these users would be able to navigate through the website and find information easily. 10. Were There any Unexpected Findings from the Requirements Gathering? (chapter 3-4) After assessing the SBCS s website many usability issues were identified however the questionnaire data reveals that most of the users who visited the website before stated that they could easily find what they were looking for, that the home page was understandable and navigation was easy. This is shown in the following graphs. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 26 of 61

27 1 - very difficult 5 - very easily COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 27 of 61

28 A review of the existing content Highlights: 1. Current SBCS students found the home page very understandable 2. A very small response in tertiary level group responded as it was confusing. 3. Small number in the prospective working, and secondary school student found it slightly confusing. Summary: 1. Overall users who have familiarity with the site have a good understanding of the home page, however new users take a while to learn it. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 28 of 61

29 Highlights: 1. Interestingly despite the overwhelming respondents identifying that navigation was very easy, there were a few respondents who thought it was slightly difficult. 2. The trend for the other groups follow from the previous sections. Highlights: 1. As compared to other sections identified this had a larger variety of respondents choosing different feelings towards this task. 2. The current SBCS student had a larger amount of students choosing no-opinion and confusing. 3. The general votes of negative feeling (confusion) toward this task was higher. Summary: 1. Given that this is a critical task for the university to attract new students it should be given much attention. 2. Also the higher general negative feeling towards this task, suggest that this is an area that must be addressed during this redesign COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 29 of 61

30 Highlights: 1. Majority of SBCS students identified they were satisfied, however it was identified that many had no-opinion and there was a large amount of persons who were in the confused and slightly confused category as compared with previous questions Highlights: 1. The course information was generally well received by all user groups. 2. It must be noted, that the prospective working student and professional group had identified some level of confusion with courses Summary: 1. We identify that better separation of courses for users should be taken into consideration especially for the different categories of users. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 30 of 61

31 Highlights: 1. A large amount of users selected no-opinion, which suggest that many of them are not interested in the news. 2. A select few students also had a low opinion of the news and events sections. We suspect this to be related to their inability to find the relevant section, and the unstructured format of the current news section. Summary: 1. The news and events section of the website should be reviewed and structure should be added to the existing page, including clear ordering strategy and categories. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 31 of 61

32 Highlights: 1. The majority of respondents suggested that the side menu were easy to understand 2. Some identify that it was slightly difficult, which is an indication that there is room for improvement Highlights: 1. The top menu responses were favourable, however some specified that they had no opinion. General Summary It was highlighted that the following items should be improved: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 32 of 61

33 1. The navigation was generally well received but should be improved to better facilitate the different users. 2. Course information should be targeted more specifically to the different users, to help them better find information on courses related to them 3. The news section was identified as an area that can be majorly improved. It was suggested that categories and better ordering can help to make finding information easier 4. The side menu should be consistently showing the context menu 11. Preliminary Design Plan Based on the requirements gathering, provide a summary of what will be included in the new web site. What is the scope of the content resources that need to be developed? What user factors need special emphasis to ensure a successful user experience? Did the mission of the web site or the targeted user population change based on the requirements gathering? (Chapters 2-4) The investigations identified that the website mission does align with the company s mission and the users expectation of the purpose of a university website. The investigation highlighted the need for the following: 1. Audience-splitting navigation - A more directed navigation that catered for specific users which allow them to find information quickly. The way identified to deal with this is to have a dedicated side menu which will perform audience-splitting navigation, while we retain the topical navigation at the top of the page 2. Compact menu - A navigation which increased the efficiency of finding information, without forcing users to scroll to view a drop-down menu. We decided that using a sub-menu directly under the main menu rather than a drop-down menu will help to reduce scrolling and complexity 3. Information cluttering - A reorganizing of information to better fit the needs of users reducing the feeling of information over-load. We re-organized groupings into more logical orders based on level/qualification and subject. We expect this will facilitate different expectations of data is organized. 4. Specific Information - Users required to do extensive scans and scrolling of multiple pages to find information. User Factors required the following requirements be adhered to: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 33 of 61

