Usability Testing An Analysis of the YouTube Registration System

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Usability Testing An Analysis of the YouTube Registration System David Argast YouTube Registration In order to analyze the registration system of YouTube, a popular video uploading and

In this analysis, a student named Alexis Harmer allowed us to record her as she went through the registration process.

1 Usability Testing An Analysis of the YouTube Registration System David Argast YouTube Registration In order to analyze the registration system of YouTube, a popular video uploading and streaming website, a test subject was needed that had no prior knowledge of this system. In this analysis, a student named Alexis Harmer allowed us to record her as she went through the registration process. Given a single task of becoming a registered member of YouTube, her activities on the web were analyzed starting from the homepage of YouTube (Youtube.com). In the following sections, a detailed overview of the choices and decisions Alexis made is provided. We hope to offer an analysis of not only what YouTube does poorly in the registration process but also what they do well.

2 The Process Red * signifies areas of difficulty in registration process

YouTube at a Glance At a glance, YouTube has a simplistic homepage layout, with utilities such as Upload and Sign In, a search bar to search user s uploaded content, a site id in the upper left-hand

3 YouTube at a Glance At a glance, YouTube has a simplistic homepage layout, with utilities such as Upload and Sign In, a search bar to search user s uploaded content, a site id in the upper left-hand corner with a clickable logo reading YouTube and sections broken up with popular and advertised videos. This uncluttered appearance makes the site visually attractive to users by not overwhelming them with information while also increasing usability by making important elements such as Sign In and Recommended videos stand out.

4 Where to Register? After digesting the site at a first glance, the task of registering comes into the user s mind. At first, Alexis browsed the site for anything resembling a Not a member, click here or Sign Up button or link. None of these were present on YouTube s homepage. Instead, Alexis chose to click Sign In even though she had no credentials to log in with. I chose to click sign in because registering is usually found in the log in area and the two things are related. Considering YouTube is dependent on new and origional content by new users, registration is a vital element that is missing from the homepage. We re not in YouTube, Anymore After clicking Sign In, the user is seemingly sent to a page on Google, asking for the user to enter Google credentials. YouTube being owned by Google, uses a single Google sign-on to manage services such as YouTube and Gmail. A novice user may not know this such as Alexis, who wearily clicked Create an account hoping she was actually registering for YouTube. At the bottom of this page, Google presents a list of images for each service offered with this login, but the size of these images are very small and the information presented to the user is minimal.

Google Registration Once the user has chosen to create a new account, he or she must fill in information such as Name, Email Address, Password, Birthday, Gender and Phone Number.

5 Google Registration Once the user has chosen to create a new account, he or she must fill in information such as Name, Address, Password, Birthday, Gender and Phone Number. During Alexis s trial, the current address field refused to work for her given so she selected I would like a new Gmail address which changed the current address field to a Google ID selection field, leaving everything else the way it was. This process was very confusing to Alexis asking questions such as am I still registering for YouTube and why do I need a Gmail account? Google does not openly tell you why you need to submit all this information for accounts while other sites subscribe simply by submitting an address. This lack of information makes this step in the registration all the more confusing. Once Alexis had entered all of her personal information and agreed to the ToS, she selected the blue button Next step. Basic Info Submit Info

6 Finalizing Google Registration Now that Alexis has submited her personal information and having selected to set up an entirely new Google account, she is directed to yet another Google page asking her to set up he Google+ profile, making her even more confused in the registration process. I really don t want a Google plus profile, I just want to get back to YouTube Alexis explained. Create Google Profile Beginning to become frusterated, Alexis chose the unhighlighted No thanks option and was finally directed to a page confirming that some kind of account had been set up. Having a blue button labeled Back to YouTube, the user is notified that they are one step away from success. Being that YouTube registration was Alexis s only task, she clicks Back to YouTube to see if she has successfully become a member. Final Page To YouTube

Success! After clicking to go back to YouTube, Alexis is finally back where she began, but with an added message highlighted in blue reading You are now registered with YouTube.

7 Success! After clicking to go back to YouTube, Alexis is finally back where she began, but with an added message highlighted in blue reading You are now registered with YouTube. The added coloring is a sucessful visual effect used by YouTube to notify the user they have successfully accomplished what they set out to do. All in all however, Alexis had to click through four different pages, that to the novice user, were not even related to YouTube being that the sites were for Google. This shift in sites made the user doubt if they were actually in the right place and the excess number of clicks provides for more areas for a user to get frusterated and leave. For example, a user registering for YouTube does not necessarly want to customize a Google+ account, so the added page of questions to set up this account detracts from the overall registration process. Besides not having a register button on the homepage, many sites are able to register a user with a single pop-up, never making a user leave the page they are on. If YouTube and Google are unable to do this, then they should at least minimize the number of clicks and page hops it takes in the overall registration as well as offering information such as You are still registering for YouTube as well as the YouTube Site ID along with the Google Site ID throughout the registration process. Sources A. Harmer, Personal Communication, October 20, 2014.

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