34 1. Operating System: Microsoft windows 2. Browser: All browsers should be considered a. HTML5 is possible ensuring a suitable level of backward compatibility 3. Internet Connection: Broadband connection speed of 1MBPS Factors for success: 1. Ensure that the expected content is available. More than 90% of the users stated that they expected to see programme and course information, application information and contact information on the website. The redesigned website should contain this content and it should be the first options available making it easy for the users to find it. 2. Ensure that the content is easy to locate on the website. Include Samples of Any Competed Surveys, Notes from any Focus Groups or Interviews, or Web Site Logs 4. Full Design Plan/Interface Prototype 1. What Content will be Included on the Web Site? List all of the content that will be included on the web site (chapters 5 and 6) The website with include information on the following: 1. Programmes and Courses - Brief descriptions, entry requirements, how to apply, included modules 2. Admissions - Details of the steps required to apply for each programme 3. The Campuses - Address, contact information, history, facilities of each of the 4. About the School - History, Vision and Mission 5. Contact - Main contacts, addresses, location addresses 6. News 7. Upcoming Events 2. Where Will the Content Come From? What content already exists in paper or electronic format, and what content will need to be developed? (chapters 5 and 6) The review entails an existing site, since most of the content specified by the users already exist, many of the information for the redesigned site will come from the old site. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 34 of 61

35 Current course information and schedule information will come from the staff in the various departments at SBCS. It will also include information that will be extracted from course and partner university brochures. The content needed to develop includes, information on current SBCS events and news. 3. How will Navigation be Provided? Discuss the location of the navigation, what areas the navigation will lead to, and whether the navigation will be provided through tables, frames, or another method (chapters 5 and 8) Navigation is provided using menus and breadcrumbs to track the users path. The menus options are located at the top and left side. The top menu will be topical and include a secondary layer that breaks down the topics to make it easier for the user to narrow down the information. The left menu will be the audience-splitting menu. This menu will allow users to Jump to areas of the site that are relevant to them. The navigation will be built using div elements and CSS. No tables of Frames will be used in order to avoid the disadvantages associated with those techniques. Each menu system will be housed in an HTML div element and will be organized using HTML lists. CSS will then be used to style it to look the way we require it to look and to layout on the page in the appropriate positions. 4. What Will the Page Layout Look Like? What elements will appear on every page? What is the page layout scheme? What identifying and contact information will be included? (chapter 6) A common banner will be used on every page of the website. The banner will include the school s logo, a search form and the top level navigation menu. A common left menu employing audiencesplitting will also be included on all pages. The home page will include the common banner and left menu. The content area of the page will contain three items: 1. An image slide show contain relevant and current images with links to highlighted areas of the site. 2. Current News 3. Upcoming Events COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 35 of 61

36 The internal pages of the site will all include the common banner and left menu. The main content area of each page will contain the necessary descriptions of the courses and programmes. Each page will contain a footer with a copyright statement and a last updated date. 5. Download Speed Will any plug-ins, animation, or large files be used, which will increase download time? If so, justify why these additions will add to the user experience. Are any problems with download time expected? (chapter 6) No additional plugins will be required. Most pages will contain no images or multimedia. However, campus pages and the about us pages may contain small images of the facilities. It is expected that these images will be small enough to cause no download delays. The home page will also contain an image slideshow. The number of images in the slideshow and the size of the images will be kept to a minimum. 6. What Colors will be Used? Will there be an overall color scheme? Are certain colors more appropriate for the client organization? (chapter 6) The above image shows the SBCS logo which consists of white, black and several shades of blue. These colours will be used throughout the site design. The background will be white and the font a dark blue to match the logo. Blue will also be used to highlight the menu options provided. The specific colours are the colours in the SBCS logo which are: 1. The darkest blue head BF 2. The next blue head to the left - 98BEE5 3. The next Blue head to the left - B9D0E2 4. The lightest blue head - D6DFE8 5. Black White - FFFFFF COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 36 of 61

37 In the design the background of the entire page will be in the lightest blue(d6dfe8). The content area of the page will have a white background. Headings will be in the darkest blue(0071bf). Menus will be in the darkest blue and the font on the menus will be white. Highlighted menu options will be in the lightest blue with font colour in the darkest blue. 7. Will there be any Graphics that Need to be Developed? (chapter 6) Graphics was not used as it was not seen as beneficial for the target users for this website. The target users are range from young adults to older and graphics is most suitable for younger age groups. 8. How did the Requirements Gathering Impact the Design of the Web Site? (chapters 3-5) The information gathered from the questionnaire responses of the website guided the menu options used and the types of content chosen to be included on the website. The information gathered helped to determine how familiar was the target user in using the Internet and therefore what type of elements to use on the website. The users response to the current website helped determine which areas needed improvements. The diagram shows it takes one click to get to any of the main options offered by the website. It takes two clicks to get to a specific programme such as Information Technology. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 37 of 61

38 Include a sample sketch of the homepage, as well as a page template for use throughout the site (chapter 6) Home Page Template: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 38 of 61

39 Programmes Page Template 5. Usability Testing 1. What Methods Will be Used to Collect Usability Data? Will performance measurements be used? Task/time performance? Number of errors? The thinking aloud protocol? User satisfaction? (chapter 9) A group of users belonging to the target group will be asked to test the website. Each user is given a separate list of tasks to complete. The user is informed that he or she was not being tested and asked to COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 39 of 61

40 use the thinking aloud protocol. The following will be analysed to determine how well the website tested. Methods of evaluations: 1. Number of tasks successfully completed. 2. Number of tasks re-attempted. 3. Length of time it took to complete each tasks. 4. The responses to the satisfaction questionnaire. 5. Feedback from thinking aloud. 6. Observed behaviours such as facial expressions. 7. Number of errors. 8. Number of bad navigation errors. 9. Number of times user got frustrated. 10. Number of times the user took an unexpected path. 11. Number of times the user chose to use search. 2. What are Expected Common Tasks of Users? What are the tasks that users will frequently perform? What information will users frequently look for? Expected tasks for users of SBCS website. Locating the following: 1. Programs offered 2. Courses offered 3. Prerequisites for courses 4. Admission requirements 5. Admissions procedure 6. Registration procedure 7. Contact information 8. Examination information 9. Timetable information 10. Campus locations 3. What Tasks will be Utilized in the Usability Testing? Based on the common tasks listed above, what tasks will users be required to perform as a part of the usability testing? The web usability test users were asked to locate: 1. Program registration deadlines COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 40 of 61

41 2. Course prerequisites 3. Contact information 4. Admissions information 5. Campus location A different list of tasks was created for each target group based on their expected needs of the website. For example if the user was a prospective students they were asked to find out admissions information while a current student was asked to find registration deadlines. 4. Where Will the Usability Testing Take Place? In a usability lab, in a workplace setting, over the Internet, some combination? The Usability test will be conducted at the Web Usability Lab. 5. Usability Testing Participants How will participants be recruited for the usability testing? In what way do the participants represent the targeted user population? If there are multiple, distinct user populations, will all of these populations be represented in the usability testing? Users for the usability testing were recruited from the SBCS campus and from outside the campus. For example prospective postgraduate students were recruited from the UWI campus. The users who tested the website represented most of the target user group identified. These were: Current Undergraduate Prospective Undergraduate Prospective Postgraduate Prospective Professional 6. Expert Reviews Will any expert reviews take place? If so, who are the experts? And what expert review techniques (such as heuristic review, cognitive walkthrough, etc.) will be used? No Expert Reviews will take place at this stage. 7. Specific Concerns Are there any specific concerns of the web development team that will be addressed in the usability testing? COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 41 of 61

42 The web development team will particularly look at the following features in the usability testing to see how easily it was for the user: To use the program filter To navigation through the website To find information on the external universities offering each programme. 8. Results of the Usability Testing When did the usability testing take place? What times and days? What location? How many users (or experts) took part? The usability testing was conducted on Monday 14 November 2011 from 1pm to 4pm at the Web Usability Lab. 7 users from the target population tested the website. 9. Individual User Experiences Please provide a breakdown of each user, and their individual experiences with the web site. What useful data was each user able to provide? The bar graph below is based on the responses of prospective undergraduate students to the satisfaction questionnaire. Each user was asked to respond to the statements using numbers 1-5 where 1 represented strongly disagrees and 5 strongly agree. This graph shows that the responses based on the redesigned website was more favorable for almost all the questions asked than the responses based on the current website. This implies that the user who used the redesigned website was more satisfied than the user who used the current website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 42 of 61

43 The bar graph below compares the responses to the satisfaction questionnaire of one prospective postgraduate student after using the resigned website to another prospective postgraduate student after using the current website. The graph shows that the student who used the redesigned website responded more favourably than the student who used the current SBCS website. This implies that the student who used the redesigned website was more satisfied than the student using the current website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 43 of 61

44 The following two bar graphs show the responses to the satisfaction questionnaire by two students who tested the redesigned SBCS website. The first bar graph represents the responses of a current SBCS student and the second a prospective professional student. Both students either agreed of strongly agreed to most of the questions. This implies that both these students were quite satisfied after using the redesigned website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 44 of 61

45 10. What was Learned from the Usability Testing? What did the users have problems with? What insights were the users able to provide? What changes in design will be made as a direct result of the usability testing? The bar graph below shows the percentage of the tasks which the prospective undergraduate students successfully completed. Two of these students tested the redesigned website while one tested the current website. The bar graph shows that the students who tested the redesigned website completed a greater percentage of the tasks assigned than the student who tested the current SBCS website. The bar graph below shows the percentage of tasks completed by prospective postgraduate students. One student tested the redesigned website while another tested the current website. The bar graph shows that the student who tested the redesigned website was able to complete all the tasks assigned while the student who tested the current website only completed 40% of the tasks assigned. Again this evidence shows that the students who tested the redesigned website was able to complete more of the tasks than the students who attempted the same tasks with the current website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 45 of 61

46 The following two bar graphs below show the total number of the observed behaviours which imply that the user is having difficulty preforming the tasks during the usability test. The behaviours identified were: choice of bad navigation, choice of an unexpected path, making errors in the task, the user using the search function and display of frustrated expression The first bar graph compares these observed behaviours for prospective undergraduate students during usability testing of the current SBCS website and the redesigned website. It shows that the students who tested the current SBCS website displayed far more negative behaviours than the students who tested the redesigned SBCS website. The bar graph below compares the total number of negative behaviours displayed during usability testing by prospective postgraduate students. It compares two users, one testing the current website and the the other testing the redesigned website. It shows that the students who tested the current website displayed far more negative behaviours while testing the website than the user testing the redesigned website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 46 of 61

47 The following bar graph gives a more detailed analysis of the behaviours observed. The bar graph compares the prospective undergraduate students who tested the current and the redesigned website. The first two students tested the redesigned website while the third one tested the current SBCS website. The graph shows that even thought the students who tested the redesigned site made some errors the student who tested the current website made more errors. The bar graph also shows that for the redesigned website several errors occurred with task 6. Task 6 was Write the number of undergraduate Information Technology degrees offered by the University of Greenwich. This question was intended to give the user an opportunity to use the filter provided. This data shows that the users took some unexpected paths and bad navigation before they found the filter. There was also some negative behaviours when performing task 1 with the redesigned website. Task 1 was Write the first step in the undergraduate admissions process. This required the user to find the horizontal sub-menu which seemed to have been difficult for the user. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 47 of 61

48 The screenshots below displays the length of time it took the prospective undergraduate students to complete each tasks for the respective website which was tested. It shows that for tasks 1, 3 and 5 the students using the current SBCS website took longer than the students using the redesigned website. The bar graph below compares the observed behaviours by the prospective postgraduate students while using the current website and redesigned website. It shows that the student who used the current website displayed more negative behaviours during the testing than the student using the redesigned website. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 48 of 61

49 The screenshots below shows the times taken by the prospective postgraduate students to complete each task given. User 6 tested the redesigned website while User 7 tested the current SBCS website. The screenshots show User 6 used less time to complete tasks 3 and 4 on the redesigned website than User 7 on the current website. Therefore only two out of the five tasks was completed faster on the redesigned website compared to the current website. Task 2 was the only task which took longer on the redesigned website than the current website. Task 2 was Write the degree required for entry into the Master s in Business Administration program. This evidence suggests that maybe this information was a bit more difficult to find on the redesigned website. In the further development of the new website this page containing details on each course will be redesigned to show less information on one page. The use of tabs here maybe be suitable to portion the data making the page less cluttered. Some other observations were noted when the users tested the current and redesigned websites. These are: COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 49 of 61

50 The horizontal sub menu options were expected to be noticeable to the user and making navigation easy. However, it was observed that most of the test users took a while to recognize theses options. One of the user commented that he expected to see a drop down menu for the sub menu. Therefore this data seems to suggest that the sub menu should be redesigned. A search filter was implemented in the redesigned SBCS website for searching the courses and programs being offered. It was observed in the usability testing that when given the opportunity to use the filter, the users chose to use it. It was also noticed that the users displayed some negative behaviours when performing the task involving the search filter. It was observed that the users seemed to have taken a while to find the filter but was able to successfully use it when it was found. The current SBCS website used images to show the external universities which offers each specific course or program. The redesigned website accomplished the same task by simply stating the university name as part if the description. It was observed that most of the users took a long time to find the image on the current SBCS website while the students using the redesigned website, found it quickly. This was unexpected but seemed to imply that the approach by the redesigned website was better or perhaps the image used on the current website was not suitable. This implies further investigation required. Summary The evidence collected in the usability test was the length of time it took to complete each task, the observed behaviour, the tasks sheets and the satisfaction questionnaire completed by the users. This data shows that the redesigned website performed better than the current website in the usability test. The users who tested the redesigned website took a shorter length of time to complete some of the tasks, displayed less negative behaviours while testing the redesigned website, was able to complete more of the tasks that the users testing the current website, and was more satisfied according to the satisfaction questionnaire than the users of the current website. The errors made while using the redesigned website was analysed and it was identified that the following features needed to be improved: The horizontal sub menu - errors were observed in tasks involving the sub menu such as locating the different categories of programmes and the different categories of admissions i.e. undergraduate and postgraduate. The programme pages has still has too much unstructured information as errors were observed in tasks which involved finding information on programmes page. Highlight the programmes filter in some way to make it more noticeable. Determine a suitable was to display information on external universities for each programme. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 50 of 61

51 Please Attach Copies of any Survey Instruments, as well as the Task List that the Users Received Satisfaction Questionnaire Visibility of Page Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 1. All pages are clearly labeled. 2. The menu labels were clear. 3. The page appears uncluttered and simple to understand. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Consistency and Standard 4. The menu options were consistent. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Recognition Rather Than Recall 5. After a brief scan of the page it was easy to find the option required. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 6. It was easy find the required information to perform the tasks given. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Skills 7. I was not required to learn any new skills in order to use the website. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Pleasurable and Respectful Interaction with the User 8. Navigation was effortless throughout the website. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 9. I felt comfortable using the website. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 10. I would definitely use this website again if I am looking at SBCS in future. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] SBCS Web Usability Task List - Current Undergraduate COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 51 of 61

52 Task 1 Write one of the Diplomas required for the BSc. (Hons) Computing and Information Systems Programme. Task 2 Write the address of the Campus Manager Trincity. Task 3 Write the number of contact hours which the course Information Technology for Teachers provide. Task 4 Write the full address of the Port of Spain campus. Task 5 Write the address of the Head of the Unit at SBCS for the University of Greenwich. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 52 of 61

53 SBCS Web Usability Task List - Prospective Undergraduate Task 1 Write the first step in the undergraduate admissions process. Task 2 Write a contact number and address of the Port of Spain campus. Task 3 Write one of the Diplomas required for the BSc. (Hons) Computing and Information Systems Programme. Task 4 Write the registration deadline for the BA (Hons) Human Resource Management Programme. Task 5 Write the name of the university which offers the BSc. (Hons) Banking and Finance Task 6 Write the number of undergraduate Information Technology degrees offered by the University of Greenwich. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 53 of 61

54 SBCS Web Usability Task List - Prospective Postgraduate Task 1 Write the third step in the postgraduate admissions process. Task 2 Write the degree required for entry for an Masters in Business Administration. Task 3 Write the registration deadline for the MSc. Information Systems Management Programme. Task 4 Write the name of the university which offers the MSc. Finance (Major: Economic Policy). Task 5 Write the number of postgraduate Information Technology degrees offered by the University of Greenwich. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 54 of 61

55 SBCS Web Usability Task List - Prospective Professional Student Task 1 Write the full address of the Champ Fleurs campus. Task 2 Write the number of contact hours for the BlackBerry Application Development course. Task 3 Write the scheduled end dates for the two courses for Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Database Administrator. Task 4 Write the last step in the admissions process of the training program. Task 5 Write the name of the IT Association who offer the A+ certification course. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 55 of 61

56 6. Implementation and Marketing 1. Who Will Manage the Web Site? What person at the client organization will be responsible for managing the web site and keeping the content up-to-date? (chapter 10) The web development team including our project member Vincent Ramdhanie at SBCS will manage and update the new website. 2. Where Will the Web Site Be Housed? Will the client organization be contracting with an ISP? Will the client organization be running their own server? (chapter 10) The website will be hosted by a paid web hosting service provider. 3. What Will the URL of the New Web Site Be? Will the client organization reserve a domain name? (Chapter 10) The URL of the website will stay the same as the current website: One reasons why it may be a good reason to keep the old url is because it contains the schools name making it easy for a user to guess the url. SCBC will be able to use their current domain name. The current domain name is also widely recognized as it has been in print media for over 2 years. 4. On What Date will the Site Go Live? When will the web site be available to anyone on the web? (Chapter 10) Who at the Client Organization Will Manage the Web Site after the Semester has Ended? There is no set date as yet but the intention is to make it available as soon as the website is fully implemented and tested. 5. Will the Web Site Manager Need any Training or Documentation? What training or documentation will the web site manager need to be able to keep content up to date and make any needed changes? Since Vincent is part of the redesign team and also the website development team at SBCS, training will not be required. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 56 of 61

57 6. How Often Will the Content on the Web Site Need to be Updated? Which pages on the web site will need to be updated most frequently? (chapter 11) Different content will be required to be updated at different times. For instances course timetables is updates every semester while events and news maybe require updating on a weekly basis. Programme and course details may be updated once a year at the beginning of the academic year. 7. How Will the Web Site Be Marketed? What types of marketing techniques will be used? What search engines will be used? Will the URL of the web site be added to signature files, stationary, fliers, etc? How will the client organization make sure that people are aware of their new web site? (chapter 10) The website will be advertised at the SBCS school to the current students. The URL of the website will be placed on newspapers and fliers to advertised to prospective students. 8. Site Evaluation How do you suggest that the site should be evaluated in the future, to see if it still meets the needs of the users? What web site statistics would be useful to track? (chapter 11) The website can be evaluated through focus groups of existing SBCS students, usability tests with current and prospective students. Also data gathered by google analytics can be analyzed to determine the frequency of visits to the website and each individual page. 9. Future Suggestions Are there any suggestions for the client organization in the future? What features might be added at a later date? Are there any problems that may arise? (chapter 11) The main problem that may arise in the future is the sheer volume of information that must be placed on the website. As the number of courses increase and the number of categories of courses increase the navigation system may need to be revisited in order to facilitate this growth. Based on the usability test a feature to allow the users to sort the courses in a number of arbitrary ways would be helpful. For instance some users may already be familiar with the different Universities and would find the courses sorted by University useful. While other users may be more interested in the subject matter rather than the university. Providing a mechanism to navigate by these different criteria would enhance the user s experience. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 57 of 61

58 Please Provide Screen Shots of the Final Web Site The following are some screenshots of the redesigned websites. The first one shows the home page. The following screenshot shows the programmes page. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 58 of 61

59 The following screenshot shows the admissions page. This screenshot shows the campuses page. COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 59 of 61

60 COMP6650 WU Project WU-project-form.doc page 60 of 61